The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for MARR-PRACTICE-1

Dec. 13, 2024, 10:34 p.m.
Countries: Australia
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"In a historical first three men have faced court charged with arranging a forced marriage between two teenagers, one aged between 13 and 15 years and the other aged 17. It is alleged the two children in Western Australia wanted to date each other but were told by relatives that for cultural reasons, they would have to be married first. Three men - one related to the girl and the other two to the boy - faced Perth's Magistrates Court on Friday accused of forcing a person into a marriage after allegedly facilitating a religious wedding ceremony for the pair last year. Forced marriage has been illegal in Australia since...more
Dec. 13, 2024, 3:51 p.m.
Countries: Pakistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The outdated and illegal custom, known as ghag – a Pashto word meaning proclamation that allows another man to forcibly claim a woman as his intended wife – had reared its head. A man called Mahabat Khan was trying to enforce a ghag on Bibi, and made it clear to the community in the tribal Bajaur district where they lived that he still intended to enforce it. Although Bibi and her family rejected Khan’s proposal when she was a child, she cannot marry anyone else, according to the custom" (para 2-4). "Ghag endures in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan. The claim is made by sending...more
Dec. 11, 2024, 11:39 p.m.
Countries: Malaysia
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"In a bedroom in Malaysia that has become a prison, the 14-year-old girl wipes away tears as she sits cross-legged on the concrete floor. It is here, she says, where her 35-year-old husband rapes her nearly every night. Last year, the Rohingya girl sacrificed herself to save her family, embarking on a terrifying journey from her homeland of Myanmar to a country she had never seen, to marry a man she had never met. It wasn’t her choice. None of this was. Not the decision to leave behind everything she knew, nor the arranged marriage for which she was not ready. But her family, she says, was impoverished, hungry and...more
Dec. 6, 2024, 3:58 p.m.
Countries: Uganda
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"'Courtship rape' is commonplace, says Akello. 'Many women who are married are survivors of courtship rape and believe that men have a right to rape them as a sign of affection or expression of interest,' she says. In some cases, family members hold women down or help plot the abduction. Alice Nakiru was 20 when a friend of the family broke into her house, dragged her to his home and raped her repeatedly. He kept her for days. She screamed and begged but no one came to her rescue. 'That is how I became his wife,' says Nakiru, now 32, as she stirs porridge at home in Karamoja. 'I moved...more
Dec. 6, 2024, 10:40 a.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"When another resident of Ouadane, Lakwailia Rweijil, got married for the first time as a teenager, her father held the wedding ceremony without her knowledge, informing her afterward" (para 17).
Dec. 6, 2024, 10:34 a.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Official statistics on marriages involving under 18s can only capture legally-binding ceremonies. However, child marriage may involve informal services, which are not legally recognised but where youngsters are forced to live with an adult and act as their spouse. In 2021, the government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) reported intervening in 337 cases relating to forced marriage, female genital mutilation or both. Almost all (316) were solely about forced marriage. Of these 337 cases, 118 involved victims aged under 18, including 75 aged 15 or under. The FMU says cases involving younger children may not involve imminent marriages, but can often involve a youngster being promised for a future marriage. They...more
Dec. 5, 2024, 6:08 p.m.
Countries: Tajikistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1, AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Amina comes from Isfara, in the northern Sughd region, but moved to the capital, Dushanbe, with her parents a long time ago. After she finished ninth grade, her parents married her off. 'They chose a husband for me. I didn't even know what he looked like, but I knew he was two years older than me,' Amina said" (para 10-11).
Nov. 16, 2024, 4:26 p.m.
Countries: Malta
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The Directorate for Child Protection Services identified a case of a forced marriage where an underage girl was wed for €5,000. "She was not old enough to get married, but her family basically promised to wed her when she was of legal age,” director Steve Libreri from the Directorate for Child Protection Services said" (para 1,2). "Libreri [from the Directorate for Child Protextive Services] said research by the directorate shows underage women are “sold” in a “promise of wedding” at very young ages. He also highlighted how individuals involved in the practice are so immersed in their community’s culture, that they find no issue with the arranged marriages. 'It is...more
Nov. 16, 2024, 4:03 p.m.
Countries: Iran
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-1, MARR-PRACTICE-1, ATDW-LAW-2, ADCM-LAW-1, CUST-LAW-1

