Chad

Art. 158

Customary or traditional rules dictating matrimonial regimes and inheritances may be applied only with the consent of the parties concerned.

In default of consent, the national law is solely applicable.

The same [applies] in case of conflict between two or more customary rules.

Constitution of the Republic of Chad 1996 – Constitute Project – English (PDF)

Chapter 4 – Offenses relating to the status and civil status of the child

Art.368 – Is punished by imprisonment of five to ten years and a fine of 500,000 to 5,000,000 FCFA, anyone:

a) coerced by any means whatsoever, celebrates or gives permission to

the celebration of the marriage of a person of either sex who has not yet

reaches the legal age of marriage or compels such a person to marry;

b) marries a person who has not yet reached the legal age of marriage.

Article 5. Definitions

In June 2018, the National Assembly ratified Law 006/PR/2018 on Combatting Trafficking in Persons,

For the purposes of this order:

“Trafficking in persons” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of coercion or other forms of force, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

…

“Exploitation” of a person:

Exploitation through labour, envisages the following practices:

1. Child labour in violation of the provisions of the Labour Code, laws and regulations governing child labour;
2. work or cold services, as defined in the Labour Code;
3. slavery, within the meaning of the state or condition of a person over whom one or more of the attributes of the property owner are exercised, including sale;
4. practices analogous to slavery; servitude and serfdom.

Servitude refers to working conditions and/or obligation to work or provide services, from which a person cannot escape or cannot change.

[..]

3 Force or servile marriage means any institution or practice under which:

a. an adult person, without their consent, or a child is promised or given in marriage for a financial and / or material consideration

b. a person is transferred to a third party, whether or not for consideration, by his spouse, a member of his family or of his clan.

[..]

TITLE II: OFFENSES AND SANCTIONS
CHAPTER I: HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Section 1: The Offense of Human Trafficking

Article 6

1. Trafficking in persons is a crime
2. A person is guilty of trafficking in persons if he or she, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or of a position of vulnerability, or by the offer or acceptance of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over another, intentionally participates, for the purpose of exploitation of a person, in the following act, without it being necessary for him to be a party to each element of that act; recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, reception of that person.

Where the victim of the offence is a child, the offence of trafficking in persons shall be constituted even in the absence of the means provided for in this article.

The consent, acquiescence, involvement or participation of the legal representatives of the victim or of any other person having authority over the victim in the commission of the offence shall not constitute a ground for excluding responsibility or an extenuating circumstance for the offender.

Article 7

Anyone who commits the offence of trafficking in persons, as provided for in article 6, paragraph 2, of this Ordinance, accompanied by any of the following aggravating circumstances, shall be punished by a term of four to 30 years and a fine of CFAF 250,000 to CFAF 5,000,000:

1. The offence is committed against a particularly vulnerable victim, in particular a child, a pregnant woman, an elderly person, a person suffering from a physical or mental disability or an indigenous person;
2. The offence is committed against more than one victim;
3. The offence resulted in serious injury to the victim or a third part;
4. The offence is committed in association with more than one person;
5. The victim of the offence was chosen by the perpetrator because of his or her nationality, ethnicity, skin colour, religion, beliefs or political opinions;
6. Drugs, medicines or weapons were used in the commission of the offence;
7. The offender is in a state of recidivism;
8. The offender is a public official in the performance of his or her duties or any person involved in the fight against trafficking;
9. The offender is the spouse or cohabitee of the victim;
10. The offender is in a position of authority, responsibility or trust in relation to the victim;
11. The victim has been put in contact with the offender by any means of communication, including, but not limited to, the dissemination of messages to the public, the use of an electronic communication network.

Article 17

Whoever subjects another person to forced or servile marriage shall be punished by imprisonment for 5 to 10 years and a fine of 500,000 to 5,000,000 CFA francs.

Art. 32: Opposition to marriage

Opposition to marriage is a procedure whereby a person notifies the registrar of the existence of a

serious impediment to marriage.

The marriage cannot be celebrated if it is the object of an opposition in examination course.

