Bahamas

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

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are 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 The Bahamas.

The Bahamas has 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.

The Bahamas co-sponsored the 2013 Human Rights Council resolution on child, early and forced marriage.

The Bahamas ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 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 1993, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2018, the CEDAW Committee expressed concerns that the Marriage Act provides for a minimum marriage age of 15 years and allows exceptions for individuals as young as 13 years of age to be married. The Committee recommended Bahamas to enforce the minimum age of marriage of 18 years in law and practice, without exception.

Bahamas, 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.

Bahamas ratified (with reservations) the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1995. 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.

Bahamas, 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 in 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.

Under the Marriage Statute Law of the Bahamas 1976 the legal minimum age for marriage is 18 years.

However, those under the age of 18 can be married with parental consent, and those who are 15 years but not less than 13 can be married with a grant dispensation from the Supreme Court “upon good cause shown”.