The Forced Marriage in Domestic Legislation Database has been compiled over the past four years and was launched on International Human Rights Day, marking the end of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

The research, led by Dr Katarina Schwarz and Dr Helen McCabe at the University of Nottingham, and Dr Hannah Baumeister at Liverpool John Moores University, reveals that, although all States have committed to eliminating child, early, and forced marriage, it appears that very few have translated this in their national law.

The database shows that 99% of countries have yet to comprehensively tackle forced marriage and related concerns in their domestic law.

A report summarising the contents and findings of this extensive and pioneering research is calling for governments worldwide to take action to review their legislation and create new laws or rewrite existing legislation to comprehensively address child, early, and forced marriage.

The report was launched on 25 November on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in an event co-hosted with advocacy organisations Girls Not Brides, Karma Nirvana, and Walk Free.

The Forced Marriage in Domestic Legislation Database is a publicly available and easily accessible resource aimed at improving legislation addressing forced marriage in every country in the world through evidence-based advocacy. It maps all 193 United Nations member states’ domestic legislation against their international treaty obligations related to child, early and forced marriage.

Using evidence from over 550 domestic statutes and 1,500 individual provisions, the database examines whether countries’ laws ensure consent in marriages and protect against child marriage, forced marriage, servile marriage, and marriage trafficking.

Although 99% of all these countries have some form of domestic legislation in place to address exploitative or non-consensual marriage, no countries comprehensively addressed all five practices considered and many appear to have failed to follow through on their 2015 commitment to eliminate child, early and forced marriage with domestic law.

Highlights of the research include the following findings:

• All States have international obligations under at least one international treaty to address consent to marriage, establish a minimum age for marriage, or tackle forced marriage, servile marriage or marriage trafficking.

• 41% of States appear not to have established legal sanctions against those that force others into marriages,

• Only 29 States (15%) appear to have established legal protections against the continuation or maintenance of a forced marriage.

• 52 States (27%) appear not to have put in place legal provisions to protect the right to consent to marriage.

• 159 States (82%) appear not to have established legal prohibition of servile marriage.

• 57 States (30%) appear not to have specifically prohibited trafficking for the purpose of practices similar to slavery, servile marriage, or forced marriage.

• Although virtually all States have national laws establishing a minimum age for marriage, marriages of children under the age of 18 years are permitted in 119 countries (62%). Provisions were found allowing marriages as young as nine years.

• 158 States (82%) appear to have exceptions in place allowing marriages below the country’s standard minimum age.

• The consequences of laws protecting against child, early, and forced marriage are often extremely limited, enabling the voiding or annulment of the marriage but providing no other remedies for victims and survivors.

The best available estimates tell us that there are millions of people around the world being subjected to marriages that they never consented to. Yet, State responses to this fundamental human rights concern have never matched up with the scale and severity of the problem.

She continued: "It’s time to have a sustained conversation about what laws need to be in place to protect people from this violation, and to take steps to realise this around the world.

"We hope our research will help move this conversation forward and contribute to a future where everyone is free from forced marriage.”

She added: “Our dataset shows how far there is to go to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of ending forced, child and early marriage by 2030. Although the law cannot be an answer on its own, legislation is an important first step."

The authors of the report on the new database are now collaborating with advocacy organisations to develop model legislation and guidelines to help States adapt their domestic legal frameworks to meet their international obligations and commitments more effectively.

The Forced Marriage in Domestic Legislation platform is available here.

The report summarising preliminary findings is available here.

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For more information please contact Dr Katarina Schwarz in the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham via email katarina.schwarz@nottingham.ac.uk 

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