Cameroon

30% of girls in Cameroon are married before their 18th birthday and 11% are married before the age of 15.

3%of boys in Cameroon are married before the age of 18.

Child marriage is most common in Adamaoua province and Extrême-Nord.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys. In Cameroon, child marriage is also driven by:

Poverty: Girls from Cameroon’s poorest households are almostfive timesmore likely to marry before the age of 18 than girls from the richest households. Bride price – whereby a girl’s family receives payment for her marriage – is still widely practised there.

Level of education: More than half of uneducated girls are currently married compared to one in ten of secondary educated girls, and almost none of those with higher education. In addition, according to UNICEF, by the end of 2019 there were 855,000 children out of school in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon due to instability. This puts girls at an increased risk of child marriage and early pregnancy.

Harmful practices: Marriage is predominantly arrange by the fathers, influenced by religious and community leaders.

Gender norms and traditional attitudes: Marriage is seen as a girl’s life purpose, so much that in a 2015 study, girls from certain parts of Cameroon reported beingportrayed as infertile, prostitutes or witches for not being married. High value is placed on virginity, with some cultural practices such asfulaniteaching people that marriage will bring more gifts if a girl is a virgin. Some people feel that a girl should be living with her husband when she has herfirst menstruation. In a 2014study, 41% of respondents felt that child marriage is directly driven by a belief that women are “goods”.

Humanitarian settings can encompass a wide range of situations before, during, and after natural disasters, conflicts, and epidemics. They exacerbate poverty, insecurity, and lack of access to services such as education, factors which all drive child marriage. While gender inequality is a root cause of child marriage in both stable and crisis contexts, often in times of crisis, families see child marriage as a way to cope with greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

In the case of Cameroon, the humanitarian situation is increasingly fragile. Since 2017, tensions in the Northwest and Southwest regions have escalated, with recent terrorist attacks by Boko Haram in the Far North of Cameroon, the Lake Chad basin conflict and the Central African Republic refugee crisis. Conflict from 2017 has left more than 1 million people displaced, and since September 2021, a further 607,000 people displaced in the Far North. Across the eastern region of Cameroon, there are more than 315,000 vulnerable refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Since September 2021, UNHCR has reported the arrival of 14,034 new refugees.

Sexual violence: Plan International reported in 2018 that adolescent girls in communities most affected by the conflict in the Far North are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, kidnapping and forced marriage perpetrated by armed groups. At the same time, some parents are marrying off their daughters early due to the perception that marriage acts as a protective mechanism against the physical threat posed by armed groups.

Cameroon has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. During its Voluntary National Review at the 2019 High Level Political Forum, the government mentioned that ending harmful practices, such as child marriage, early or forced marriage and female genital mutilation, is part of the country's plan of emergence called Cameroun Vision 2035. The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2022 High Level Political Forum.

Cameroon signed a joint statement at the 2014 Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Cameroon ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1994, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2017, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Cameroon to take all necessary measures to eliminate the practice of child marriage, including by finalising the revision of the Civil Code and establishing the minimum age for marriage as 18 for both girls and boys.

During its 2013 Universal Periodic Review, Cameroon agreed to intensify awareness-raising campaigns for local authorities, families, traditional and religious leaders and the general population in order to effectively fight against child marriage. During its 2018 Universal Periodic Review, Cameroon agreed to examine recommendations to strengthen the implementation of legislation and policies aimed at ending harmful traditional practices, in particular child, early and forced marriage.

In November 2016 Cameroon launched the African Union Campaign to end child marriage in Africa.

In 1997 Cameroon ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2012 Cameroon ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, including Article 6 which sets the minimum age for marriage as 18.

Cameroon is one of the countries where the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is working to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

Cameroon is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

In 2018, Cameroon reported that a multi-sectoral platform for actors engaged in combating violence and harmful cultural practices such child marriage had been created, and a National Family Policy Paper, which presumably would include measures to combat early and forced marriages, was in the process of being drafted.

In addition, Cameroon has reported efforts to increase the school enrolment rate for girls through awareness campaigns and the provision of incentives, among others, with a view to combating gender-based violence in schools and early or forced marriage.

UNFPA is working with the government to create call centres where people can report child marriage cases.

Legal changes to Section 356 of the Penal Code in 2016 raised the minimum age of marriage from 15 years to 18 years for girls and boys.