Article 16(2) of the CEDAW
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/02
Article 16
2. The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
The second part of Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) or the Convention speaks on the issues of child marriage and the minimum age for marriage. It is one of a number of intersecting violations against the child, the girl often, and the individual rights of a person regarding choice in marriage and cognitive maturity to make such a full, informed, free, and consenting decision.
For the individual who is young and beholden to a guardian of some form, the right to be able to live a childhood remains important for the health and well-being of this child’s life trajectory. There comes particular violation of the right to the health and well-being over a long time of the child in the extreme cases, but not uncommon, of child marriage.
The forcing or enforcing by culture or religion or tradition of an individual child to marriage will not be considered seriously in terms of legal merits within the context and constraints of the Convention article subsection stipulation above. In addition, there is supposed to be in place, or in progress if not present, the speciication of a minimum age necessary for marriage to then make the registration of a marriage a part of the official registry – something mandatory.
It seems reasonable within the total constraints of the document and for the rights of not only womne but most often girls because of the fundamental violation of autonomy and the best interests of child when there are clear cases of enforced marriage prior to an age of consent or reasonable cognitive maturation in which the child’s innocence and time of life and lesser experience and knowledge of the world is taken advantage of in these cases.
These remain stark and dark circumstances for many of the girls who undergo this and the women who were forced into it. However, the basic idea of an individual being able to work within their family to protect their child or in many cases for the relevant governmental bodies to protect the child from the family is the key component here.
–One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3 and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1993).
- Beijing Declaration(1995).
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
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