Belgium

According to Statistics derived from the Population register, 2020 there are no cases of child marriage in Belgium. The estimate is generated from the population register and includes married or in legal cohabitation before the age of 15, without checking the age-difference with their partner

According to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, cases of child marriage among populations with a migrant background, such as Turks, Moroccans, Roma and Afghans, and more recently Serbs and Chechen, may be under-reported and unidentified in Belgium. In 2019, the Federal Police statistics recorded 20 cases of child marriage.

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 Belgium.

Belgium 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 Voluntary National Review at the 2017 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government highlighted that a multi-stakeholder platform for international health has been developed, with an accessible e-tutorial covering a range of topics such as child marriage.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2023 High-Level Political Forum; however, there was no mention of child marriage.

Belgium co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolution on child marriage: 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. In 2014, Belgium also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

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

Belgium 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 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2022 review, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns that a monitoring mechanism to protect girls and women from child marriage is absent. The Committee recommended that the government provide capacity enhancement to judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers on the application of criminal law provisions and other legislation that prohibit child and forced marriage, to ensure that all reported cases are investigated and prosecuted.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns that child marriage, prevalent among populations with a migrant background, remains underreported and recommended Belgium to amend its Civil Code to remove all exceptions that allow marriage under the age of 18 years. The Committee also urged Belgium to strengthen awareness-raising campaigns, provide training for civil servants, law-enforcement officers, social workers, etc. on the identification of potential victims of child marriage, and establish protection schemes for victims of child marriage.

Belgium has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), 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.

Belgium has made children's rights a priority for its development cooperation. Within the framework of "She Decides”, in December 2018 Belgium earmarked EUR 2 million per year for a period of four years for the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action To End Child Marriage, a multi-donor, multi-stakeholder programme working across 12 countries.

Frontline workers of Fedasil, the Federal Agency for the reception of asylum seekers, have been trained on the identification of child victims of trafficking and child marriage.

Previously, in 2017, the Minister of Development Cooperation announced EUR 1.17 million to support UNICEF in tackling child marriage in Benin. The programme, Lutte contre le mariage des enfants au Benin, aims to give children and young people better access to justice and better protection from violence and sexual exploitation.

In 2015, Belgian Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling for more efforts to help end child, early, and forced marriage. The resolution called on the government to address child marriage as a priority in its development cooperation policy.

The minimum age of marriage in Belgium is 18 years, this is outlined under Article 144 of the Civil Code.

Under Articles 145-148 of the Civil Code 2001, in exceptional cases, a judge may allow marriage prior to the age of 18, although in such instances the minors will need the consent of their parents.