A/HRC/41/42/Add.2 chhaupadi huts are routinely exposed to cold and face a heightened risk of sexual violence and attacks by animals. The Special Rapporteur was informed of a number of cases involving the deaths of women and girls, and in some cases their children, while chhaupadi was being practised, due to hypothermia, suffocation or attacks by animals. 42. Despite the explicit criminalization of chhaupadi in section 168 (3) of the Penal Code in 2017, with penalties including a 3,000-rupee fine and a three-month prison term, it continues to be practised in the far and mid-western regions of the country that the Special Rapporteur visited. 43. The Special Rapporteur notes the efforts being made at the local level, by civil society groups and local community representatives in particular, to raise awareness among women and girls of the risks that they face by practising the tradition. During the visit, she was informed about a project being run by the United Nations trust fund in this regard. While welcoming the project, she notes that there is limited scope to effectively address harmful practices through unsustainable projects, in particular as such forms of genderbased violence against women are deeply ingrained at the societal level and should be tackled through education, targeting both girls and boys. Religious leaders also play an important role in informing communities about the new laws that prohibit this harmful practice. 2. Child marriage 44. Nepal has the seventeenth highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world and the seventeenth highest number of child brides. 13 According to reports received by the Special Rapporteur, 37 per cent of girls in Nepal are married by the age of 18, with 10 per cent married before the age of 15. Many young girls are forced into marriage owing to poverty, a lack of access to education, child labour, social pressure and harmful practices. 14 The practice is particularly prevalent within Dalit and Madhesi communities. The Special Rapporteur met with a number of girls from those communities during her visit and was deeply concerned to learn that the number of suicides of young girls coerced into marriage has increased considerably in recent years. 45. The explicit prohibition of child marriage in the Constitution and the adoption in 2016 of the national strategy to end child marriage by 2030 should be commended, as should the creation of village-level committees to support girls and families at risk of child marriage. The Special Rapporteur notes, however, that existing gaps and inconsistencies between the laws prohibiting child marriage are hindering progress in this regard. The lack of implementation of the legal provisions relating to the legal age of marriage have led to a lack of reporting. Recent research indicates that police rarely act to prevent child marriage or bring charges, and they almost never do so unless a complaint is filed. Indeed, the Supreme Court has ordered the Government to address the limited enforcement of child marriage laws.15 46. Child marriage is an offence by law. The Special Rapporteur was informed that an increasing number of boys and girls marry at their own will (so-called love marriages). In this regard, she is concerned at the State party’s decision to raise the legal age of marriage to 20 years and to criminalize all marriages below that age. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that the current legal age of marriage, at 20 years, may lead to difficulties in the criminal justice system in processing cases of rape, in particular as the age of consent is set at 18 years. 13 14 15 10 See www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/nepal/. Human Rights Watch, “Our Time to Sing and Play”: Child Marriage in Nepal (2016). Available at www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/nepal0816_web.pdf. Center for Reproductive Rights, “Ending impunity for child marriage in Nepal: a review of normative and implementation gaps”, policy brief, Kathmandu, 2016, p. 21.