Palestine

13% of Palestinian girls marry before age 18 and 1% marry before age of 15.

Child marriage is most common in urban and camp areas rather than rural areas, which contradicts global trends. Rates are highest in hamlets and encampments, localities, Jordan Valley, North Gaza, Gaza, Hebron and Jerusalem. Child marriage rates in rural areas are low due to a lack of registration and under-reporting.

The 2019-2020 MICS survey showed that in the West Bank, 2% of women between the ages of 15-49 were married before age 15. 2% of women between the ages of 15-49 were married before 15 in the Gaza Strip. For women between the ages of 20-49, 2% were married before the age of 15 in the West Bank (20% before 18) and 2% in Gaza Strip (and 24% before 18). 8% of women and girls between the ages of 15-19 were currently married and 4% of women and girls between the age of 15-49 were in a polygamous marriage.

Government data shows that more than 17,600 girls aged 14-19 were married in 2018. However, this data does not capture informal or unregistered marriages.

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

In Palestine, child marriage is exacerbated by:

● Harmful practices: Child marriage is sometimes associated with a desire to produce more children to promote the Palestinian cause and preserve family honour. Some Palestinian families reportedly work with clerics to officiate underage marriages.

● Violence against girls: Physical and sexual violence and patriarchal gender norms in Gaza contribute to the acceptance of violence against women and girls. Intimate partner violence is sometimes perpetrated by in-laws. In 2017 the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women reported increased pressure on Palestinian girls to marry perpetrators in order to cover up rape.

● Level of education: Palestinian girls with the lowest level of education are have the highest risk of marrying young. In the 2019-2020 MICS survey indicator, 6% of married girls between the ages of 15-49 have basic to no education; 0.6% have secondary education and 0.3% have higher education. For women and girls between the ages of 20-49, 52% of girls married before the age of 18 have basic to no education, 26% have secondary education and 4% have higher education.

● Poverty: Families are inclined to marry their daughters young to reduce the economic burden of having to look after them. In the 2019-2020 MICS survey indicator, 2% of married girls between the ages of 15-49 who were married before the age of 15 are in the poorest index and 1% in the richest index. For women and girls between the ages of 20-49, 25% who were married before the age of 18 are in the poorest index and 16% in the richest index.

● COVID-19: Since the outbreak of the pandemic there have been 3 recorded cases of child marriage in the West Bank. In Gaza there was a decrease in reported cases which suggest underreporting and in West Bank there was no increase in child marriage cases. Child marriage cases have been harder to identify since the pandemic with only 21 identified cases in the first seven months of 2020.

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

The long-lasting crisis in Palestine has led to a deteriorating humanitarian situation. In October 2023, Israeli forces began airstrikes after Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched attacks. These attacks killed thousands of women and children and has left 65,000 people wounded and thousands still under rubble. It is estimated that approximately 1.7 million Palestinians (nearly 75%) are internally displaced. Continued conflict and attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have led to mass food insecurity, water, medicine and other necessities.

Armed conflict and displacement: Child marriage has increased in Palestine during times of increased political tension. 21.8% of women between the ages of 20-49 who were married before the age of 18 were refugees and 21.6% were non-refugees. In 2017 the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women highlighted increased pressure on Palestinian girls to get married in the context of the occupation. As reported by UN Women, child marriage in occupied East Jerusalem is associated with poverty, constant uprooting and the oppression of girls. Following 2014 hostilities in Gaza, women and girls suffered large scale displacement and moved to overcrowded camps. Increasing numbers of young girls were married as a coping mechanism due to financial and physical insecurity. This is particularly common among families with multiple daughters where their perceived burden can be higher.

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

Palestine co-sponsored the 2013 Human Rights Council resolution on child, early and forced marriage, and the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Palestine acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2014, 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 2014, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2020 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Palestine harmonise its legislation to remove all exceptions that allow marriage under the age of 18. The Committee also expressed concern at the increasing number of marriages of girls under the age of 18.

There has reportedly been a lack of agreement between Palestinian line ministries and UN agencies on which priority actions should be taken to address child marriage at the national level.

The Future Brilliant Society as a part of UN Women's Regional Men and Women for Gender Equality Programme funded by the Government of Sweden delivered a programme that focussed on engaging men and boys as ¨ambassadors of change¨ to promote gender equality and challenge the tradition of early marriage. This programme engaged with muktars (respected elders), to facilitate awareness-raising campaigns on the negative health effects of child marriage and the impact divorce has on the wider community.

Marriage in Palestinian territories is governed by Article 5 of the Egyptian Family Rights Law No. 303/1954 in Gaza Strip and Article 5 of the Palestinian Personal Status Code of No. 61/1976 (based on Jordanian law) in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Sharia law also governs marriages of the Palestinian Muslim majority and marriage disputes settled in Sharia courts. Christian communities have their own tribunals and use their own personal status laws.

In the West Bank, the age of consent for marriage is 15 for girls and 16 for boys. In the Gaza Strip, the age of consent is 17 for girls and 18 for boys.

Under Article 1 of the Palestinian Childhood Law No. 7/2004, a child is defined as anyone below the age of 18, however the law does not explicitly prohibit child marriage. Article 44(8) only prohibits forced marriage but not child marriage.

In October 2019, an amendment to Article 5 of the Personal Status Law was introduced. This amendment increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 for boys and girls. However, this amendment stipulated that sharia courts and other religious authorities may allow exceptions to the minimum age of marriage.

According to reports, it will be possible to get married before age 18 by receiving an exemption from a religious court and the Palestinian Authority's Sharia judge. Pregnancy, among other factors, will be considered a waiver. There is limited information about other exceptions to the minimum age of marriage.