Paraguay

22% of girls in Paraguay marry or enter a union by the age of 18 and 4% marry or enter a union before the age of 15.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are most prevalent in Alto Paraguay, Alto Paraná, Asunción and Resto and among indigenous and Guarani speaking communities.

In Paraguay, most unions are informal, rather than a formal marriage.

In 2018, according to Paraguayan marriage records, there were 19,600 marriages registered, of which 13% were in the age group of 15-19 years old.

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

● Poverty: 37% of women living in Paraguay’s poorest households were married or entered a union as children, compared to only 9% from the richest households. CEFMU is often used as a means of financial survival and to offer girls a perceived better future.

● Level of education: 45% of women with no education married or entered unions before the age of 18, compared to only 6% who had completed higher education.

● Sexual and gender-based violence: From January to November 2020, reports from the Public Prosecutor’s office revealed more than 2,400 reports of child sexual abuse. In 2019, there were 12 reports of sexual violence against children and adolescents every day. Deeply rooted historical and cultural norms place indigenous women and girls in a particularly vulnerable position.

● Adolescent pregnancy: Sexual violence, rape and the inability to access sexual and reproductive health services in Paraguay contribute to the high levels of adolescent pregnancy. Regionally, Paraguay has some of the highest adolescent pregnancy rates. Between 2015-2020, for girls between the ages of 15-19, the adolescent birth rate in Paraguay was 72 births per 1000 girls.

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

Paraguay reported legislative amendments made to the legal age of marriage in its 2018 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum. The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2021 High Level Political Forum but there was no mention of child marriage. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum since 2021.

Paraguay co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, 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. In 2014, Paraguay also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Paraguay co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Paraguay 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 acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1987, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, the CEDAW Committee recommended that the government eliminate the exception to the legal minimum age of marriage. The Human Rights Committee noted that between 2019-2020, there was an increase in domestic violence and recommended that the government establish and resource programmes to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and girls.

In 2017, the CEDAW recommended Paraguay to take measures to eliminate exceptions to the minimum legal age of marriage for girls and boys.

Paraguay, 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.

Paraguay ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1995. 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.

Paraguay, 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 in 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.

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

In 2018, the Paraguayan government adopted Law 6202 which aimed to prevent sexual abuse of children and adolescents. However, the roadmap for its implementation has not been finalised.

The National Policy on Children and Adolescents 2014-2024, is a broad national strategy preventing and responding to all forms of violence against children.

Amendment to the Civil Code in 2015 raised the minimum legal age for marriage to 18 years old. However girls and boys aged 16 years and over can marry with the consent of parents, guardians or a judge.