Mongolia

In Mongolia, 12% of girls marry before the age of 18 and 1% marry before the age of 15.

2% of boys in Mongolia marry before the age of 18.

Trends show that child marriage is reducing in the Khuvsgul province.

Child marriage is driven by gender equality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on child marriage in Mongolia, but available reports show that it is exacerbated by:

● Level of education: Girls with primary and lower secondary education have a lower median age at first marriage than those who have completed secondary or higher education.

● Poverty: Girls living in Mongolia’s poorest households marry at a younger age than those living in the richest households. Child marriage is often used as a means of economic survival and security for families.

● Trafficking: There are reports of Mongolian girls being lured into marriages under false pretences for the purpose of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Mongolia has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government did not provide an update on progress towards this target during its Voluntary National Review at the 2023 High Level Political Forum.

Mongolia co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: 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. Mongolia also co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Mongolia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and ratified 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.

Mongolia is a pathfinder country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and partner country of the Global Partnership for Education.

Under the Family Law 1999, Art. 9.1.2 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.

However, the next article allows persons between the ages of 16-18 to be married if they have been “commissioned the right of full legal capacity” in accordance with the Civil Code.