Child Marriage and Common-Law Unions in the Dominican Republic: A Grim Reality

It is distressing to think that as of 2020, the possibility of child marriages and common-law unions involving minors remains in effect. According to figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at the Latin American level, the Dominican Republic leads the list, with more than 12% of unions involving girls under 15 years of age.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that worldwide, 650 million women and girls were married before turning 18, and furthermore, 21% of young women (between 20 and 24 years old) globally were forced to marry while still children.

The Dominican Civil Code establishes in its Article 144 that the minimum age for a man to marry is 18 years, and for women, 15 years. Although this is outrageous—given that at these ages a human being is clearly still undergoing physical and mental development, among many other reasons—Article 145 of the same code states that “However, the Government may, for serious reasons, grant age dispensations,” which means, and there are many examples, cases where the female—who is the most affected—is under 15 years of age. This constitutes, among other things, cannibalism, sexual abuse, mental illness, shame, sorrow, helplessness, etc.

In the Dominican Republic, child marriages and common-law unions involving minors are social realities historically justified by the precarious economic condition of the minor’s parents, who give their daughters away as a ‘reward’ in exchange for gifts. To end this nightmare, we must maintain a permanent campaign to achieve a substantial modification of the legal provisions that justify this scourge in the Dominican Republic; accompanied by sustainable civic education that begins at home, and, of course, the establishment of a system of consequences for parents, guardians, and adults who consent to such unions and practices.

Thanks to a group of activists such as the International Justice Mission (IJM), who maintain hope that this evil will be eradicated not only from the Dominican Republic but from everywhere it exists, on August 27, 2020, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic (TCRD) heard a direct action of unconstitutionality seeking to declare marriage with minors illegitimate, declaring unconstitutional Articles 144, 145, 149, and 150 of the Dominican Civil Code, Article 56, numeral 5, of Law 659 on Civil Status Acts, and Article 356 of the Dominican Penal Code, which legitimize and allow child marriage for violating and contradicting Articles 39.4, 43, and 56 of the Constitution, as well as Articles 2 and 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the case is currently pending judgment.

We will be attentive to the decision of this court, which we hope aligns with our position.

We understand that this is a matter of the utmost priority, as every child and adolescent needs to live and complete their stage of innocence, healthy development, and physical freedom, so that later, as an adult—not as an incapable child—they can make their own decisions.

Let us continue this campaign through every resource we have at hand; children—the engines of innocence and love—deserve it.