Nearly a decade after Bangladesh enacted the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 2017, significant legal and practical challenges continue to undermine efforts to eradicate child marriage in the country. Despite the law’s criminalization of child marriage, the persistence of legal loopholes and contradictions means many child marriages remain legally recognized, allowing the practice to endure.

A recent review by Unicef and UNFPA highlights the gap between the law’s intent and the reality faced by minors in Bangladesh. Under the current framework, while those facilitating child marriages may face legal penalties, the marriages themselves can survive in law. This situation leaves many girls recognized as victims but without effective legal mechanisms to annul or escape these unions. According to the 2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 47.2 percent of women aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18, a slight decline from 51.4 percent in 2019 but still the highest rate of child marriage in South Asia.

A particularly contentious provision is Section 19 of the 2017 Act, which allows marriages involving minors under “special circumstances,” pending judicial approval and safeguards. Critics argue that this exception undermines the law’s prohibition by introducing ambiguity and failing to account for the power imbalances in decisions influenced by poverty, social stigma, or family pressure. Unicef and UNFPA recommend removing this exception, emphasizing that children’s vulnerability should bolster protective measures, not weaken them.

Another major weakness is that child marriages are not automatically void or voidable upon a minor’s request. Bangladesh’s overlapping statutory and religious personal laws mean a child marriage can be subject to criminal sanctions while remaining legally valid. The review suggests enabling individuals married as children to seek annulment until age 22 and calls for accompanying safeguards such as legal aid, safe housing, and financial support. Without these resources, legal rights to leave can remain inaccessible, particularly for girls dependent on the households from which they seek to escape.

Additional contradictions within the law include penalties directed at minors themselves and unequal minimum marriage ages—18 for females and 21 for males—raising questions about fairness and child protection. Experts argue that penalizing children and maintaining gender disparities are inconsistent with principles of equality and effective safeguarding.

The review also connects child marriage with broader social challenges, such as low educational retention. Nearly 34 percent of children at the upper-secondary level are out of school, and completion rates stand below 44 percent. Financial burdens, safety concerns, and geographic barriers contribute to girls leaving school, often leading to or reinforcing early marriage. Cases like that of Sumi Rani, married at 14 due to schooling difficulties, illustrate the limits of legal age requirements when economic realities push families toward early marriage.

Adolescent reproductive health indicators also reflect the consequences of early marriage: births to girls aged 15 to 19 increased from 83 to 92 per 1,000 over six years. Early marriage directly impacts bodily autonomy, maternal health, and cycles of poverty.

While law enforcement intervention occurred recently—such as the September 2026 prevention of an 11-year-old girl’s marriage in Keraniganj and subsequent sentencing of involved adults—experts stress that prevention must happen before marriage arrangements reach an advanced stage.

Bangladesh has engaged in ongoing reform discussions. In April 2025, the interim government’s Women’s Affairs Reform Commission proposed establishing a uniform family code to address legal fragmentation affecting marriage and family law. Further dialogues in late 2025 prioritized reforming the Child Marriage Restraint Act, enhancing marriage registration systems, improving school retention, and strengthening local accountability.

Despite institutional recognition of the problem and commitments under international frameworks such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Sustainable Development Goals, critics say Bangladesh’s legal and policy responses remain inadequate. Experts call for a comprehensive reform approach that removes statutory exceptions, guarantees survivor-centered protections, and makes secondary education retention a legally enforceable priority supported by adequate funding and transparent monitoring.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of child marriage legislation should be measured not by the number of prosecutions but by how many children are protected, educated, and empowered to determine their own futures. Bangladesh’s challenge lies less in denying that child marriage is unacceptable and more in closing the legal gaps that allow it to persist.