United Arab Emirates

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in the United Arab Emirates.

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

There is limited information on child marriage in the United Arab Emirates, but available studies show that it is driven by:

● Trafficking: According to a 2015 report, men from the United Arab Emirates purchase Egyptian women and girls for “temporary” or “summer” marriages for the purpose of forced labour or prostitution. These marriages are often facilitated by the girls’ parents and marriage brokers who profit from the transaction, and are a way to bypass human trafficking laws as well as Islamic restrictions on sex outside wedlock. In the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the government reported that they investigated 24 cases of sex trafficking and 2 labour trafficking cases. The government identified and referred 62 victims of sex trafficking, including 3 children.

The United Arab Emirates 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 2018 and 2022 High-Level Political Forums; however, there was no mention of child marriage.

The United Arab Emirates acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1997, 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 2004, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage, with reservations. The United Arab Emirates agreed to abide by the provisions of Article 16, to ensure equality in marriage, insofar as they are not in conflict with the principles of Shariah law.

During its 2017 Universal Periodic Review, concerns were raised about the persistence of unregistered child marriages and the permitting of underage marriages by judges.

In 2022, the CEDAW Committee recommended that the government adopt legislation to specifically criminalise FGM/C and to prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators. The Committee recommended that the government amend Article 30 of the Federal Family Law No. 28 of 2005 to raise the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 with no exceptions, and to adopt legislation that specifically criminalises parents/guardians and marriage officiants who facilitate and conduct child marriages. The Committee noted with concern that girls and women who are unmarried and do not have an official marriage certificate are unable to access sexual and reproductive health care. The Committee recommended that the government ensure that all girls and women, regardless of marital status, have adequate access to sexual and reproductive health care in order to make responsible decisions regarding their sexual health and prevent early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

During its 2015 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern the prevalance of child marriage and the use of derrogations to the legal minimum age of marriage by judges. The Committee recommeneded that the government enforce the legal minimum age of marriage of 18 years, without any exceptions and ensure that perpetrators of child marriage are adequately prosecuted.

The CEDAW Committee has previously raised concerns about patriarchal attitudes and male guardianship over women and girls in the country, particularly the impossibility of Emirati women to sign their own marriage contracts, the continued practice of dowry and obligations on women to obey their husbands.

The United Arab Emirates is a pathfinder country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

Under the United Arab Emirates Federal Personal Status Act No. 28 of 2005, the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.

However, there are two legal exceptions that allow for child marriage:

Boys and girls under the age of 18 can seek permission from a judge to marry - and the judge must seek approval from the Rulers Court

When boys and girls reach the age of puberty, coupled with the permission from both a judge and wali (guardian).