Journal Citation:
12(2) JOURNAL OF GENDER, SOCIAL POLICY & THE LAW, 233-271 (2004).
This article explores child marriage and the international conventions that are violated by the practice (CEDAW, CRC, Marriage Convention, UDHR, ICCPR, ICSCR, Torture Convention, Anti-Trafficking Convention). The prevalence of and reasoning behind child marriage throughout the world is described, as well as a presentation of different nations' domestic laws concerning minimum age of marriage. The author outlines the international human rights instruments that relate to child marriage, explaining how existing human and women's rights conventions fail to remedy the problem. The author argues that child marriage is a form of exploitation of girls as a married girl is essentially a slave, both sexually and through labour, to her husband and his family, and loses the human rights protections guaranteed to children. The article concludes with recommendations for added provisions to human rights conventions as well as suggestions of extra-legal measures that could be undertaken to halt the practice of child marriage.