The minimum age for marriage

All information on this page is taken from At What Age?...are school-children employed, married and taken to court? This major study was written by Angela Melchiorre uniquely on the basis of States Parties’ Reports submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child from January 1997 to January 2004. Because of this specific choice of sources and the backlog in the reporting procedure, information concerning some countries may not reflect the most recent developments. The study, nonetheless, derives from authoritative information, as explained in the methodology.

We encourage all to visit the publication in its entirety (just click on the book title). This will also enable you to compare different countries, a major part of the understanding of why this information is important. For the general comparative table, se here.

Early marriage is repeatedly cited as a significant factor impeding the realisation of the right to education. In addition, it is not uncommon for majority to be reached on marriage, thus raising the question of the applicability of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to married children (often girls are singled out in such regulations and risk loosing the protection of the CRC before boys).

Marriage is not considered directly in the CRC. One must look then to other rights (health, education, survival…) or principles (best interests of the child, development, respect for the views of the child …) for guidance on the position of the CRC for early marriage. Despite this, it is clear that the Committee places a great deal of importance in ensuring that marriage should not be concluded too early and that the minimum age for marriage should be equal for boys and girls. In this they are aided by the Guidelines for Periodic Reports which require States to "provide relevant information with respect to article 1 of the Convention, including on: … the minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for … marriage…".

As a rule, States follow this guide, although 26 countries provide no or unclear information. Analysis of those reports with clear responses shows that sex discrimination is widespread, with 44 countries specifying a lower age for girls to marry than for boys. It is also clear that there are a large number of variables, with many countries having a glut of rules and a lack of protection.

Exceptions to a general minimum can be protective or otherwise. Religious or other norms based on puberty or other flexible criteria lack the necessary legal clarity to be considered protective; parental consent is likewise not protective when not regulated to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is applied. Conversely, dispensation by a competent administrative or judicial authority appears, prima facie, to pass a due process test, and it has here been interpolated that this is based on the best interests of the child, although clearly this would bear closer analysis.

Where pregnancy can act as an exception to allow early marriage, it is extremely difficult to discern whether this is a protective or non-protective criteria, and indeed it may be both, as the best interests of both mother and child must be considered. Marriage may better protect the interest of the pregnant adolescent, and it would bear analysis whether pregnant girls are permitted to continue their education or not.

Interpretation therefore is given according to the indication of further guarantees. If a lower minimum age is set and/or if it is explicitly mentioned that the best interests of the child is the principle applied in decision making by a competent authority, then that lower age is recorded. Where no such guarantees are reported, a no minimum is quoted in the summary table.

Civil, religious, customary and traditional laws often exist side-by-side, with no hierarchy of laws. Quantitative data on the statutory minimum age for marriage reveal therefore only one part of the legal landscape. Moreover, marriages may not be registered, which makes the relevance of law doubtful. While the table does not indicate whether minimum ages are regulated by customary, religious, common or statutory law, further explanation is provided in the reports section.

What emerges clearly in At what age? is that the validity of exceptions should not detract from the guarantee of the establishment of a minimum age. Therefore, the complexity of these experiences demands rigorous analysis of the multiple factors, which might lead in the future to the development and testing of a different methodology to capture the pattern of child marriage world-wide.

Methodology
This publication summarises results of a great deal of research, based on an analysis of States Parties' reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It was first published in 2002 and included State reports presented from January 1997 to August 2002. The current text is a revision/update of the previous findings with the addition of State reports from August 2002 to January 2004. Whilst it would be possible to supplement, or contrast this source with non-governmental or academic material, this has not been done here. States Parties' reports constitute self-assessment by governments and presenting them here, in an easily comparable format, allows inter-national comparison and permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC.

The first part of the publication displays a summary table listing all reporting States. Four different entries are given: minimum school-leaving age, minimum age of employment, minimum age for marriage and minimum age for criminal responsibility. The year of report and the page number are also noted for ease of consultation. The second part contains excerpts from the relevant States Parties' reports presented in alphabetical order, with direct reference to document and paragraph numbers. The source can be the initial report to the Committee, the periodic report or both where the latter is silent on minimum ages or presents unclear or incomplete information. The sections of these reports herein have been reproduced faithfully, and where information has been omitted as it was judged irrelevant this is clearly indicated in the following manner: […]. For a fully authoritative record, readers are encouraged to make use of the original text following document symbols and paragraph references given for each report.

Comparing different ages in different countries or even within the same country is a difficult task, and inferring a precise number from a general description is a dangerous exercise. Collecting, collating, analysing and interpreting State reports requires a great deal of care, thought and patience. Individual country reports are often more than a hundred pages long, and written by different parts of the government. Moreover, a variety of legal sources may exist. They may thus present different minimum ages for the same issue and even when a precise age is mentioned the language can lead one to question its enforceability. In order to maintain coherence, an analytical framework has been developed and followed uniformly to arrive at the interpretations presented in the summary table.
Where no information is provided, this is indicated by a cross (X); where the information is available but not sufficiently clear, or is self-contradictory, a question mark (?) is used. Where the information indicates a change in legislation or a division of competence in federal States or a particular situation or exception that begs closer scrutiny, a star (*) is placed beside the number. Otherwise, the information provided in the reports is translated into a precise number or a "No minimum", according to the case. In most situations the age defined by a precise number is the lowest legally permissible for completing compulsory education, entering employment, contracting marriage and being attributed criminal responsibility. In many other cases the figure has been inferred following close consideration of the four main areas according to the principles outlined below.