Equatorial Guinea

30% of girls in Equatorial Guinea are married before their 18th birthday and 9% are married before the age of 15.

4% of boys in Equatorial Guinea are married before the age of 18.

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

There is very limited information on child marriage in Equatorial Guinea.

In Equatorial Guinea pregnant girls are not allowed to attend school. Many pregnancies are unplanned, occur in a child marriage or are the result of sexual violence. Excluding pregnant girls and adolescent mothers from school not only deny their right to education, but also exposes them to further violence, hardship, and poverty.

Equatorial Guinea has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2022 High Level Political Forum.

Equatorial Guinea co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2020 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage, and the 2013 Human Rights Council resolution on child, early and forced marriage. In 2014, Equatorial Guinea signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Equatorial Guinea acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2002 Equatorial Guinea ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage.

In 2009 Equatorial Guinea 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.

During its 2014 Universal Periodic Review, Equatorial Guinea agreed to examine recommendations to step up efforts to fight against “heinous” traditional practices such as child marriage, and to strengthen public policies allowing for the elimination of child marriage.

During its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, Equatorial Guinea supported recommendations to step up efforts to prevent and end early, child and forced marriage.

Under the Civil Code 2011 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.

However minors can get married at 14 years or older if a judge allows it, at the request of one of the parties getting married. In such cases both the minor and their parents/guardians must be heard on the matter.