The Senate’s Human Rights and Gender Equality Committee unanimously approved the proposal, which was presented in 2023 by the Broad Front but has since been shelved.
The Broad Front’s proposal seeks to amend the Civil Code to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18. The text sets forth the only exception for persons over 16 who obtain judicial authorization.
The explanatory statement highlights the consequences of early marriages on the lives of girls and adolescents, according to various studies by UNICEF and other international organizations.
They mention the possibility of unwanted pregnancies, increased risk of experiencing sexual violence, intergenerational transmission of poverty, and a high tendency to drop out of school, which in turn impacts the loss of economic autonomy.
On October 30, 2023, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women included in its extensive list of recommendations that the Uruguayan State “amend the Civil Code to eliminate all exceptions to the minimum age of 18 for marriage, for both women and men.”
The expert remembered that, according to UNICEF data, 25 percent of young women married before the age of 18 in Uruguay and that this impacts “their sexual and reproductive health, and their general well-being.”
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