ENoMW Statement
Child Protection in Ukraine: Concerns over Proposals to Lower the Age of Marriage and Consent
Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in severe demographic consequences, including a significant decline in birth rates. However, demographic challenges cannot justify measures that weaken established child-protection safeguards.
Serious concerns have been raised regarding legislative proposals that would lower the age of marriage and age of consent to 14 years in Ukraine.
Background and Legislative Proposals
Under Article 1478 of Parliamentary Draft Law No. 14394, courts would be allowed to approve marriage for girls aged 14 in exceptional cases, such as pregnancy or childbirth.
In parallel, proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Ukraine seek to lower the age of consent to 14, treating a child as legally able to consent if they are “considered capable of understanding what is happening.”
Risks of Lowering Legal Safeguards
Lowering these safeguards risks normalising conditions in which adult sexual exploitation of girls will be reframed as consent rather than recognised as abuse. A 14-year-old girl cannot provide free and informed consent to sex or to a long-term legal and personal commitment such as marriage.
Further risks include:
- Predatory behaviour: Changes may enable grooming tactics to be concealed behind a child’s “supposed consent.”
- Violence and inequality: Early marriage exposes girls to heightened risks of coercion, interrupted education, health complications, and long-term inequality.
- Ineffectiveness: Early marriage does not improve outcomes for adolescent mothers; real protection comes from health care, family assistance, and social services.
International Standards and European Alignment
Introducing 14 as the age for consent and marriage would contradict international human rights standards and European child protection principles.
These include:
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires prioritising the best interests, protection and development of the child.
- EU law and policy, including the Istanbul Convention and EU Directive 2024/1385, which require states to criminalise and prevent forced marriage.
- For Ukraine, maintaining a clear minimum age of marriage demonstrates commitment to shared European values during its accession process to the European Union.
Calls to Action
The statement calls on the Ukrainian Parliament to:
- Maintain the age of consent in the Criminal Code at 16 years.
- Maintain strict punishment for adults for sex with minors under 16.
- Establish a minimum marriage age of 18 without exceptions, in line with international standards.
- Ensure full consistency between civil and criminal legislation to reinforce the protection of girls’ bodily integrity and inviolability of their human dignity.
Read the full statement below