OHCHR Guidelines on Child, Early and Forced Marriage

This submission has been made in response to the call for input by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Guidelines on Child, Early and Forced Marriage, focusing on experiences of LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people.

Summary of recommendations:

FDPN recommends that the Guidelines for States on the effective application of a human rights-based approach to the development and implementation of laws, policies and programmes to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage should:

1. Recognise that LGBTIQA+ people irrespective of their gender identity are also at risk of and subjected to forced marriages; and include them, especially those from forcibly displaced backgrounds, as priority cohorts across prevention and response efforts.
2. Expand the understanding of drivers of forced marriages to include sexuality and gender identity conversion practices.
3. Recognise that work on achieving gender equality is inseparable from eliminating racism, xenophobia, ableism and LGBTIQA+ discrimination.
4. Call for primary prevention efforts on forced marriages be undertaken through an intersectional lens and include LGBTIQA+ experiences.
5. Support targeted awareness-raising efforts designed for LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people to increase their knowledge about supports and justice pathways.
6. Recognise civil society organisations led by LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people as key stakeholders, and establish meaningful and ongoing partnerships between them and governments.
7. Call for the funding to be provided to organisations led by LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people to enable targeted primary prevention of and supports.
8. Call for additional services for LGBTIQA+ survivors, including those from forcibly displaced backgrounds, regardless of their migration status.

Submissions made by other stakeholders can be viewed online.