Omán

4% of girls in Oman are married before the age of 18 and 1% are married before their 15th birthday.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on child marriage in Oman. There is anecdotal evidence of girls being trafficked from India and Yemen to be married off in Oman.

Oman has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The government did not submit a Voluntary National Review at any High-Level Political Forum to date.

Oman acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1996, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2006, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2020 the CEDAW Committee expressed concern at the persisting practice of child marriage and female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), especially in rural areas. The Committee recommended that the government take measures to eliminate harmful practices such as FGM and child marriage. This Committee and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child both recommended that Oman enforce the legal minimum age for marriage and implement regulation that impose sanctions on perpetrators of FGM/C and child marriage

During its 2017 review, the CEDAW Committee highlighted that child marriage was on the decline in Oman and welcomed Article 7 of the Personal Status Law, which set the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both girls and boys. It raised concerns, however, that child marriage is still allowed by some judges in rural areas.

In 2011 the CEDAW Committee raised concerns about the requirement of a wali (male guardianship permission) for a woman to enter into marriage, drawing attention to patriarchal norms in Oman and the lack of space for women and girls to influence decisions affecting them.

The minimum legal age of marriage in Oman is 18 years, this is established under Article 7 of the Personal Status Law.

However, under Article 10 of the Personal Status Law, marriage under the age of 18 is allowed if it is considered to be in the bride’s best interests, if her guardian consents, or with permission from a judge. There is no minimum age of marriage when all exceptions have been considered.