Jamaica

8% of girls in Jamaica marry or enter a union before age 18 and 1% marry before age 15.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) rates are consistent in both rural and urban parts of Jamaica.

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 Jamaica, CEFMU is driven by:

● Poverty: 15% of women from Jamaica’s poorest households were married or in a union before the age of 18, compared to 4% from the richest households.

● Level of education: 11% of women with no education or primary level education were married or in a union as children, compared to only 3% who had completed tertiary education.

● Religion: In late 2019, reports emerged about children being rescued from the compound of a cult in St. James following allegations of child marriages and human trafficking.

Jamaica 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 2022 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government acknowledged the harmful effects of child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting. The government reiterated that there are several child-friendly policies that are in place to protect children and strengthen families. These include: the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), which promotes and protects children and families, the Office of the Children’s Advocate, a Commission of Parliament that is mandated to enforced and protect children’s rights, and the National Plan of Action for an Integrated Response to Children and Violence that was launched by the Ministry of Education in 2019. The National Plan aims to address violence against children, child abuse, and maltreatment of children over a 5-year period.

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

Jamaica 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 1984, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2023 review, the CEDAW Committee recommended that the government remove any exceptions for marriage below the age of 18 years for both girls and boys.

Jamaica, 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 respected evolving capacities and progressive autonomy.

Jamaica ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 2005. 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.

Jamaica, 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.

Jamaica 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. The Spotlight Initiative invested 8 million EUR to Jamaica to support efforts to end sexual abuse, domestic violence, intimate partner violence and corporal punishment.

In 2022, the Spotlight Initiative achieved:

Strengthening legislative and policy frameworks to support ending all forms of violence against women and girls.

Drafting a Victim’s Rights Policy and an assessment of the draft Victim’s Charter was completed by the Ministry of Justice, to support national efforts in addressing the needs of survivors of gender-based violence and strengthen local policies to ensure that they are in line with international standards.

Collaborations between government and non-government stakeholders were increased to plan and deliver evidence-based programmes to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.

Supporting the continued development of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework for the National Plan of Action on Violence Against Children (NPACV).

Engaging 3,153 adolescents in in-school interventions to raise awareness on issues relating to gender-based violence, the importance of children’s rights, how to build positive relationships, and reporting mechanisms, such as national helplines and established agencies.

The 888-NOABUSE toll free helpline, in partnership with two telecommunication companies. The toll-free helpline provided assistance to 4,853 women and girls.

The collection, management and dissemination of data on the prevalence of violence against women and girls, through concentrated training and skills building of 43 officers in the national statistical system in order to produce and disseminate data on family violence.

Jamaica is a pathfinding country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

In late 2019, a senior member of the Jamaican clergy, Bishop Conrad Pitkin, called out parents who allow their daughters to be married early and warned them that young brides can become victims of human trafficking.

Under the Marriage Act 1979 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years. However, individuals can marry at 16 years with parental consent.