Venezuela

There is no publicly available government data on Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) in Venezuela.

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 Venezuela, but available evidence suggest that is exacerbated by:

● Adolescent pregnancy: Venezuela has one of the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy in the region. Between 2015-2020, for girls between the ages of 15-19, the birth rate was 84 births per 1,000 girls with 24% of girls giving birth before the age of 18. In 2020, the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy in Venezuela for girls between the ages of 15-19 were in Amazonas (17%), Delta Amacuro (17%) and Apure (16%).

● Gender-based violence: Humanitarian crisis within Venezuela has heightened women and girls’ vulnerability to violence, especially migrant women and girls who seek international protection in neighbouring countries such as Peru.

● COVID-19: Since the outbreak of the pandemic, local reports indicate that there has been an increase in child marriage rates in Venezuela. The pandemic has further exposed vulnerable families and to loss of financial income, pushing girls to get married to escape the dire economic situation at home.

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 context, often in times of crisis, families see child marriage as a way to cope in greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

Venezuela is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the world, which was discovered in the 1920s. Since 1999, under the presidency of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela has been engulfed in political and socioeconomic crisis. Decades of corruption, poor governance and sanctions by the United States of America have caused a drastic decline in oil production and a scarcity of basic goods and services.

As of August 2023, there were approximately 7.7 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants, living across Latin America. The refugee crisis in Venezuela is the largest-ever refugee crisis in Latin America. Due to increasing political instability, violence, insecurity and threats, coupled with chronic shortages of food, medicines and essential services, almost 6.4 million Venezuelans have fled the country, the majority seeking refuge in Latin American and Caribbean countries. However, despite leaving Venezuela, those who have fled the country continue to face challenges in accessing good, adequate housing and employment.

● Humanitarian crisis: As of October 2023, there are approximately 19 million Venezuelans that are in need of humanitarian assistance. In Venezuela, between 2014 and 2017, an estimated 750,000 children and adolescents were out of school and 900,000 minors have been separated from their parents due to the migration crisis. Women, girls and unaccompanied minors are particularly at risk of abuse and violence, including sexual violence. While previous experiences in other humanitarian contexts show that violence and forced displacement increase girls’ vulnerability to CEFMU, more research is need to understand the impact on CEFMU of the crisis in Venezuela.

Venezuela 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 provided an update on progress towards this target during its Voluntary National Review at any High Level Political Forum since 2016.

Venezuela co-sponsored the 2013 Human Rights Council procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, and the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights.

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

Venezuela 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 1983, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2014 review, the CEDAW Committee recommended that the government raise the legal age of marriage to 18 years for both girls and boys.

During its 2023 review, the UN CEDAW Committee noted that the Act on the Prevention and Elimination of Sexual Abuse against Children and Adolescents raises the legal minimum age of marriage to 16 years for both girls and boys. The Committee recommended that the government raise the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 for both girls and boys, without any exceptions.

During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, it was noted that the Public Prosecution Service designated 55 prosecutors’ offices to respond to acts of violence against children and had a special unit that provided comprehensive care to children who were victims of sexual offences and/or cruel treatment. The National Assembly passed the Act on the Prevention and Elimination of Sexual Abuse against Children and Adolescents which raised the legal minimum age of marriage.

Venezuela, 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.

Venezuela ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1995. 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.

Venezuela, 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.

In order to raised awareness on gender-based violence, in August 2021, UNICEF Venezuela launched the #HablemosDeFrenteand #NoEsBromaEsViolenciacampaigns. This campaign was launched on International Youth Day and is aimed at adolescents in order to prevent violence against children.

The minimum age of marriage is 18 years for women and men. However, individuals can be married at 16 with parental consent.

Amendments in 2014 to Article 46 of the Civil Code 1982 raised the minimum age of marriage with parental consent from 14 for girls to 16 years.