A/HRC/41/19 I. Introduction 1. The present report is prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 35/16 and follows two prior reports to the Human Rights Council on preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage (A/HRC/26/22 and Corr.1 and A/HRC/35/5). It focuses on the issue of child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings, providing an overview of its incidence. The report highlights its causes, explores challenges and gaps in responding to it and records promising practices. The report was prepared based on various sources, including submissions by 15 States, 24 national human rights institutions, 39 civil society organizations and research institutes and 18 United Nations and other international entities.1 2. Humanitarian crises can involve a variety of situations, such as conflict and postconflict, displacement, epidemics, famine, environmental emergencies and the aftermath of natural disasters. Reports and data on the prevalence of child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings remain limited. The 2019 Global Humanitarian Overview states that nearly 132 million people in 42 countries around the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection, mostly due to conflict. 2 Out of those in need of humanitarian assistance, an estimated 34 million are women of reproductive age.3 It is considered that 9 of the 10 countries with the highest child marriage rates are either fragile or extremely fragile.4 3. During humanitarian crises, systems to keep individuals safe – in their homes, schools and communities – may be undermined or damaged, with a possible increase in instances of forced recruitment by armed forces and armed groups, economic exploitation, slavery-like conditions, sexual and gender-based violence and human trafficking. Similarly, the enjoyment of human rights by the civilian population, including access to essential services, is affected by the disruption of community and family systems, limited economic opportunities and livelihoods and the collapse of the State’s public services and political, economic and social structures. Varied and complex reasons, including acute economic and protection needs underpinned by gender power imbalances, may heighten the risks of child, early and forced marriage. In some instances, however, crises have disrupted societal structures and the traditional roles of men and women, leading to reduced child and forced marriage rates. II. International legal framework 4. Child, early and forced marriage is a human rights violation, a form of gender-based discrimination, a harmful practice and a form of sexual and gender-based violence, which requires States to take steps to prevent and eliminate it.5 The international legal framework applying to child, early and forced marriage has been detailed in earlier reports (A/HRC/26/22, paras. 7–16, A/73/257 and A/71/253). 5. United Nations human rights mechanisms have affirmed that fundamental human rights obligations, including economic, social and cultural rights, continue to apply in humanitarian settings. In its general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (para. 11), the Committee on the Elimination of 1 2 3 4 5 2 The submissions referred to in the present report are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/Documentation.aspx. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Global Humanitarian Overview 2019 (2019), p. 5. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “Humanitarian action 2019 overview”, 2019, p. 3. Girls Not Brides, “Child marriage in humanitarian settings”, thematic brief, 2018. Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices, paras. 7 and 8.