Syria

13% of Syrian girls marry before age 18 and 3% marry before age 15.

The most recent available data also shows that child marriage was most prevalent in Daraa (where 26% of women aged 20-49 were married before the age of 18), Rural-Damascus (25%) and Quneitra (23%). Child marriage occurred in both rural and urban areas of Syria as of 2006.

Child marriage also exists in northern rural Aleppo, Idlib province and al-Hasaka province. Child marriages that take place in these provinces are not officially registered as they are held by armed opposition groups and local courts lack official recognition. In 2020, a Pattered Women Committee official, under the SARA Organization for Combatting Violence against Women, found that in al-Hasaka province there were 36 documented cases of child marriage in 2020 and 46 cases in 2019.

Child marriage existed in Syria before the war. Although very limited data exists due to the war, research findings confirm that child marriage is increasing, particularly in northwest Syria.

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

Due to the state of conflict and devastation in Syria, there is limited information available, but available studies show that child marriage is exacerbated by:

● Harmful practices: A 2013 UN Women study found that child marriage is an accepted Syrian practice that predates the crisis. Many refugees interviewed in the study did not identify child marriage as a negative issue impacting refugees. They noted, however, that practices had changed in camps and girls were marrying older men who are considered better protectors.

● Trafficking: A 2016 report highlights that some child marriages among Syrian refugees are arranged by brokers and result in girls being forced into sexual slavery. Some mothers have expressed concern about letting their daughters leave camps as external men reportedly search for Syrian girls to marry.

● Family honour: Culturally, for both boys and girls, marrying young protects their family honour. For girls, sutra, securing their honour, puts them at risk of early child marriage and its consequences, such as gender-based violence and domestic violence.

● Gender discrimination: Although findings indicate that child marriage affects both boys and girls in Syria, girls are disproportionately affected by early marriage. Boys often have some degree of autonomy and independence. Culturally, boys are seen as fulfilling their independence and adulthood by being the breadwinner, marrying and raising a family, whereas girls are limited economically, socially, and physically.

● Protection: There exists the belief that girls need economic and physical protection and that unmarried girls require protection in the form of an older man (husband). This notion is driven by poverty.

● Level of education: Before the Syrian conflict, education was highly regarded. After the war, displaced communities lack access to educational opportunities. Due to conflict, schools are no longer safe places and parents are less inclined to send their children to school, especially girls. It is estimated that approximately 2.4 million children are out of school and face the risk of child marriage, child labour and the recruitment into armed forces. 1 in 3 school children are displaced and this has further impacted their mental and physical growth.

Humanitarian settings can encompass a wide range of situations before, during, and after natural disasters, conflicts, and epidemics. They exacerbate poverty, insecurity, and 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 to cope with greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

Syria is facing a complex humanitarian crisis, characterised by civil war, cross-border displacement, climate shocks and an ongoing cholera outbreak. Conflict began in Syrian as a result of a violent government crackdown in March 2011, which sparked protests and public demonstrations. Quickly, this escalated into civil war, forcing millions of Syrians to flee. In February 2023, 2 earthquakes hit south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria causing destruction. As of March 2024, the earthquake impacted approximately 8.8 million people, claiming the lives of 60,000 people.

13 years since the conflict started, approximately 70% of Syria’s population has been displaced, either within the country (with 6.8 million internally displaced people) or across borders (with at least 5.6 million Syrians displaced in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt). As of 2023, 15.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in the neighbouring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. has the world's highest population of IDPs.

● Displacement: The onset of war and the mass displacement of millions of refugees has led to a dramatic rise in the number of girls married as children in neighbouring countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. For IDP children, the protection risks intensify with the erosion of household support networks, increased vulnerability forces families to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as child marriage. In a 2020 World Vision study, it was found that both parents and children agreed that child marriage rates had increased due to the conflict. For example, according to a 2018 study, 29% of Syrian girls aged 15-19 displaced in Lebanon are married. The marriage is often arranged by families to protect their daughters from sexual abuse in camps (as well as the family honour) and to provide them with security. Additionally, families struggle to survive on few resources and marry their daughters to reduce their perceived economic burden. A 2017 study found that many Syrian families recognise the harm of child marriage, but have few alternative options in refugee camps. Girls who are displaced inside Syria are likely facing similar problems. Some families believe that it is in their daughters’ best interests to marry young in order to protect them from conflict and violence. However, there is limited data about the current situation of girls in the country.

● Conflict: A number of reports show that armed groups inside Syria and neighbouring Iraq are using child and forced marriage as well as sexual violence as weapons of war to panic, intimidate and displace populations.

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

The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

Syria 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 2003, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage. However, Syria has entered reservations to several Articles of CEDAW, including Article 16 (2) on child marriage, inasmuch as this provision is incompatible with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed serious concerns about the increase in marriages of girls under the age of 18 since the beginning of the armed conflict, many of them perpetrated by security forces and Islamist fighters. The Committee urged Syria to:

● Amend its legislation to raise the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 and to remove all exceptions.

● Promptly investigate, prosecute, and sanction perpetrators.

● Establish a mechanism for reporting cases of child marriage.

● Develop awareness-raising campaigns on the harmful effects of child marriage.

During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review, Syria agreed to examine recommendations to protect girls from child marriage.

In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, Syria committed to reducing the rate of early marriage from 13% to 5% through legislation and interventional policy programs.

As reported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour in 2020, a Child Rights Law is being developed which would raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 for women. Interventional policy programmes are also reportedly being prepared to address early marriage in Syria. However, the situation in Syria is not conducive to legislative and policy progress.

The UN Humanitarian Response Plan 2019 for Syria includes provisions to mitigate child marriage, among other key concerns.

It is very difficult for registered NGOs to work in Syria or gain access. Security concerns and restrictions on the type of projects that can be implemented make it difficult to address issues of child protection.

Under the Syrian Personal Status Law, the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for boys and 17 years for girls. However, girls can marry at 13 years and boys at 15 years with judicial consent.