WUNRN
Equality Now
USING THE LAW TO HELP END CHILD
MARRIAGES +: 18 COUNTRIES
This Equality Now report was written in conjunction with research carried out by law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, in many cases with the assistance of local counsel, looking into the legal position of child marriage and surrounding issues in 18 countries. The country reports look at not only the pure legal provisions relating to age of marriage, but also the extent to which they have been enforced, if at all, and the law and practice of some related issues including laws relating to bride price/dowry; statutory rape laws that are circumvented through marriage; availability of child protection services when escaping child marriage; legal requirements for registration of birth and/or marriage; and, schooling for girls. They also identify the intersection between child marriage and other social and legal issues, such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, exploitation, nationality, FGM, force feeding, etc.
Direct Link to Full 178-Page Report:
Protecting the Girl Child: Using the Law
to End Child, Early and Forced Marriage and Related Human Rights Violations
Equality Now partnered with TrustLaw Connect and Latham & Watkins LLP to carry out a sample survey of the legal position on child marriage and some of the interconnected issues in 18 countries. Child marriage is practiced across the globe –these countries were selected as a sampling from across continents. The reports, produced by Latham & Watkins, look not only at the pure legal provisions relating to age of marriage, but also the extent to which they have been enforced, if at all, and the law and practice of some related issues including laws relating to bride price/dowry; statutory rape laws that might be circumvented through marriage; availability of child protection services when escaping child marriage; legal requirements for registration of birth and/or marriage; and, schooling for girls. They also briefly identify some intersection between child marriage and other social and legal issues, such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, exploitation, nationality, FGM, forced feeding, etc.
Many of the reports, though unfortunately not all, include the knowledge and insight of local counsel, which allow a glimpse into the realities of child marriage in various contexts and is essential in determining the status of a law, its implementation and, ultimately, the impact on girls at risk. However, it is important to note the limitations of these surveys, and indeed, any desk research, and that they will not fully reflect the situation in any given context.
The country reports point to the following:
* Laws that provide only for civil remedies commonly put the onus on the girl herself to apply for annulment of the marriage – this would require her to be literate (when her education has generally been severely curtailed), to have knowledge of and access to the law and to have a system to support her when her marriage is terminated
* Laws that provide for criminal remedies are only very rarely enforced
* Protection, where provided, does not always apply to all girls – there are frequent exceptions to accommodate tradition or religion, effectively exempting the communities where child marriage is likely to be most prevalent
* Laws endorsing the concept of dowry or exempting a rapist from punishment if he marries his victims support, directly or indirectly, the practice of child marriage
* It might be possible to use laws relating to rape or statutory rape to assist a girl subjected to child marriage, but in many cases the law provides an exception when the perpetrator is her husband
* The absence of relevant laws leaves a girl with very little recourse to escape the violence and discrimination of child marriage. Again, support systems upon termination of child marriage are usually lacking
* Laws providing for registration for births and marriages, which could help protect girls from child marriage, are often lacking the infrastructure to ensure registration is carried out.