Haiti

15% of girls in Haiti are married or in a union before their 18th birthday and 2% are married or in a union before the age of 15.

2% of boys in Haiti are married or in a union before their 18th birthday.

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 Haiti, but available studies show that it is driven by:

Gender-based violence against girls: In the case of sexual violence, some girls are forced to engage in a marriage or plasajwith perpetrators through out-of-court settlements.

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.

Natural disasters : In Haiti, the 2010 earthquake reportedly led to an increase in CEFMU. This is common in post-disaster contexts where children are unprotected, vulnerable and are sometimes married off as a protection mechanism. Ten years later, the humanitarian conditions in Haiti have deteriorated again due to prolonged periods of drought, natural disasters, and population displacements, coupled with socio-political tensions and violent protests against the government. Since October 2021, 906 schools have been completely or partially destroyed and approximately 230,000 children are out of school. . All these elements contribute to putting Haitian girls at a higher risk of being married off or entering into unions early.

Haiti has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum to date.

Haiti co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, and the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage. In 2014, Haiti also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Haiti has signed the 2021 Human Rights Council resolution on Child, Early and Forced Marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haiti co-sponsored the 2013 and 2014 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Haiti ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1981, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2016 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that girls may be married at 15 under Article 133 of the Civil Code. It also raised concerns that the legal status of a child of 15 can be waived by parental decision, leading to his or her treatment as an adult under the law. This places girls who marry young or become divorced in an especially vulnerable position.

During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review, Haiti supported recommendations to establish a legal framework to better protect girls from forced marriage, and to establish a minimum age of marriage of 18 for both women and men.

Haiti, 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 to governments to strengthen the respond to address gender-based violence and discrimination, including early, forced and child marriage and unions from a perspective that respected evolving capacities and progressive autonomy.

Haiti ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1997. 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.

Haiti, 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.

Haiti is one of the countries where the Spotlight Initiative (a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations) is supporting efforts to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls.

Haiti is one of the countries where the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is working to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

Haiti is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Haiti is a PEPFAR Dreams Initiative country.

Under the Civil Code 1982 the minimum legal age of marriage in Haiti is 15 years for girls and 18 years for boys.

However, the President of Haiti can grant age exemptions to this for “serious reasons”.