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There appears to be no legislation in place in Gabon which prohibits slavery.
There appears to be no legislation in place in Gabon which prohibits institutions and practices similar to slavery, although article 264 of the Civil Code prohibits forced marriage, although associated penalties only attach where a person, in a traditional ceremony, gives away or marries a girl against her will, or gives away or marries a girl under 15 years of age.
There appears to be no legislation in place in Gabon which prohibits servitude.
Provisions related to forced labour are found in the Labour Code which prohibits forced or compulsory labour at article 4, although no penalties appear to be prescribed.
Provisions related to trafficking in persons are found in Act No 09/2004 on the Prevention and Fight against Child Trafficking, which criminalises child trafficking as defined in the Act.
Provisions related to forced marriage in Gabon are found in the 1972 Civil Code, which addresses compelling the bride or groom who refuses to marry at Article 202. Article 212 also addresses the lack of valid consent due to violence or threats. Provisions related to forced marriage in Gabon are also found in the 2018 Criminal Code, which addresses giving in customary marriage or customarily marrying a non-consenting woman or a minor under the age of sixteen years at Article 410, with a potential penalty of imprisonment up to five years.
Provisions requiring consent to marriage in Gabon are found in the Civil code 1972, article 211 of which states that each of the spouses must personally consent to the marriage at the time of its celebration. Article 212 further recognises that the consent of a party or prospective party to a marriage is invalidated where the person is subjected to coercion.
There appears to be no legislation in Gabon that prohibits servile matrimonial transactions.
There appears to be no legislation in Gabon that prohibits marriage trafficking.
The minimum age for marriage with parental permission in the Gabon is 21, without differentiation by gender, as set out in Article 205 of the 1972 Civil Code. The minimum age for marriage without parental permission in the Gabon is 15 for females and 18 for males, as set out in Article 203 of the 1972 Civil Code. Where marriages are conducted involving a person below the minimum age, the marriage is null, as set out on Article 237 of the 1972 Civil Code. However, marriages below this age are permitted for serious reasons and can be granted by the President of the Republic or, failing that, the President of the Supreme Court, as set out on Article 203 of the 1972 Civil Code. These exceptions are not differentiated by gender. Marrying a minor under the age of 16 is an offence under Article 410 of the 2018 Criminal Code, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for up to five years.
Africa
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Mixed
Article 1:
The Gabonese Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable and inalienable Rights, which are binding on government:
1) Every citizen has the right to free development of his personality, in respect of rights of others and public order. No one shall be humiliated, abused or tortured, even when it is under arrest or imprisonment;
3) The freedom to come and go within the territory of the Gabonese Republic, to leave and return, is guaranteed to all citizens of Gabon, subject to compliance with the order;
7) Each citizen has the duty to work and the right to obtain employment. No one shall be injured at work on grounds of origin, sex, race, political opinion;
17) The protection of youth against exploitation and against moral neglect, intellectual and physics is a duty for the state and local governments;
Article 260:
(supplemented by Law No 18/84 of 29 December 1984). Shall be considered as a pimp and, as such, shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to two years and by a fine of 50,000 to 1,000,000 francs:
(1) who in any way assists, knowingly assists or protects the prostitution of others or solicits for the purpose of prostitution;
(2) who, in any form, shares the proceeds of the prostitution of others or receives subsidies from a person habitually engaged in prostitution;
(3) who knowingly lives with a person habitually engaging in prostitution, can not justify sufficient resources to enable him to support his own existence;
(4) to hire, train or maintain, even with his consent, a person, even a person of full age, for prostitution or for prostitution or debauchery;
(5) acting as an intermediary in any capacity between persons engaging in prostitution or debauchery and individuals who exploit or pay for the prostitution or debauchery of others.
Will be punished with imprisonment of 3 months to 1 year and with a fine of 25.000 to 240.000 francs the one or that:
1- whose attitude on the public highway is likely to provoke debauchery;
(2) who, by gestures, words, writings or by any other means, proceeds publicly to solicit persons of one or the other sex, with a view to provoking debauchery.
In all the cases provided for in the present article, the guilty persons shall be sentenced to the additional penalty of the prohibition of residence.
Article 261:
The penalty shall be imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of 100,000 to 2,000,000 francs, in the case where:
1- the offense was committed in respect of an 18-year-old minor;
(2) the offense was accompanied by coercion, abuse of authority or fraud;
3- the perpetrator is the spouse, father, mother or guardian of the victim.
Article 264:
Whomever will give in customary marriage or customary wedding, a non-consenting daughter or a daughter below the age of 15 will be punished by imprisonment for 1-5 years.
Article 314:
Shall be punished by imprisonment of one month to three years and may be punished by a fine of up to 500,000 francs, who, by means of violence, Fraudulent threats or maneuvers, shall have caused or sustained, attempted to bring about or maintain a concerted cessation of labor.
Article 4
Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited. The expression “forced or compulsory labor” means any work or service exacted from an individual under the threat of any penalty and for which the individual has not voluntarily offered himself.
