France

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in France.

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

There is limited information on child marriage in France, but available information suggests that it may be driven by:

Ethnicity: A 2014 study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) showed that around 2% of Roma girls aged 10-15 are traditionally married or cohabiting with a partner across 11 European Union member states, including France. 16% of Roma boys and girls aged 16-17 are legally or traditionally married or cohabiting across the 11 states.

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

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2023 High Level Political Forum; however, there was no mention of child marriage.

France 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, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage. In 2014, France also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

France co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

France 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 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1983, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2023 review, the CEDAW Committee acknowledged the establishment of a toll-free hotline for victims of forced marriage. However, the Committee expressed concern at the persistence of child and forced marriages, particularly in the form of customary, religious or polygamous unions. The Committee recommended that the government collect and analyse data on criminal charges related to child and forced marriage, to establish a mechanism to detect child and forced marriages, provide support services for victims, and to conduct trainings for social works and law enforcement officers on gender-sensitive protocols for dealing with victims.

During its 2018 Universal Periodic Review, France agreed to review recommendations to design and implement public policies to prevent, address, sanction and eliminate all forms of violence against women, including female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage.

France has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), which considers forced marriage a serious form of violence against women and girls, and legally binds state parties to criminalise the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child into a marriage.

At the first London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

The French government is an important donor to Bangladesh. In 2013, l’Agence française de développement (the French Development Agency) donated €50 million to Bangladesh to aid in preventing child marriage.

Under the Civil Code 2013 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.

However, marriage before the age of 18 is possible with consent of parents or the public prosecutor for serious reasons.