Suriname 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. However, there was no mention of child marriage.
Suriname co-sponsored the 2014 UN General Assembly resolution on child, early and forced marriage.
Suriname ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, 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 1993, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.
During Suriname’s 2018 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern about the disproportionately high number of rural, Maroon and indigenous girls aged 15-17 who were married, the absence of a national strategy to combat and prevent child marriage, and the absence of a legal framework for tribal marriages.
During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, the government reaffirmed their commitment to eliminating child marriage.
During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review, Suriname agreed to examine recommendations to amend legislation in order to increase the minimum age of marriage in line with international standards.
Suriname, 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.
Suriname ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 2002. 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.
Suriname, 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.