Portugal

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in Portugal.

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

While there is limited information on child marriage in Portugal, available studies suggest that is exacerbated by:

• Ethnicity: A 2014 study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights shows that around 2% of Roma girls aged 10-15 are traditionally married or cohabiting with a partner across 11 European Union member states, including Portugal. 16% of Roma boys and girls aged 16-17 are legally or traditionally married or cohabiting across the 11 states.
  

Portugal 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 2023 High Level Political Forum to date. In this review, the government noted that under the National Plan to Combat Racism and Discrimination 2021-2025 (PNCRD), measures were taken to strengthen interventions against harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and child marriage.

Portugal 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, Portugal also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Portugal co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Portugal 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 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1980, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2022 review, the CEDAW Committee noted that FGM/C and child marriage have been included as offenseS in the Criminal Code. The Committee recommended that the government ensure that all cases of FGM/C and child marriage are adequately investigated and prosecuted, and that awareness campaigns target disadvantaged groups of women, Roma and migrant women, victims of FGM/C and child marriage.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the CEDAW Committee urged Portugal to amend its legislation to remove all exceptions that allow marriage under the age of 18.

During its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, Portugal supported recommendations to take specific measures to address the issue of child marriage among some groups of the population and noted recommendations to increase the legal age of marriage from 16 to 18.

Portugal has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), which considers forced marriage a serious form of violence against women and girls, and legally binds state parties to criminalise the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child into a marriage.

At the London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

The National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination 2018-2030 - “Portugal + Igual” (ENIND) was approved in 2018. One of the six strategic goals of the action plan is preventing and combating harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced and early marriages.

In April 2019 the High Commission for Migration promoted a conference dedicated to “Girls and Women, Tradition and Islam”, focusing namely on the abandonment of harmful practices. The Conference gathered various religious leaders from communities in risk of FGM and child marriages.

On 31 January 2025, the Portuguese Parliament approved Law no. 39/2025, raising the minimum legal age for marriage to 18, with no exceptions. This law, which entered into force on 1 April 2025, prohibits the marriage of minors and removes the previous provisions allowing marriage for individuals aged 16 or 17 with parental or guardian consent. The law also classifies child, early, and forced marriage as situations of danger that justify intervention to protect the rights and well-being of children and young people.