The following are authorized to file an opposition:

• the father and mother or failing that, the ascendants or the one whose consent is required if it is a minor or adult in tutorship or curatorship;
• the public prosecutor for reasons of public order;
• the spouse of the candidate for another marriage in the event of an option for monogamy in the previous marriage;
• The brother or sister, uncle or aunt or, failing that, cousins, can only object if the consent the required guardian has not been obtained or when the opposition is based on the state of dementia of one of the future spouses

Art. 35: The refusal to celebrate a marriage

When there are serious reasons to believe that the conditions necessary for the validity of the marriage are not met or that there is a serious impediment, the registrar notifies in writing

to the future spouses his refusal to celebrate the marriage, indicating to them the reasons for its decision and the law on which it is based.

This decision is subject to appeal before the Civil Court, which rule within eight (08) days, at the request of the future spouses

Art. 144 – The man before the age of eighteen, the woman before fifteen years old, cannot contract marriage.

Art. 145 – Nevertheless, it is open to the President of the Republic to grant age exemptions for serious reasons.

Art. 146 – There is no marriage when there is no consent

Art. 148 (L. July 17, 1927, OJ C. , 1928, p. 495). – Minors do not can enter into marriage without the consent of their fathers and mother ; in the event of disagreement between the father and the mother, this sharing takes consent.

Art. 149 (L. 7 February 1924, OJ C. , 1924, p. 243 and 1931, p. 197). –

If one of the two is dead or if it is impossible to manifest his will, the consent of the other is sufficient.

It is not necessary to produce the death certificate of the father or the mother of one of the future spouses when the spouse or the fathers and mother of the deceased attest to this death under oath.

If the current residence of the father or mother is unknown, and if has not heard from him for a year, he may be proceeded to the celebration of the marriage if the child and that of his / her father and mother who will give her consent declares it under oath.

At all, it will be mentioned on the marriage certificate.

The false oath taken in the cases provided for in this article and in the following articles of this chapter will be punished by the penalties by article 363 of the Penal Code.

Art. 150 (L. July 17, 1927 ) – If the father and mother are dead, or if they are unable to express their will, the ancestors and grandmothers replace them; if there is disagreement between the grandfather and the grandmother of the same line, or if there is disagreement between the two lines, this sharing takes consent.

(L. 7 Feb. 1929 ). – If the current residence of the father and mother is unknown and if they have not heard from them for a year, he can be proceeded to the celebration of the marriage if the ancestors and grandmothers as well as the child himself make the declaration under oath. It is the same if, one or more grandfathers or grandmothers giving their consent to the marriage, the current residence of the other ancestors or ancestors is unknown and if they have not given their news for a year.

Art. 153 ( L. June 20, 1896, BAS, 1897, p. 326). – Will be assimilated to the ascendant without the impossibility of manifesting his will the ascendant suffering the penalty of relegation or maintained in colonies in accordance with article 6 of the law of May 30, 1854 on the execution of the penalty of forced labor. However, the future spouse will always have the right to request and produce to the officer of civil status the consent given by this ascendant.

Art. 154 ( L. February 2, 1933 ). – The dissent between the father and the mother, between the ancestor and the ancestor of the same line, or between the ancestors of two lines can be noted by a notary, required by the future spouse and acting without the assistance of a second notary nor of witnesses, who will notify the planned union to the father (s), mother or grandfathers whose consent has not yet been obtained.

The act of notification sets out the first names, surnames, professions, domiciles and residences of the future spouses, their fathers and mothers, or, if applicable, of their ancestors, as well as the place where the wedding.

It also contains a declaration that this notification is made in in order to obtain the consent not yet granted and that, otherwise, the celebration of the marriage will be ignored.

Art. 155 ( L. February 2, 1933 ). – The dissent of the ascendants can also be ascertained, either by a letter whose signature is legalized and sent to the registrar who must celebrate the marriage, either by an act drawn up in the form provided by article 73, paragraph 2 (repealed by L. 4 February 1934, JOC, 1935, p. 9) or by the act of celebration of the marriage.

The acts listed in this article and in the preceding article are stamped and registered free of charge.

Art. 156 ( L. June 21, 1907, JOAEF, 1910, p. 249). – The officers of civil status who would have proceeded to the celebration of marriages contracted by sons or daughters who have not reached the age of twenty and one year completed without the consent of the fathers and mothers, that of the grandfathers and grandmothers and that of the family council, in the case of where it is required, either stated in the marriage certificate, will, at the due diligence of the interested parties or the public prosecutor at the district court of first instance where the marriage will have been celebrated, condemned to the fine carried by the article 192 of the Civil Code.

