A/HRC/21/41
per cent of married women.6 Girls are also less likely to participate in discussions
concerning family planning.
86.
Girls and women who seek to leave servile marriage may be victims of acid attacks
or honour-related killings. Acid attacks, which involve the use of sulphuric acid to disfigure
or kill, have been reported in Asia, Europe and North and Latin America.
F.
Right to non-discrimination
87.
The right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex features in numerous
international human rights instruments in relation to marriage. For example, articles 1 and
16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
call for the elimination of discrimination against women in all matters related to marriage
and family relations. Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the
right of children to be free from discrimination, including on the grounds of age and sex. In
cases where there is a difference between the minimum age for girls and boys to marry,
however, the minimum age for girls is always lower than that for boys.
VIII. Challenges
A.
Legislation
88.
Women in servile marriage lack adequate protection in the light of their specific
vulnerabilities arising from their gender, low social status and their age (if they are girls).
Many countries lack laws criminalizing forced marriage or slavery-like practices that arise
from servile marriage such as domestic servitude or marital rape, mainly because some
abuses that occur in a marriage are often seen as domestic matters and outside interference
is often frowned upon because it would be interference in the privacy of the home.
Consequently, there is a tendency to deal with this form of slavery privately, outside the
courts.
89.
Some countries have enacted legislation that provides that a rapist may be acquitted
of rape if he marries his victim. These laws do not consider the victim to be a victim and do
not take into account her rights as they favour only the perpetrator of the crime. The
victim’s rights are further violated when she is forced to marry her rapist and enter a servile
marriage.
90.
Some countries have abolished such legislation. For example, by Act No. 14 of
1999, Egypt abolished the pardon formerly granted to a perpetrator who married a
kidnapped victim. In 2005, Brazil amended its Penal Code along the same lines.
91.
In India, under section 13 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,
magistrates can issue an injunction against any person, including a member of an
organization or an association of persons, prohibiting a child marriage where they are
convinced that such a marriage has been arranged or is about to be solemnized.
92.
In some cases, although laws may be in place to protect women and girls from
servile marriage, the authorities fail to prosecute the perpetrators. Consequently, victims do
not seek help from the police or judiciary as they fear further abuse from Government
authorities or being forcibly returned to their husbands. According to a 2008 report by the
United Nations Development Fund for Women, between 70 and 80 per cent of Afghan
marriages are forced, and 57 per cent are child marriages where one of the spouses is under
16
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