Ukraine

9% of girls in Ukraine marry before age 18

4% of boys in Ukraine marry before age 18.

Child marriage rates are slightly more prevalent in the Centre and South of the country, and in rural areas.

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

In Ukraine, child marriage is also driven by:

Poverty: 15% of women living in Ukraine’s poorest households were married as children, compared to 10% in the richest households.

Level of education: 17% of Ukrainian women who have completed secondary education were married before the age of 18, compared to only 9% who had completed higher education.

Ethnicity: Child marriage is reportedly more common among Roma communities living in Ukraine. Marriages are seldom registered within these communities due to an absence of passports. Early marriage also forms part of normalised Roma traditions which stigmatise girls’ independence.

Gender inequality: Patriarchal attitudes maintain that a Ukrainian woman’s main role is to be a wife and mother. Some young girls and families support early marriage as it leads to the “right path” in life.

Adolescent pregnancy: According to a 2013 public opinion survey, 42% of respondents reported that they first had sexual intercourse between the ages of 16 and 18. Analysis shows that pregnancy is the main reason that courts grant permission for 16 or 17 year old girls to marry.

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.

Since the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022, it is estimated that approximately 14.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, 3.7 million are internally displaced and 6.5 million people have crossed into neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary or Moldova.

The war has caused an energy crisis in Ukraine, which has impacted public access to water, electricity, health care, social protection, heating and education. This has also caused ripple effects across the rest of the world, impacting global chain supply and price increases in food and fuel.

Conflict: Girls, women and children are particularly at risk of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, abuse, trafficking and child marriage during times of conflict.

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

The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum since 2020.

The government submitted a 2020 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum, but there was no mention of child marriage.

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

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

Ukraine 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 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the government remove all exceptions to marriage below the age of 18 years and take measures to raise awareness on the harmful consequences of child marriage.

During its 2022 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern at the prevalence of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, particularly within the Roma community. The Committee recommended that the government conduct awareness-raising campaigns and age-appropriate and inclusive education on sexual and reproductive health, including education on contraception, in order to prevent adolescent pregnancy as a root cause of child marriage.

During its 2017 review, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns that child marriage still persists in Roma communities and recommended that the government strictly enforce its legal age of marriage.

Ukraine is one of the countries where the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is working to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

A 2012 amendment to the Family Code of Ukraine raised the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 years for both men and women under Article 22. Prior to this amendment, the legal age of marriage was 17 for women and 18 for men. However, courts may still grant permission from age 16 if there are special reasons.