The Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) and Blossom Inc. today renewed their call for urgent reform of Guyana’s child-marriage laws to protect children from harm, exploitation, and lifelong
inequality.
The two groups reminded that Child marriage remains one of the most pervasive human-rights violations affecting girls in Guyana, despite strong international and regional commitments to end the practice.
While the Marriage Act, Cap. 45:01 establishes 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage, sections 31(1), 32(2), 33, 42, and 65 allow exceptions that permit the marriage of persons under 18 — including girls as young as 16 with parental consent, and even younger in circumstances such as pregnancy.
The GRPA and Blossom said the provisions, though historically introduced to address specific situations, now function as harmful loopholes that legitimise child marriage and expose girls to significant risk, including rape and other forms of violence.
According to the joint statement from the GRPA and Blossom Inc., available national and international data underline the severity of the issue.
According to estimates from Girls Not Brides, 32% of girls in Guyana are married before age 18 and 6% before age 15, while 12% of boys marry before age 18.
The two organisations said the figures place Guyana among the countries with the highest prevalence of child and early marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Guyana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2014 provides deeper insight into how entrenched and unevenly distributed the practice is, the statement noted.
It said that among women aged 15–49, 4% were married before age 15, and among women aged 20–49, 27% were married before age 18. Rates are significantly higher in hinterland and Indigenous communities, the survey found.
Regions 1 and 7 and 8 recorded the highest percentages of marriages before age 15 (9%), while Region 9 has the highest proportion of women married before age 18 — 41%.
The survey also shows that 13% of girls aged 15–19 are currently married or in union, with the highest prevalence in Region 1 (32%).
The two organisations said despite the findings of the survey, there has been no move to address the situation and it now wants the Government of Guyana to amend the Marriage Act to eliminate all exceptions that permit marriage under 18.
They also want the strengthening of protection and accountability systems, expansion of adolescent-friendly health and social services, and investment in comprehensive community education.
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