A/HRC/RES/41/8
equality with men in all matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, child custody and the
economic consequences of marriage and its dissolution;
4.
Further urges States to remove any provisions that may enable, justify or lead
to child, early or forced marriage, including provisions that enable perpetrators of rape, sexual
abuse, sexual exploitation, abduction, trafficking in persons or modern slavery to escape
prosecution and punishment by marrying their victims, in particular by repealing or amending
such laws;
5.
Calls upon States to ensure the timely registration of births and marriages,
including by identifying and removing all physical, administrative, procedural and any other
barriers that impede access to registration, especially for individuals living in rural and
remote areas, and by providing, where lacking, mechanisms for the registration of customary
and religious marriages;
6.
Also calls upon States to develop and implement measures at all levels to end
child, early and forced marriage, including national and subnational action plans where
appropriate, and to make adequate resources available across relevant sectors, including
health, nutrition, protection, governance and education;
7.
Further calls upon States to promote and protect the right of women and girls
to equal access to education through enhanced emphasis on free and quality primary and
secondary education, including catch-up and literacy education for those who have not
received formal education, have left school early or were forced to leave school because of,
inter alia, marriage, pregnancy and/or childbirth, on re-entry policies and on vocational
training and skills development, which empower young women and girls subjected to child,
early and forced marriage to make informed decisions about their lives, employment,
economic opportunities and health, including through scientifically accurate, age-appropriate
comprehensive education, relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and
boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving
capacities, with information on sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and the
empowerment of women, human rights, physical, psychological and pubertal development
and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build self-esteem and
informed decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills, and to develop
respectful relationships, in full partnership with young persons, parents, legal guardians,
caregivers, educators and health-care providers, in order to contribute to ending child, early
and forced marriage;
8.
Calls upon States to ensure that married and/or pregnant adolescents and young
mothers, as well as single mothers, can continue and complete their education, and in this
regard design, implement and, where applicable, revise educational policies to allow them to
remain in and return to school, providing them with access to health-care and social services
and support, including childcare and breastfeeding facilities and crèches, and to education
programmes with accessible locations, flexible schedules and distance education, including
e-learning, and bearing in mind the important role and responsibilities of fathers, including
young fathers, in this regard;
9.
Urges Governments to respect, protect and fulfil the right to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including the right to sexual
and reproductive health, through the development and enforcement of policies and legal
frameworks and the strengthening of health systems, including health information systems,
that make universally accessible, acceptable and available quality, gender-responsive,
adolescent-friendly health services, sexual and reproductive health-care services,
information, education and commodities, HIV and AIDS prevention, testing, treatment and
care, mental health services and psychosocial support, and nutrition interventions and
prevention, treatment of and care for obstetric fistula and other obstetric complications by
providing the continuum of services, including family planning, prenatal and postnatal care,
skilled birth attendance, emergency obstetric care and post-partum care;
10.
Calls upon Governments to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all
women and girls, including those who have been subjected to child, early and forced
marriage, to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters relating to their
sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and
violence, and to adopt and accelerate the implementation of laws, policies and programmes
5