WUNRN
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Resolution
1468 (2005)1
Forced
Marriages and Child Marriages
1. The
Parliamentary Assembly is deeply concerned about the serious and recurrent
violations of human rights and the rights of the child which are constituted by
forced marriages and child marriages.
2. The
Assembly observes that the problem arises chiefly in migrant communities and
primarily affects young women and girls.
3. It is
outraged by the fact that, under the cloak of respect for the culture and
traditions of migrant communities, there are authorities which tolerate forced
marriages and child marriages although they violate the fundamental rights of
each and every victim.
4. The
Assembly defines forced marriage as the union of two persons at least one of
whom has not given their full and free consent to the marriage.
5. Since it
infringes the fundamental human rights of the individual, forced marriage can
in no way be justified.
6. The
Assembly stresses the relevance of United Nations General Assembly Resolution
843 (IX) of 17 December 1954 declaring certain customs, ancient laws and
practices relating to marriage and the family to be inconsistent with the
principles set forth in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
7. The
Assembly defines child marriage as the union of two persons at least one of
whom is under 18 years of age.
8. The
Assembly deplores the drastic effects of marriage on married children. Child
marriage in itself infringes their rights as children. It is prejudicial to their
physical and psychological welfare. Often an obstacle to school attendance,
child marriages may be prejudicial to children's access to education and their
intellectual and social development, in that they restrict their horizon to the
family circle.
9. The
Assembly is appalled to find that some national legislation permits the
marriage of minors, sometimes in a discriminatory fashion with gender-based
differences in minimum ages.
10. Such
marriages should, in fact, no longer take place in our societies, which uphold
human rights and the rights of the child. In that respect, the Assembly concurs
with the considerations set out in the 1962 United Nations Convention on
Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages
which reaffirms “that all States, including those which have or assume
responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust
Territories until their achievement of independence, should take all
appropriate measures with a view to abolishing such customs, ancient laws and
practices by ensuring, inter alia, complete freedom in the choice of a
spouse, eliminating completely child marriages and the betrothal of young girls
before the age of puberty, establishing appropriate penalties where necessary
and establishing a civil or other register in which all marriages will be
recorded”.
11. The
right to marry is recognised in Article 12 of the European Convention on Human
Rights. The Assembly nevertheless recalls the further provision in this article
for the exercise of this right to be governed by national laws.
12. It
therefore stresses the need to take the requisite legislative measures to
prohibit child marriage by making 18 years the minimum marriageable age. Thus,
persons not having reached this age would not be able to lawfully contract
marriage.
13. The
Assembly therefore recommends that Council of Europe member states take the
following legal measures regulating the right to marry:
13.1. ratify
the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and
Registration of Marriages, if they have not yet done so;
13.2. ratify
the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and the amendment and protocol thereto, if they have not yet done so;
13.3. ensure
their compliance with Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation
Rec(2002)5 on the protection of women against violence.
14. The
Assembly urges the national parliaments of the Council of Europe member states
to:
14.1.
renegotiate, discard or denounce any sections of international agreements and
rules of international private law contrary to the fundamental principles of
human rights, particularly as regards personal status;
14.2. adapt
their domestic legislation, if appropriate, so as to:
14.2.1. fix
at or raise to 18 years the minimum statutory age of marriage for women and
men;
14.2.2. make
it compulsory for every marriage to be declared and entered by the competent
authority in an official register;
14.2.3.
institute an interview between the registrar and the bride and groom prior to
the celebration of the marriage and allow a registrar who has doubts about the
free and full consent of either or both parties to summon either or both of
them separately to another meeting;
14.2.4.
refrain from recognising forced marriages and child marriages contracted abroad
except where recognition would be in the victims’ best interests with regard to
the effects of the marriage, particularly for the purpose of securing rights
which they could not claim otherwise;
14.2.5.
facilitate the annulment of forced marriages and possibly automatically annul
such marriages;
14.2.6. lay
down a maximum period of one year, in so far as practicable, to investigate and
rule on an application for annulment of a forced marriage or a child marriage;
14.3. regard
coercive sexual relations victims are subjected to within forced marriages and
child marriages as rape;
14.4.
consider the possibility of dealing with acts of forced marriage as an
independent criminal offence, including aiding and abetting the contracting of
such a marriage.
1. Assembly debate on
5 October 2005 (29th Sitting) (see Doc.
10590, report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men,
rapporteur: Mrs Zapfl-Helbling; and Doc.
10678, opinion of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee,
rapporteur: Mrs Bargholtz).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 5 October 2005 (29th Sitting).
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