"Women in Iran do not have the same legal protections as men, and are particularly vulnerable when it comes to issues such as marriage, child custody, divorce and even employment" (Para 23).
Nov. 16, 2024, 2:54 p.m.
Countries: Egypt
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The draft law aims to criminalise underage marriages due to children’s lack of health and mental ability to bear the consequences of marriage" (para 1). Indicates that children are getting married, and that the government recognizes it as a problem, also, child marriages are forced marriages, by definition (MB-CODER COMMENT).
Oct. 16, 2024, 3:19 p.m.
Countries: Iran
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-1, MARR-PRACTICE-1, ATDW-LAW-2, ADCM-LAW-1, CUST-LAW-1

"Women in Iran do not have the same legal protections as men, and are particularly vulnerable when it comes to issues such as marriage, child custody, divorce and even employment" (Para 23).
Oct. 16, 2024, 3:02 p.m.
Countries: Malta
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The Directorate for Child Protection Services identified a case of a forced marriage where an underage girl was wed for €5,000. "She was not old enough to get married, but her family basically promised to wed her when she was of legal age,” director Steve Libreri from the Directorate for Child Protection Services said" (para 1,2). "Libreri [from the Directorate for Child Protextive Services] said research by the directorate shows underage women are “sold” in a “promise of wedding” at very young ages. He also highlighted how individuals involved in the practice are so immersed in their community’s culture, that they find no issue with the arranged marriages. 'It is...more
Oct. 16, 2024, 11:29 a.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1, MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4, AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Child marriage is on the rise again, with parents desperate for a dowry payment of $50 to $100 (£41 to £82) and for someone else to take on the responsibility of feeding a teenager" (para 24).
Oct. 16, 2024, 11:27 a.m.
Countries: North Korea
Variables: TRAFF-PRACTICE-1, TRAFF-PRACTICE-2, MARR-PRACTICE-1

"When women and girls want to leave North Korea, the violence they face ranges from forced marriage to forced prostitution, she [Elizabeth Salmon, United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea] said" (para 5).
April 30, 2024, 6:12 p.m.
Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The daughter he sold is Zahra. She is 3 years old. Her buyer is a wealthy man in search of another wife. He is 50" (para 3). If girls as young as 3 are being sold into marriage, clearly there is a strong practice of selling girls into marriage without their consent as a toddler cannot consent to entering a marriage (MCP - CODER COMMENT).
April 19, 2024, 3:06 p.m.
Countries: Serbia
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"[O]nly two cases of forced marriage have been reported" (16).
Feb. 20, 2024, 6:27 p.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"[N]o marriage can be registered unless the dowry is processed, which creates inequality within couples and may also induce parents, especially in rural areas, to arrange for the marriage of their daughters at an early age and against their will" (17).
Jan. 22, 2024, 6:37 p.m.
Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Some claimed they had been tasered and beaten, while others told how they were being pressurised to marry members of the Taliban in exchange for their freedom" (para 27). "One Taliban commander is said to have demanded that a father consent to his daughter’s marriage by putting a gun to his head" (para 29).
Jan. 16, 2024, 6:33 p.m.
Countries: Botswana
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Women are subjected to customary law and they lack knowledge and information, particularly on marriage laws and this continues to perpetuate discriminatory practices in the area of marriage under customary law. The Legal Aid Programme has been established to deal with issues of access to justice and Legal Aid Act was passed in 2013. This will greatly enhance access to justice by women" (8). "The key challenge is that a significant number of Batswana women are subjected to customary law even though Constitutional law takes precedence over it. The lack of knowledge and information on the part of women themselves regarding Marriage laws and their implications have perpetuated discriminatory practices...more
Jan. 4, 2024, 10:41 a.m.
Countries: Singapore
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Marriage preparation programmes are also mandatory for couples where at least one party is 18 to below 21 years old" (40). "Although the AMLA requires a woman to have permission from a wali (legal guardian) for her marriage, the wali’s decision may be overruled by the Kadi (officials of religious standings appointed by the President of Singapore to solemnize Muslim marriages), if the Kadi considers that the grounds on which the wali refuses to consent to the marriage are unsatisfactory. Moreover, ROMM ensures that the woman also has the right to be heard, even as the wali’s permission must be sought" (41).
Jan. 4, 2024, 10:17 a.m.
Countries: Singapore
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Muslim marriages involving minors under 18 years of age are only allowed under exceptional circumstances with the approval of the Kadi, and with the consent of the minor’s parents/legal guardian" (43). "[M]arriage preparation programmes and parental/guardian consent are mandatory for couples where at least one party is between 18 and 20 years of age… ROMM has introduced the mandatory Bersamamu (With You) programme since 2019 whereby the Kadi has a face-to-face session with the couple before solemnisation and continues to befriend the couple for up to two years after their solemnisation" (43).
Sept. 30, 2023, 4 p.m.
Countries: Kazakhstan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee commends the State party for favouring the involvement of fathers in childcare, including through the promotion of paternity leave. However, it is concerned about the following: Despite being prohibited by law, child and/or forced marriage is prevalent in the State party and is viewed with a high degree of social tolerance" (p.7). "While noting the importance attached to the family in the State party, the Committee notes with concern the following: (c) The prevalence of bride kidnapping, which leads to child and/or forced marriage, and the exemption from criminal liability under article 125 of the Criminal Code (on abduction) in cases of the voluntary release of the abductee;...more
Aug. 8, 2023, 8:30 p.m.
Countries: Bulgaria
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"[There is the] persistence of child and/or forced marriages, in particular among Roma girls… [C]ases of child and/or forced marriage are [not] investigated effectively, perpetrators are [not] prosecuted and punished appropriately and women and girls in such marriages [do not] access to protection, including accessible shelters and support services" (5). This indicates that nothing is being done to fight against forced marriages (MV-coder comment). "[C]hild and/or forced marriage [is present within the state]" (13).
Aug. 8, 2023, 12:20 p.m.
Countries: Senegal
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The following steps have been taken under the support programme for female education and women’s empowerment for inclusive local development phase (PAEF-Plus), which complements the Framework and is carried out in 149 schools, including 27 high and middle schools: Promotion of awareness-raising campaigns on reducing the burden of domestic work, gender-based violence, and early marriages and pregnancies through the implementation of a national and community-level communication plan..." (7). "Measures to prevent early pregnancies include: Awareness-raising in order to prevent child marriages; Behaviour change communication for adolescents and young people; Improved access to reproductive health services" (10). "The youth sector has carried out information and awareness-raising activities at adolescent counselling centres...more
Aug. 5, 2023, 12:21 p.m.
Countries: Bulgaria
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee recommends that the State party: Prevent and eradicate child and/or forced marriage through coordinated action by the competent authorities, non-governmental organizations and Roma community leaders, in particular by: Strengthening awareness-raising campaigns on the criminal nature and adverse impact of such marriages on the education, health and well-being of women and girls; Establishing mechanisms to detect cases of such marriages; Ensuring that all such cases are investigated and that those responsible are prosecuted and adequately punished; [and] Systematically collecting data on the number of cases reported, investigations, prosecutions and convictions, as well as on the penalties imposed in cases of forced marriage and cohabitation with a minor" (13-14). This...more
July 25, 2023, 10:44 a.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, MARR-PRACTICE-1

