Child and forced marriage linked to trafficking is one of Southeast Asia’s most urgent human rights challenges. These harmful practices affect millions of girls, boys, and women - especially young women - across the region. While child marriage involves those under 18, forced marriage can affect individuals of any age, including adults coerced or deceived into marriage.
The impact is devastating. These practices deny children and young people of education, health, and safety, and often lead to to exploitation and lifelong trauma.
Recognising the urgent need for a coordinated, survivor-centred response, ASEAN - with support from the DT Global managed, Australian Government-funded ASEAN-Australia Counter Trafficking program - has launched the ASEAN Guidelines for Addressing Child and Forced Marriage within the Context of Trafficking in Persons on 25 November 2025.
Child and forced marriage is not only a violation of human rights, it's a driver of trafficking and exploitation. When children and young people are forced into marriage, they face heightened risks of abuse, violence, and economic insecurity. These harms reinforce cycles of poverty and inequality, undermining progress on gender equality and sustainable development.
This is ASEAN’s first policy document dedicated specifically to child and forced marriages, issues long present in the region but previously without a unified regional framework.
The new guidelines provide a roadmap for ASEAN Member States to strengthen prevention, protection, and justice for victims. They represent a shared commitment to safeguarding the rights of women and children across the region.
The guidelines were developed by the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) in collaboration with experts and frontline practitioners from civil society and UN agencies. Importantly, they include the voices of survivors and young leaders - whose lived experiences shaped the recommendations. Their insights ensure the guidelines are practical, sensitive, and grounded.
The process drew on regional consultations, a scoping study, and dialogue across multiple sectors, including child protection, gender-based violence, law enforcement, and counter-trafficking. Survivors and young people contributed their experiences and insights, while practitioners highlighted gaps in law and services. Together, these perspectives shaped a framework that prioritises safety, dignity, and justice.
The guidelines provide clear steps for preventing and responding to cases of trafficking for child and forced marriage. They help frontline responders - police, social workers, healthcare professionals - identify cases accurately, investigate effectively, and support victims with care.
For policymakers, the guidelines offer a practical framework to strengthen laws, coordination, and protection systems to better prevent these practices and safeguard survivors’ rights.
The guidelines call for decisive action to close protection gaps and strengthen responses across the region. They urge ASEAN Member States to explicitly recognise child and forced marriage as forms of exploitation within trafficking laws, closing legal loopholes that currently leave victims vulnerable.
They emphasise the importance of official birth and marriage registration, as these documents can serve as a powerful shield against abuse. Prevention is also critical - expanding programs that keep children in school and providing social protection for families reduces the pressure to make harmful choices.
The guidelines further highlight the need to strengthen cross-border cooperation and survivor support services, because exploitation does not stop at borders, and neither should protection. Finally, they stress that consistency across ASEAN countries is essential, with harmonised laws and practices to close gaps caused by differing definitions and age thresholds.
The guidelines recognise that vulnerabilities such as poverty, gender inequality, disability combine to increase risk. This intersectional lens informs eight key areas of action, from legal reform to victim identification and survivor care.
These guidelines are more than a document - they are a commitment to protect the rights of women and children.
DT Global is proud to support ASEAN in this milestone. Through programs like ASEAN-ACT, we help strengthen regional frameworks, build capacity, and foster collaboration to tackle complex issues such as trafficking and gender-based violence.
Learn more about the guidelines and ASEAN’s commitment to ending child and forced marriage: www.aseanact.org/resources/ASEAN-CFM
