Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and
Registration of Marriages
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General Assembly Resolution 2018 (XX) of 1 November 1965
The General Assembly,
Recognizing that the family group should be
strengthened because it is the basic unit of every society, and that men
and women of full age have the right to marry and to found a family, that
they are entitled to equal rights as to marriage and that marriage shall be
entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses,
in accordance with the provisions of article 16 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights,
Recalling its resolution 843 (IX) of 17 December
1954,
Recalling further article 2 of the Supplementary
Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions
and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956, which makes certain provisions
concerning the age of marriage, consent to marriage and registration of
marriages,
Recalling also that Article 13, paragraph 1 b, of
the Charter of the United Nations provides that the General Assembly shall
make recommendations for the purpose of assisting in the realization of
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to
race, sex, language or religion,
Recalling likewise that, under Article 64 of the
Charter, the Economic and Social Council may make arrangements with the
Members of the United Nations to obtain reports on the steps taken to give
effect to its own recommendations and to recommendations on matters falling
within its competence made by the General Assembly,
1. Recommends that, where not already
provided by existing legislative or other measures, each Member State
should take the necessary steps, in accordance with its constitutional
processes and its traditional and religious practices, to adopt such
legislative or other measures as may be appropriate to give effect to the
following principles:
Principle I
( a ) No marriage shall be legally entered
into without the full and free consent of both parties, such consent to be
expressed by them in person, after due publicity and in the presence of the
authority competent to solemnize the marriage and of witnesses, as
prescribed by law.
( b ) Marriage by proxy shall be permitted
only when the competent authorities are satisfied that each party has,
before a competent authority and in such manner as may be prescribed by
law, fully and freely expressed consent before witnesses and not withdrawn
such consent.
Principle II
Member States shall take legislative action to
specify a minimum age for marriage, which in any case shall not be less
than fifteen years of age; no marriage shall be legally entered into by any
person under this age, except where a competent authority has granted a
dispensation as to age, for serious reasons, in the interest of the
intending spouses.
Principle III
All marriages shall be registered in an
appropriate official register by the competent authority.
2. Recommends that each Member State should
bring the Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage
and Registration of Marriages contained in the present resolution before
the authorities competent to enact legislation or to take other action at
the earliest practicable moment and, if possible, no later than eighteen
months after the adoption of the Recommendation;
3. Recommends that Member States should
inform the Secretary-General, as soon as possible after the action referred
to in paragraph 2 above, of the measures taken under the present
Recommendation to bring it before the competent authority or authorities,
with particulars regarding the authority or authorities considered as
competent;
4. Recommends further that Member States
should report to the Secretary-General at the end of three years, and
thereafter at intervals of five years, on their law and practice with
regard to the matters dealt with in the present Recommendation, showing the
extent to which effect has been given or is proposed to be given to the
provisions of the Recommendation and such modifications as have been found
or may be found necessary in adapting or applying it;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare
for the Commission on the Status of Women a document containing the reports
received from Governments concerning methods of implementing the three
basic principles of the present Recommendation;
6. Invites the Commission on the Status of
Women to examine the reports received from Member States pursuant to the
present Recommendation and to report thereon to the Economic and Social
Council with such recommendations as it may deem fitting.
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