The Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law (GCEFL), with support from coordinating committee members Equality Now and Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), has submitted expert inputs to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to inform new global guidelines to prevent and eliminate child, early, and forced marriage, as mandated by Human Rights Council Resolution 53/23.
The joint submission highlights how discriminatory family laws–whether civil, religious, or customary–continue to set marriage ages below 18, allow parental or judicial exceptions, or exclude certain communities from legal protections. Using case studies from countries such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia, it demonstrates that even when legal reforms raise the age of marriage, loopholes and legal pluralism often enable child marriage to persist.
Featuring contributions from WLP partners in Egypt (FWID) and Indonesia (WYDII), the submission calls for comprehensive reform of family laws, constitutions, penal codes, and child rights legislation to ensure that 18 is the minimum age of marriage for all genders, with no exceptions, and that laws apply equally across all communities. It also emphasizes the need for survivor-centered support, marriage registration, data collection, enforcement mechanisms, public awareness campaigns, and engagement of religious and community leaders.
These recommendations aim to shape strong, action-oriented UN guidelines that advance equality in the family as a foundation for ending child and forced marriage worldwide.
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