Child marriage in Democratic Republic of the Congo
[3] Parents sometimes force their daughters into child marriage to gain financial or social status benefits.
[1][5][6] However, child marriages have consequences, as married girls experience worse health outcomes, lower levels of education, higher rates of violence, and psychological impacts.
[3][5][7][8] Many organizations and programs have been initiated to combat child marriage, especially on the international scale from the United Nations.
In the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, men and women have the right to marry the person of their choice.
[11] Other people are reluctant to bring child marriage cases to court because of the finances involved in the legal proceedings.
[12] In addition to the dowry, the Family Code identifies the husband as the head of the household, with his wife legally obligated to obey him.
[10] The Democratic Republic of the Congo has signed and ratified The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), but not ACRWC.
[16] It also contributes to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of poverty of girls and their families, which may have a domino effect in the countries where child marriage remains prevalent.
[16] The investment in and the empowerment of girls according to A/RES/66/170 also reiterates that doing so would break down gender and sexual discrimination and violence, and promote the enjoyment of human rights.
[4] More generally, rural areas of the country have higher rates of child marriage because families want to relieve their obligations to sustain and provide necessary living conditions for their daughters.
When a young girl becomes pregnant, her parents often force her to marry the father of her child out of fear that she is no longer a desirable wife.
[8] It has been deemed culturally appropriate to marry a daughter underage to "protect" her from the societal implications and consequences of engaging in premarital sex and unplanned pregnancy.
[6] There is a metaphor used in the South Kivu province that if a girl has sex with a boy, she is considered a "nkwale", which means a quail.
Disadvantaged families have an incentive to marry their daughters young because of the economic benefits that come with child marriage.
[18] There has been violence in the region between Congolese security forces and non-state armed groups with connection to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda.
[1] Additionally, the conflict and violence in the region have exacerbated other causes of child marriage, including poverty and a lack of access to education.
[2] Girls in child marriages typically perform household and childrearing duties instead of attending school, which decreases their future opportunities.
[20] Additionally, daughters of uneducated child mothers are more likely to drop out of school, which repeats the cycle of low educational attainment.
[19] A study in South Kivu, DRC, found that married girls face higher rates of sexual and emotional violence and forced sex.
[19] Leaving school early can lead to social isolation and disconnection from friends, which can develop into depression and ideas of committing suicide.
[9] However, child marriage remains prevalent regardless of the incentives to stop it, which include increased social skills for girls, higher levels of education, developing friendships and relationships, preventing HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, and preventing life-threatening health concerns such as cervical cancer and susceptibility to disease.
[9] In Sub-Saharan Africa, roughly 90% of countries have dictated that the minimum age to marry is 18, yet one-third of them permit the marriage of underage individuals with parental consent.