"13 reparation projects have been implemented throughout the State party to formally acknowledge victims, establish collective memories and restore the dignity of victims, including victims of rape in the context of forced marriage" (4). Maritial rape occurs within forced marriage which is also present in the state (MV- coder comment).
July 21, 2023, 11:58 a.m.
Countries: Azerbaijan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"To prevent the cases of early marriage, young girls are encouraged to take various professions. Local education management offices, law enforcement agencies and local executive authorities conduct a regular awareness work jointly with parents to promote their admission to the vocational education schools as they complete their compulsory studies in secondary schools. Furthermore, local healthcare facilities and relevant NGOs undertake awareness raising measures in secondary schools to prevent early marriages. There are the lessons where schoolchildren and parents are provided detailed information about reproductive health, medical, social and psychological consequences of early marriage. They are told that the drop-outs of young girls from schools due to a marriage in early...more
July 21, 2023, 9:33 a.m.
Countries: Azerbaijan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"In 2016, 3 criminal cases were launched on forced marriage of a woman. During the years of 2017–2018, no such fact was observed. The same actions in relation to minors have caused the start of 17 criminal cases in 2016 and 22 such criminal cases in 2017" (35).
July 10, 2023, 9:26 p.m.
Countries: Maldives
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"The negative impact of gender norms on both girls and boys persists. Conservative factions continue to push back on the gender equality gains made, and through the use of social media, may at times incorrectly 'interpret' Maldivian culture and Islamic principles in a manner which hinders the advancement of women and girls’ rights, and at times specifically endorses practices such as early marriage. The Government is committed to make necessary changes in policy, conduct programs and raise awareness on eliminating traditional gender stereotyping and bias at all fronts." (8).
June 27, 2023, 11:15 p.m.
Countries: Algeria
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Members of the LGBTI community reported that forced marriage was a problem, particularly for lesbian women" (33).