Uruguay

25% of girls in Uruguay are married or in a union before the age of 18 and 1% are married or in a union before their 15th birthday.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are most prevalent in rural parts of Uruguay with less than 5000 inhabitants, and among Afro and other ethnic minority groups.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on CEFMU in Uruguay, but available studies show that it is driven by:

Level of education:23% of women with primary level education were married or in a union before the age of 18, compared to only 1% who had completed tertiary education.

Poverty: 29% of women in Uruguay’s poorest households were married or entered a union as children, compared to only 6% in the richest households.

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

During its Voluntary National Review at the 2017 High Level Political Forum, the government highlighted the increased minimum age of marriage from 12-14 to 16 years. However, it did not report on any progress towards target 5.3 during its Voluntary National Review at the 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 High Level Political Forums.

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

Uruguay co-sponsored the 2014, 2016 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Uruguay 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 1981, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2023 review, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns at the minimum age of marriage under the Civil Code. It recommended that the government raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 years and remove all exceptions, including parental consent.

During its 2014 Universal Periodic Review, Uruguay supported recommendations to eliminate child marriage and adopt 18 as a minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys. During its 2018 Universal Periodic Review, Uruguay supported recommendations to adopt legislation to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 years.

Uruguay, 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.

Uruguay ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1996. 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.

Uruguay, 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.

Since 2016, a bill that would amend the Civil Code to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 years regardless of gender remains under study by the Senate Constitution and Legislation Committee.

Under the Article 91 of the Civil Code 1995, individuals must be at least 16 years old to marry, and if below 18 years require parental consent to do so.

In December 2020, the Uruguayan Cabinet passed a bill to raise the legal minimum age of marriage from 18 to 21 years. This bill came after a Task Force report revealed that raising the legal minimum age of marriage would decrease the adolescent maternal mortality rates and improve nutrition for women and girls. Despite this still being a bill, it is hoped that Parliament will amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Special Marriage Act.