Introduction: Child Marriage in Contemporary Somalia
In 2025, Somalia ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.[1] Ten years earlier, the country had also ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which clarifies the age of majority as 18.[2] The move was met with protests, with men arguing that they believed the new ratification would prevent them from practising Sharia.[3] Similarly, an eight-year-old missing child was found to be living with a man whom she identified as her husband.[4] In the same year, a Somali minister, Ali Yusuf Hosh, aged 67, was reportedly “gifted” a young girl as his bride.[5]
Somalia has some of the highest rates of child marriage on the African continent.[6] It is estimated that 41–45% of Somali women are married before the age of 18—a figure that has risen since the 1980s.[7] However, there are significant regional differences, with 53% of rural women marrying before 18 compared to 35% of urban women.[8] According to UNICEF, this can be attributed to “political instability, climate change, culture, and religion.”[9] Yusuf Sheikh Omar argues that the prevalence of child and forced marriage in Somalia is closely linked to the country’s political and geopolitical history.[10] Forced marriage and child marriage were abolished during the socialist regime in 1975, contributing to a decline in both practices during the 1980s and 1990s under the regime of Siad Barre. However, following the collapse of the Barre government and civil war in 1991, both child and forced marriage re-emerged as state institutions weakened and legal protections deteriorated.[11] Omar argues that this resurgence disproportionately affected girls and young women, particularly those with limited access to education.[12]A 2025 study by Abdirahman Saeed Mohamed of women aged 20–29 who had married as children found that “women from lower socioeconomic status showed higher probabilities of early marriage.”[13]
Legal Pluralism and the Challenge to Child Protection
A great challenge to prohibiting and enforcing the illegality of child marriage in Somalia is its system of legal pluralism. J Sarich, M Olivier, and K Bales suggest that, especially in the African context, there is a correlation between legal pluralism and the proliferation of child marriage.[14] This is because multiple legal systems provide differing, and at times conflicting, justifications for the regulation of marriage. Like many post-colonial African states, Somalia operates a pluralist legal system comprising constitutional law, statutory law, Sharia, and customary law.[15] However, within Somalia’s constitutional framework, Islam and Sharia occupy a privileged position.[16] Tia Lewis outlines that child marriage is illegal in Somalia.[17] Article 16 of the Family Code of 1975 sets the legal age for marriage at 18 but allows marriages at 16, and even younger, with parental consent.[18] However, its application is inconsistent due to Sharia. Also, it is also implicitly unconstitutional. The Somali government has proposed bills to address child marriage; due to backlash, it has been unwilling to pass the bill.[19] Section 28(5) of the Provisional Constitution of Somalia states that “marriage shall not be legal without the free consent of both the man and the woman, or if either party has not reached the age of maturity.”[20] However, the Constitution never defines the age of maturity.
Child Marriage and Islamic Law
Additionally, convoluting the issue of legal pluralism, Tia Lewis observes, many families do not register marriages through the civil system but instead conduct religious marriage ceremonies between an adult groom and a child bride.[21] Certain hadiths and Qur’anic verses have been interpreted by some scholars as permitting child marriage, and these interpretations continue to be relied upon in its defence.[22] However, a growing number of Islamic legal scholars argue that the principles of child welfare (maslahah), justice, and the protection of children are fully compatible with international human rights law.[23] On this basis, they contend that child marriage is inconsistent with Islamic principles and should be prohibited.
The Implicit Unconstitutionality of Child Marriage
There are a few provisions in the current Somalian Constitution that can be argued to implicitly prohibit child marriage, namely the dignity and equality clauses. The Somali Constitution provides that: “Every person has the right to personal security, which shall be safeguarded through the prohibition of illegal detention, all forms of violence, including any form of violence against women, torture, or inhumane treatment.”[24] There is a growing body of international law, including case law[25], statutes[26], and other legal instruments[27], which establishes that child marriage is incompatible with the right to equality enshrined in both domestic and international law, as it constitutes a form of gender-based violence and gender discrimination. Some of which Somalia has co-sponsored and supported.[28]
The Limits of International Human Rights
Tia Lewis correctly identifies a challenge that is not unique to Somalia: even if Somalia were to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), it would still retain significant discretion in implementing its provisions.[29] Because treaties are often drafted in broad terms, states such as Somalia have considerable latitude in determining which legislation to enact or amend.[30] As a result, Somalia may avoid adopting progressive policies in the name of sovereignty and national interest.[31] An example of the limitations of treaty implementation can be seen in Jigawa State, Nigeria, during the domestication of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child through the Child Rights Law.[32] Rather than adopting 18 as the minimum age of marriage, Jigawa State defined the age of maturity by reference to puberty, thereby departing from the standard established under the Child Rights Act.
Hence, addressing child marriage in Somalia, and across Africa more broadly, requires a multi-layered approach that extends beyond legal reform. While strengthening the law is essential, lasting change also depends on transforming harmful social norms and tackling the underlying drivers of child marriage, including poverty, distorted religious justifications, inadequate access to education, gender inequality, and other socio-economic factors.
