Child marriage is the betrothal of girls and boys below the age of 18.[1]

In the Ivory Coast, child marriage is a prevalent issue within the country and affects millions of residents on a day-to-day basis.[2] Recent efforts have been done to reduce its presence within the country, however, a lack of funds and unregistered births have significantly hindered its progress[3] and progress has stagnated in recent years.[4]

Under Marriage Act 1983, in the Ivory Coast it is illegal in for a marriage to occur for a man under the age of twenty and a woman under the age of eighteen, but a public prosecutor can grant an exception to this law with parental consent. And in Article 378 of the Ivorian Penal Code any person who forces a marriage upon a person under the age of eighteen will be imprisoned for 1 to 5 years and/or will be fined between 360,000 to 1,000,000 francs.[5][6] Despite these laws, in 2017, 27% of girls were married off before the age of 18 and 7% were married before they turned 15 in 2017.[7]

In 2019, the Council of Ministers of Côte d’Ivoire has approved a bill to amend marriage law and make the age of consent eighteen for both sexes, prevent prosecutors from granting exceptions, and ensure stricter standards on verification of the ages of the parties to be married. Along with that, the bill allows women to manage their collective properties, although only one party in the marriage would be allowed to manage it. The bill also prohibits same-sex marriage, with it defining marriage as to be only between a woman and a man, and it still needs to be approved by the President and the Parliament before it goes into effect.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "African Charter on the Rights of the Child". Save the Children’s Resource Centre. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  2. ↑ "Cote d'Ivoire - Child Marriage Around The World. Girls Not Brides". perma.cc. Archived from the original on 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  3. ↑ "Committee on the Rights of the Child examines report of Côte d'Ivoire". OHCHR.
  4. ↑ "Child Marriage in Cote d'Ivoire". Save the Children’s Resource Centre.
  5. ↑ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Côte d'Ivoire: Forced marriage, including among the Malinke; the prevalence of forced marriage and state protection available; the possibility for a young woman to refuse the man arranged for her (2014-March 2016)". Refworld.
  6. ↑ "Cote d'Ivoire - Child Marriage Around The World. Girls Not Brides". perma.cc. Archived from the original on 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  7. ↑ "Child marriage around the world: COTE D'IVORE", Girls Not Brides
  8. ↑ "Côte d'Ivoire: Bill to Amend Marriage Law Approved". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  9. ↑ "Mariage en Côte d'Ivoire : 5 choses à savoir sur la réforme en faveur de l'égalité hommes-femmes – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-05-29.
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