Antigua and Barbuda

There is no publicly available government data on Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) in Antigua and Barbuda.

The incidence of CEFMU is reportedly rare.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is very limited information on CEFMU in Antigua and Barbuda.

Antigua and Barbuda have committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government submitted a 2021 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum but there was no mention of child marriage. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum since 2021.

Antigua and Barbuda co-sponsored the 2022 UN General Assembly resolution on child, early and forced marriage.

Antigua and Barbuda ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1989, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that the Marriage Act included exceptions that allowed marriage from the age of 16 and recommended that the Act be amended to remove all exceptions of marriage under the age of 18.

During its 2017 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns that Antigua and Barbuda’s Marriage Act includes exceptions that allow marriage from the age of 16. It recommended that the government remove these exceptions.

During its 2019 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed similar concerns and urged Antigua and Barbuda to raise the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 years for men and women, without exception, and applicable to any form of common law union.

Antigua and Barbuda co-sponsored the 2022 UN General Assembly resolution on child, early and forced marriage.

Antigua and Barbuda, as a member of the Organization of American States (OAS), is bound to the Inter American System of Human Rights, which recognises the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and calls on governments to strengthen the response to address gender-based violence and discrimination, including early, forced and child marriage and unions, from a perspective that respects evolving capacities and progressive autonomy.

Antigua and Barbuda ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1998. In 2016, the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI) recommended State Parties to review and reform laws and practices to increase the minimum age for marriage to 18 years for women and men.

Antigua and Barbuda, as a member of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), adopted the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development in 2013, which recognises the need to address the high levels of adolescent pregnancy in the region as usually associated with the forced marriage of girls. In 2016, the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda was also approved by the ECLAC countries. This Agenda encompasses commitments made by the governments on women’s rights and autonomy and gender equality during the last 40 years at the Regional Conferences of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The agenda reaffirms the right to a life free of all forms of violence, including forced marriage and cohabitation for girls and adolescents.

In December 2019, the Senate in Antigua supported legislative amendments that increased the age of marriage from 15 to 18 years.

Under the Marriage Amendment Bill 2019, the minimum age of marriage in Antigua and Barbuda is 18 years, with no exceptions.

Under previous legislation, parties aged 15-18 could be married with parental consent.