In 1948 the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) in article 16 stated that “1. Men and women, starting from the age of consent, have the right, without restriction on grounds of race, nationality, or religion, to marry and found a family, and enjoy equal rights in marriage, during marriage, and in marriage as well as in case of dissolution of the marriage. 2. Only through free and full consent of the future spouses can the marriage be contracted. 3. The family is the natural and fundamental element of society and is entitled to the protection of society and the State.”
The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages in 1962 in articles 1,2 and 3 states that a wedding cannot take place unless both parties give their free and full consent publicly before the authority to codify the marriage. Moreover, in article 2 it is stated that the State shall ensure the minimum age for marriage for both men and women.
The Recommendation regarding consent for marriage, the minimal age to marry and the registration of marriages signed in 1965 by the United Nations, highlights the importance of full consent before marriage and the minimum age for it. The first principle of the Recommendation predicts that “a) Marriage cannot be legally contracted without the full and free consent of both parties, expressed by them in person, after due publicity, before the competent authority to formalize the marriage, and witnesses, in accordance with the law. b) Only when the competent authorities are satisfied that each of the parties has expressed their full and free consent before a competent authority, in the presence of witnesses and in the manner prescribed by law, there shall be granted permission to marry on the basis of power, without having subsequently withdrawn it”.
The same predictions we meet in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (articles 23.3, 23.3, 24.4) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(article 11). Last but not least, it is important to mention the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956) with which the United Nations recognized that forced marriage must be seen as a form of slavery.
Σαλαμπάση Χ. Βασιλική, Δικηγόρος – Διαπιστευμένη Διαμεσολαβήτρια