Art. 157 ( L. February 4, 1934, OJ C. , 1935, p. 9). – The officer of the state civilians who have not required the justification of the prescribed notification by article 154 will be condemned to the fine provided for in article previous.

Art. 158 (L. March 10, 1913, JOAEF ., 1913, p. 433). – The child legally recognized natural who has not reached the age of twenty-one years of age cannot contract marriage without having obtained the consent of the one of his father and mother who recognized him, or of one and the other if it has been recognized by both.

(L. July 17, 1927 ). – In case of disagreement between the father and the mother this sharing takes consent.

(L. 7 Feb. 1924 ). – If one of the two is dead or is in the impossibility of manifesting one’s will, the consent of the other is enough. The provisions contained in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of the article 149 are applicable to a minor natural child.

(Repealed by L. February 2, 1933 ). – The provisions contained in Articles 151, 153 154 and 155 are applicable to the natural child after the age of twenty-one.

Art. 159 (D. June 21, 1907, JOAEF ., 1910, p. 249). – The child natural which has not been recognized, and the one who, after having been lost his father and mother or whose father and mother cannot manifest their will, will not be able, before the age of twenty-one past, marry only after having obtained the consent of the family council.

Art. 160 (L. February 7, 1924 ). – If the current residence of those of ascendants of a twenty-one-year-old minor whose death is not established is unknown and if these ascendants have not given their news for a year, the minor will make the declaration under oath before the justice of the peace of his residence, assisted by his clerk, in his office, and the justice of the peace will take note of it.

If the minor is a natural child, the justice of the peace will notify this oath to the court of first instance designated in Article 389, paragraph 13, of this Code, which will rule on the request for authorization to marriage in the same form as for natural children not recognized.

If the minor is a legitimate child, the justice of the peace will notify the oath to the family council, which will rule on the request for authorization to wedding.

However, the minor may directly take the oath provided for in paragraph 1 st of this article in the presence of its members family council.

Art. 180. – Marriage which was contracted without consent free of both spouses, or of one of them, can only be attacked by the spouses, or by the one of the two whose consent has not been

free.

When there has been a mistake in the person, the marriage cannot be attacked only by the one of the two spouses who was misled.

Art. 181. – In the case of the preceding article, the request for invalidity is no longer admissible, whenever there has been cohabitation continued for six months since the husband acquired his full freedom or that the error has been recognized by him.

Art. 182. – Marriage contracted without the consent of the fathers and mother, ascendants, or family council, in cases where this consent was required, can only be attacked by those whose consent was required, or by that of the two spouses who needed that consent.

Art. 183. – The invalidity action can no longer be brought by the spouse, or by parents whose consent was required, all times the marriage has been expressly or tacitly approved by those whose consent was required, or when it was has passed a year without complaint from them, since he reaches the competent age to consent to marriage on his own.

Art. 184. ( L. February 19, 1933, JOC, 1934, p. 42). – Any wedding contracted in contravention of the provisions contained in articles 144, 146, 147, 161, 162, and 163, can be attacked either by the

spouses themselves, either by all those who have an interest in it, or by the Public minister.

Art. 185. – Nevertheless the marriage contracted by spouses who were not yet of the required age, or one of the two had point reached this old, can no longer be attacked:

1 ° when six months have elapsed since that spouse or have reached the competent age;

2 ° when the woman who was not this age, conceived before the six-month deadline.

Art. 186. – The father, the mother, the ascendants and the family who have consented to the marriage contracted in the case of the preceding article, do not are not admissible to request the nullity.

Art. 187. – In all cases where, in accordance with article 184,

the action for nullity can be brought by all those who have a

interest, it cannot be by the collateral parents, or by the

children born from another marriage, during the lifetime of both spouses, but

only when they have a born and present interest in it.

Art. 190. – The public prosecutor, in all cases to which section 184 applies, and under the modifications made in article 185, can and must ask for the nullity of marriage, living of both spouses, and condemn them to separate.

Art. 191. – Any marriage which has not been contracted publicly, and which has not been celebrated before the competent public officer, may be attacked by the spouses themselves, by the father and mother, by ascendants, and by all those who have a born and current interest in it, as well as by the public prosecutor.