Austria

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in Austria.

Child marriage 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 child marriage in Austria.

However, in Austria, the main driver of child marriage is:

● Migration: Recent research shows that many Afghani girls, some of whom were forced to marry, - have relocated to Austria as refugees. These women need physical and psychosocial support given their vulnerable position.

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

The Austrian government submitted a 2020 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forums but there was no mention of child marriage. The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

Austria co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights, the 2017 resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage.

Austria co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Austria ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1982, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2019, the CEDAW Committee recommended Austria to continue combatting harmful practices against women and girls, including forced marriage, and collect data disaggregated by relevant factors on forced marriage.

Austria ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention) in 2011, which considers forced marriage a serious form of violence against women and girls, and legally binds state parties to criminalise the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child into a marriage.

At the London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

As reported by Austria to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019, the specialist non-profit Orient Express offers advice, care and assistance in a number of different languages to women and girls at risk from or affected by forced marriage. If needed, protected emergency accommodation has been available since 2013 for anyone threatened by forced marriage.

The legal age for both men and women is 18. Marriage laws are governed by the Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB)) and the Austrian Marriage Act (Ehegesetz (EheG)).

However, individuals of at least 16 years of age may also marry with parental or judicial consent, and if the other spouse is at least 18 years old.