Colombia

23% of girls in Colombia marry or enter a union before age 18 and 5% before age 15.

7% of boys in Colombia marry before the age of 18.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are more common in rural areas of Colombia, where 40% of girls are married before the age of 18.

According to the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (referred to as “CEVI”), significant differences in the prevalence of CEFMUs by ethnic group, in Colombia, for example, the case of Afro-descendant girls and adolescents from San Basilio de Palenque in Colombia is notable, as they are almost twice as likely to enter a marriage or union (15.5 % of the women were married or in a union before the age of 15, compared to 4.3% who did not belong to a specific ethnic group), and indigenous girls and adolescents (35.4% of women married before the age of 18 belonged to indigenous peoples, almost 10% more than non-indigenous women).

In Colombia, CEFMU predominantly takes the form of an informal union, rather than a formal marriage.

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.

In Colombia CEFMU is exacerbated by:

● Ethnicity: According to UNICEF, child marriage and early unions in Colombia are more prevalent among Indigenous and Black/Afro-Colombian communities. It is estimated that 35% of indigenous girls between the ages of 20 to 24 years were married before the age of 18, 27% of girls of Black/Afro-Colombian ethnicity and 16% of Raizal San Andres.

Humanitarian settings can encompass a wide range of situations before, during, and after natural disasters, conflicts, and epidemics. They exacerbate poverty, insecurity, and lack of access to services such as education, factors which all drive CEFMU. While gender inequality is a root cause of CEFMU in both stable and crisis contexts, often in times of crisis, families see CEFMU as a way to cope with greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

Despite peace agreements being reached between the Colombian Government and paramilitaries (2006) and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) leftist guerrilla group (2016) – the latter with close to 130 affirmative measures to promote equal rights for men and women – incomplete implementation and the continued presence of armed groups and illegal economies in the country means that Colombians continue to suffer the humanitarian consequences of violent conflict, particularly in Antioquia, Cauca, Caquetá, Chocó, Guaviare, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo and Valle del Cacua regions.

Displacement: As of 2023, there are approximately 7.7 million people (50.6% women and 31.2% children) in need of humanitarian assistance. According to a 2023 OCHA report, 7.2 million people live under the influence of armed groups in 462 municipalities, 1.2 million people were affected by climate vulnerability, 2.1 million Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.4 million people are victims of conflict. Forced displacement and armed conflict disproportionately impacted children in 2022, with approximately 242,241 children affected. This unrest drives poverty, sexual violence, and killings of vulnerable children which is relatively well recorded. However, there is limited information about how the conflict, mass displacement and generalised violence may have contributed to CEFMU in Colombia.

Colombia 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 is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

Colombia co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: 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, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage. In 2014, Colombia signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

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

Colombia 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 1982, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2019, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Colombia amend without further delay the Civil Code to remove the exceptions to the minimum age of marriage and ensure that the legal age of marriage is 18 for both girls and boys.

During Colombia’s 2018 Universal Periodic Review, concerns about exceptions to the legal minimum age for marriage enabling 14-year-old girls to marry with parental consent were reiterated by the UN Child Rights Committee. Colombia noted recommendations to stipulate 18 years as the minimum age of marriage.

Colombia, 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.

Colombia ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1996. In 2016, the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI) recommended State Parties review and reform laws and practices to increase the minimum age for marriage to 18 years for women and men.

Colombia, 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 over 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.

Colombia is one of the countries where UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Women are working together under the Latin America and the Caribbean Joint Programme for a Region Free of Child Marriage and Early Unions (2018-2021) to align national frameworks with international standards, empower girls, promote policies and services that address the drivers of child marriage and early unions, and break the silence nationally and regionally.

In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, the government of Colombia recalled its policy frameworks on ending violence against women and girls and their commitment to ending harmful practices in the country, including child marriage and early unions.

Colombia is a pathfinder country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

In October 2019, as part of the Latin America and the Caribbean Joint Programme for a Region Free of Child Marriage and Early Unions (2018-2021), UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Women and the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) organised a workshop on child marriage and early unions with a view to raising awareness about the harmful consequences of child marriage for girls.

The National Development Plan (2018-2022) includes policy objectives to promote children’s and adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, prevent adolescent pregnancy and address harmful practices including child marriage and early unions.

Colombia has officially banned child marriage without exceptions, following the Senate's approval of the legislation on Wednesday, November 13, 2024. This landmark law marks a significant advancement in safeguarding the rights of girls and adolescents by prohibiting child marriage and informal marital unions for anyone under 18.