Conclusion
Although Somalia has ratified key international and regional treaties protecting children’s rights, it has not translated these commitments into clear, enforceable domestic legislation. Nevertheless, the Constitution’s guarantees of dignity, equality, and personal security provide a potential legal basis for challenging child marriage. Future reform should therefore focus not only on legislative change but also on developing interpretations of Islamic law that are compatible with international human rights standards, enabling the protection of children while respecting Somalia’s constitutional and religious framework.
[1] Khadar Aweis, ‘Somalia Ratifies African Charter on Child Rights, Reaffirms Commitment to Children’s Welfare’ Somali National News Agency (SONNA) (14 April 2026) <https://sonna.so/en/somalia-ratifies-african-charter-on-child-rights-reaffirms-commitment-to-childrens-welfare/> accessed 30 June 2026.
[2] United Nations in Somalia, ‘As the Fifth Anniversary of Somalia’s Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child Approaches, Protection Violations Against Children Continue to Rise’ (21 September 2020) <https://somalia.un.org/en/91957-fifth-anniversary-somalias-ratification-convention-rights-child-approaches-protection> accessed 30 June 2026
[3] Children InfoBank, ‘Somalia’s 24-Hour Law: Parliament Reverses Decision to Set Marriage Age at 18’ Children InfoBank (25 October 2025) <https://childreninfobank.com/somalias-24-hour-law-parliament-reverses-decision-to-set-marriage-age-at-18/> accessed 30 June 2026.
[4] BBC News, ‘Outrage in Somalia after Man Says He Married Missing Eight-Year-Old’ (1 April 2025) accessed 30 June 2026
[5] Ali Yusuf, ‘Outrage as 67-Year-Old Somali Minister “Gifted” Young Girl as Wife by Clan Elder’ Horn Observer (3 September 2025) <https://hornobserver.com/articles/3476/Outrage-as-67-Year-Old-Somali-Minister-Gifted-Young-Girl-as-Wife-by-Clan-Elder> accessed 30 June 2026.
[6] United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Child Marriage in Eastern and Southern Africa (UNICEF 2022) 68 <https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Child-Marriage-in-Eastern-and-Southern-Africa-June-2022-UNICEF-web.pdf> accessed 30 June 2026.
[7] United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Child Marriage in Eastern and Southern Africa (UNICEF 2022) 68 <https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Child-Marriage-in-Eastern-and-Southern-Africa-June-2022-UNICEF-web.pdf> accessed 30 June 2026.
[8] ibid
[9] United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Somalia Country Brief (UNICEF 2025) <https://www.unicef.org/media/176596/file/Somalia%20Country%20Brief.pdf> accessed 30 June 2026
[10] Yusuf Sheikh Omar, ‘The State of Marriage in Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros’ in A Aref and MM Rahman (eds), The Handbook of Marriage in the Arab World (Gulf Studies Series vol 17, Springer 2024) 75–96
[11] ibid
[12] ibid
[13] Abdirahman Saeed Mohamed, *A Cross-Sectional Study of Early Marriage among Ever-Married Somali Women: Prevalence, Regional Differences, and Sociodemographic Determinants*, PLOS ONE vol 20, no 7 (2025) e0329166 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0329166> accessed 30 June 2026
[14] Jody Sarich, Michèle Olivier and Kevin Bales, ‘Forced Marriage, Slavery, and Plural Legal Systems: An African Example’ (2016) 38(2) Human Rights Quarterly 450
[15] Natasha Leite, ‘Reinvigoration of Somali Traditional Justice through Inclusive Conflict Resolution Approaches’ (2017) Conflict Trends (Issue 3) 46 <https://www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/reinvigoration-somali-traditional-justice-inclusive-conflict-resolution-approaches/> accessed 30 June 2026.
[16] Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia (adopted 1 August 2012) art 2.
[17] Tia Lewis, ‘I Don’t: An Argument Against Using International Intervention to Eliminate Child Marriage in Somalia’ (2022) 54(1) The George Washington International Law Review 157,
[18] Somalia, Family Law (Law No 23 of 1975, 11 January 1975) art 16
[19] Rihan Esmael, ‘Somalia’s Child Brides: When Religion Silences the Law’ The Daily Horn News and Beyond (7 October 2025) <https://www.horndaily.com/2025/10/07/somalias-child-brides-when-religion-silences-the-law/>accessed 30 June 2026.
[20] Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia (adopted 1 August 2012) art 28(5)
[21] n 17
[22] Islamic Relief Worldwide, An Islamic Human Rights Perspective on Early and Forced Marriages: Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage (Islamic Relief Worldwide 2018) <https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/documents/867/IRW-Islamic-persepctive-on-CM.pdf> accessed 30 June 2026.
[23] ibid
[24] Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia (adopted 1 August 2012) art 2.
[25] Mudzuru & Another v. The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs & Others
[26] Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006
[27] African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
[28] Girls Not Brides, ‘Somalia’ (Child Marriage Atlas) <https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/en/learning-resources/child-marriage-atlas/regions-and-countries/somalia/> accessed 30 June 2026.
[29] n 17
[30] ibid
[31] ibid
[32] Ogunleye, Olamide. “Jigawa Assembly Passes Child Rights Bill, Expunges Age Limit for Marriage.” Premium Times, December 21, 2021. <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nwest/501952-jigawa-assembly-passes-child-rights-bill-expunges-age-limit-for-marriage.html?tztc=1>
