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 eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum to date.

France co-sponsored the 2013 Human Rights Council resolution on child, early and forced marriage, 2017 Human Rights Council resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, and the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child 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, 2018 and 2020 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

France ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which sets 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 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, Agencefrançaise 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.