RT Article
T1 The evolution of child marriage as a human rights concern
JF Human rights review
VO 24
IS 4
SP 585
OP 604
A1 Koski, Alissa
A2 Mangat, Sajneet
A2 Wright, David 1965-
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1877328014
AB The elimination of child marriage is a goal that ranks high on the agendas of civil society organizations, national governments, and multilateral institutions. To date, however, there has been very little scholarship on the historical debates over the definition of child marriage. This article examines the history of age-restricted marriage as it was debated during the development of human rights instruments in the post-World War II era. Using archives of the United Nations and affiliated organizations, we detail how and why efforts to establish a universal minimum age for marriage were repeatedly unsuccessful. We illustrate how the current, commonly used definition of child marriage—as marriage before the age of 18—has never been agreed upon in a legally binding international convention but was seemingly established through a discursive innovation that borrowed principles from the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
K1 United Nations
K1 Human Rights
K1 Sustainable Development Goals
K1 Minimum age for marriage
K1 Gender Equality
K1 Child marriage
DO 10.1007/s12142-023-00707-2