Sao Tome and Principe

28% of girls in Sao Tome and Principe marry before the age of 18 and 5% marry before the age of 15.

3% of boys in Sao Tome and Principe marry before the age of 18.

The highest rates of child marriage are found in Distrito de Água Grande, Distrito de Mé-Zóchi, Região Norte Oeste, Região Sul Este and Região Autónoma de Príncipe.

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

In Sao Tome and Principe, child marriage is also driven by:

● Poverty: 43% of women from Sao Tome and Principe’s poorest households were married before the age of 18, compared to only 17% of women from the richest households.

● Level of education: 45% of women who held no education were married as children, compared to only 2% who held higher education.

● Power dynamics: 23% of currently married 15-19 year old girls have a spouse who is 10 or more years older than them. This indicates that some men prefer to marry younger girls, who often lack the power to negotiate decisions around marriage.

● Adolescent pregnancy: Between 2015-2020, the adolescent birth rate was 86 per 1000 girls, with 22% of girls giving birth before the age of 18.

Sao Tome and Principe 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 2022 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government raised that several revisions were made to legislation to protect and promote gender equality, such as: the Law on Strengthening the Legal Protection Mechanisms for Victims of Crimes of Domestic Violence Law No. 12/2008, which requires the establishment of reception centres for victims of abuse; the Criminal Code Law No. 6/2021 which reinforces combatting gender-based violence; and the Family Code Law No. 19/2018 which sets the legal minimum age of marriage at 18 years for both boys and girls.

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

Sao Tome and Principe acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2003, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2013 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the government review rules regarding exceptions for marriage below the minimum age of 18, and accompany this with awareness-raising campaigns to prevent child marriage.

During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review, Sao Tome and Principe supported recommendations to increase the age of marriage to 18.

In 2019 Sao Tome and Principe ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2019 Sao Tome and Principe ratified the Protocol to 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.

Sao Tome and Principe is partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

In March 2020, the government removed a 15-year restriction that prohibited adolescent mothers from continuing education. Under Article 36 of the Disciplinary Regulations for Basic Secondary and Professional Education of 2006, pregnant girls were required to drop out of school in the third month of pregnancy. Adolescent mothers were only allowed to re-enrol into education the following academic year. This regulation also affected male students who fathered children. Education Minister Julieta Rodrigues signed the ministerial decree to remove Article 36. Agreements under the “Girls Empowerment and Quality Education for All Project,” a $15 million USD grant from the World Bank and Global Partnership to increase girls’ access to quality secondary education, also influenced this decree. However, the government is yet to initiate the process to remove the article.

Under the Regula Juridicamente as instituicoes de familia 1977, the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for girls and boys. In exceptional cases, and with parental, guardian or court consent, girls aged 14 years and boys aged 16 may marry.