Chad

61% of girls marry or enter a union before age 18 and 24% marry before age 15.

8% of boys in Chad marry before age 18.

The highest rates of child marriage among women in Chad are found in Chari Baguirmi (70%), Mayo Kebbi Est (66%), Guera (63%), Kanem (60%), Salamat (61%).

The highest rates of child marriage among men in Chad are found in Logone Oriental (23%), Logone Occidental (17%), Mandoul (14%), Mayo Kebbi Ouest (12%).

The highest rates of child marriage are found in the Peul/Foulbe ethnic group (67%), Massa/Mousseye (64%), Baguirmi/Barma (63%) and Kanembou/Bomou (60%).

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys.

In Chad, child marriage is exacerbated by:

● Level of education: 57% of women with no education or only pre-primary education were married before the age of 18, compared to only 21% who had completed higher education.

● Poverty: Poor families marry off their daughters early to reduce their perceived economic burden and to obtain the dowry. In Chad, 54% of girls married before the age of 18 are from the poorest household in comparison to 50% from the richest households. For boys, 10% are from the poorest households and 8% from the richest households. A 2013 report found that fragility, conflict and general confusion by parents and communities about what to do in the face of a failing economy and education system was a primary driver of child marriage.

● Religion: Child marriage occurs among Catholic, Protestant (52%), Animist (60%) and Muslim (57%) households and is often associated with the misguided notion of protecting a girl’s honour and shielding her from sexual attention.

● Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C): 38% of women aged 15-49 have experienced FGM/C in Chad. The practice is used as a way of controlling female sexuality and is sometimes regarded as a sign of readiness for marriage.

● Polygamy: Some girls are married off as third or fourth wives to men, as they are often seen as easier to control. This is particularly common among the Fula community.

Humanitarian situations like in Chad 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.

Chad faces complex and interlinked humanitarian crises: food insecurity, forced displacement, severe droughts, and epidemics. Chad is host to the largest refugee population in West and Central Africa. As of 2024, there were 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 1.5 million refugees from Central African Republic, Sudan, and Nigeria, all of which has strained local resources.

● Displacement: Girls are at heightened risk of sexual violence within the displaced communities. Cultural norms often force girls to marry their attackers to preserve their honour. Due to ongoing conflict in Sudan, between April 2023 and January 2024, there were approximately 497,000 Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad.

Chad has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the 2023 Universal Periodic Review, Chad reiterated their efforts in promoting gender equality and education for girls within the Ministry of Education. This was done by the launch of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD)_ initiative. The main aim of this programme was to support the continuation and re-enrolment into education for girls and promoting and access to reproductive health care for girls. The government acknowledged that since the launch of this programme, 27,906 girls attended awareness-raising events on gender equality, adolescent pregnancy and child marriage; 360 safe spaces have been set up; 360 mentors have been recruited and trained on how to convey life-skills, reproductive, gender and human rights training. The government is taking more active measures to guarantee access to justice for victims of FGM/C, sexual and gender-based violence and child marriage. This is being done by establishing stricter penalties under the Criminal Code. The Human Rights Council acknowledged the various measures in place to combat child marriage through other initiatives, however, it recommended that the government take specific measures to investigate and punish child marriage cases.

During its Voluntary National Review at the 2019 High Level Political Forum, the government of Chad reported the adoption of National Strategy to Combat Violence Based on Gender and that the minimum age for marriage has been increased to 18 years. The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2021 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government acknowledge the existence of harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM/C. The government aims to establish policies and programmes to combat violations against women and children such as the Road Map to Combat Child Marriage 2019 – 2021. The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

Chad co-sponsored the 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage. Chad co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights, the 2017 resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, and the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic . In 2014, Chad signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Chad ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2011 the CEDAW Committee urged Chad to undertake awareness-raising activities throughout the country on the negative effects of child marriage.

During its 2013 Universal Periodic Review, Chad agreed to consider recommendations to ensure that girls in refugee camps are truly protected against child marriage.

During its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, Chad supported recommendations to strengthen implementation of legislation and policies aimed at ending harmful traditional practices, in particular child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation.

The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) Initiative, launched in 2015 across Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The initiative was launched specifically in the Sahel region, the world’s poorest region, where women and girls are exposed to conflict, terrorism natural disasters, poverty, famine and inequality. The 3 main aims of this initiative are:

Create demand for reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health and nutrition (RMNCHN) services by promoting behavioural and social change and empowerment for women and girls;

Reinforce availability of RMNCHN health care workers;

Strengthen advocacy and promote policy development and implementation.

In 2000, Chad ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage.

In 2004 Chad signed, but has not yet 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.

In 2015 President Idriss Deby and First Lady Hinda Deby launched the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa.

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

In February 2019, the government, with support from the UN and the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), adopted a new costed Roadmap to ending child marriage and female genital mutilation (2019-2023), with six pillars:

● Consolidation of the legal, institutional and policy framework.

● Development of a communications and mobilisation campaign.

● Improvement of access to services and attention to victims/survivors.

● Capacity-building of social agents.

● Improvement of infrastructure.

● Improvement of coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

A thematic working group, created by the Ministry of Women, Social Action and National Solidarity, is responsible for implementing the action plan. The group is composed of line ministries, civil society, the police and the judiciary, human rights and gender-based organisations, religious authorities and UN agencies. However, the implementation of the Roadmap could be limited due to lack of funding.

The previous Roadmap (2016-2018) was adopted in June 2016.

In December 2016 First Lady Hinda Deby launched the second edition of her five year agenda dedicated to women and children (2016-2020). The agenda covers three pillars, including child marriage.

The minimum age of marriage in Chad is 18 for girls and boys.

In 2015, the Parliament of Chad approved an ordinance signed by President Idriss Deby to increase the age of marriage from 15 to 18 years old.