However, the provisions of the above paragraph shall not apply to:
(a) work or service required under the military service laws, consisting of the performance of tasks of a purely military character or, in the case of conscientious objectors, tasks proposed as a substitute for military service;
(b) work or service exacted from an individual as a result of a conviction imposed by a court order, provided that such work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of the public authorities and that the said person Is not granted or made available to private individuals, companies or legal entities;
(c) work or service required in the case of force majeure, including wars, floods, famines, epidemics, epizootics, invasions of animals, insects or parasites
Harmful and, in general, any circumstances which endanger or may endanger the life or normal conditions of life of the whole or part of the population;
(d) minor communal, departmental or village works as defined and voted by the municipal, departmental or village council and which may be considered as normal civic obligations of the members of the said localities, To a maximum of six days per year.
Article 198: requires the mutual acceptance of marriage vows.
Article 202: states that no action may be taken to force the fiancé or fiancée into marriage against his or her will.
Article 211: provides that each spouse must personally consent to the marriage during the marriage ceremony itself. Such consent shall not be considered valid if tainted by illegal actions. However, an exception is made in the case of the mentally unsound (article 204) and persons under 21 years of age. In such cases the legally responsible adult in question must either give or refuse consent for the marriage.
Article 264: any attempt to force either spouse into marriage is formally prohibited. Anyone who, in a traditional ceremony, gives away or marries a girl against her will, or who gives away or marries a girl under 15 years of age, shall be sentenced to between one and five years’ imprisonment.
Under Article 265: of the Code, whoever attempts to consummate such a forced marriage with a child under 15 years of age shall be sentenced to between one and 10 years in prison. Formerly, all marriages effectively represented the official confirmation of a prior family arrangement. The consent of the young woman was thus sometimes tainted by the influence of the parents, who would oblige her to marry, for their own personal reasons. Minimum age for marriage.
Article 203 of the Civil Code establishes the minimum age for marriage at 15 for young women and 18 for young men. However,
Article 492 of the Civil Code establishes the age of majority at 21 for men and women.
Note: Dowry is officially prohibited.
Chapter I: Definitions
Article 2:
For the purposes of this Act, the term “child” applies to all persons under the age of 18.
Article 3:
For the purposes of this Act, the “child trafficking” includes:
Chapter IV: Prohibited Acts
Article 11:
It is forbidden for any natural or legal person to introduce or attempt to introduce the national territory a child in order to alienate, or without charge, his freedom.
Article 12:
It is prohibited for any person or company to conclude an agreement whose purpose is to alienate, or without payment, the freedom of a child.
Article 13:
It is prohibited for any person or company to avoid or oppose by any means whatsoever to controls, investigations and searches under the provisions of this Act.
Chapter VIII: The Final Provisions
Article 20:
Whoever organized, facilitated child trafficking or have participated, including transportation, introduction on the national territory, reception, accommodation, sale, unlawful use or have derived any benefit shall be punished by imprisonment in time and a fine of ten (10) million to twenty (20) million CFA francs.
Accomplices and instigators will be punished the same as the main perpetrators in accordance with Articles 6, 48 and 49 of the penal code and excluded from the stay.
The attempt is punishable by the same penalties.
Article 23:
Those guilty of offenses under this Act also incur the following additional penalties:
1) the confiscation of property used in the commission of the offense and the resultant traffic in favor of the State;
2) the posting or publication of the decision in the conditions provided by laws and regulations.
Title 2 – Other crimes against humanity
Art.330 –
Any of the following acts also constitutes a crime against humanity when committed in execution of a concerted plan against a population group, as part of a widespread or systematic attack:
[…]
– enslavement;
– enforced disappearance of persons;
– imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental provisions of international law;
– the practice of torture;
– the arrest, detention or abduction of persons followed by their disappearance and accompanied by a denial of recognition of the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of their fate or whereabouts with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time;
– rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
[…]
Title 3 – War crimes
Art.331 –
For the purposes of this Code, war crimes shall mean atrocities or other offences committed during an international or non-international conflict and in relation to that conflict against persons and property in violation of the laws and customs of war, that is to say, atrocities or other offences committed in the course of an international or non-international conflict and in relation to that conflict against persons and property in violation of the laws and customs of war:
– wilful attacks on life, confinement or abduction as defined in this book;
– forcible confinement of a person protected by international law;
– ill-treatment or deportation for forced labour or any other purpose of civilian populations in occupied territories;
[…]
Title 5 – On trafficking in human beings
Art.342 –
Trafficking in human beings is the act, in exchange of remuneration or
any other benefit or a promise of compensation or benefits, to hire an
person, to transport, transfer, lodge or accommodate the person for the purpose of the make available to it or to a third party, even if not identified, for the purposes of:
– allowing the commission against that person of offences of pimping, sexual assault or abuse, exploitation of begging, or imposition of lworking or housing conditions which are contrary to his dignity;
– compelling the person to commit any crime or offence or to helping him or her to immigrate or emigrate.
Art.343.‐
The perpetrator of trafficking in human beings is punished by up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of up to FCFA 100,000,000. It is punishable by up to ten years imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000,000 FCFA when it is committed under one of the following circumstances:
– either with the use of threats, coercion, violence or deception directed against the victim, his family or a person in a habitual relationship with him;
– or by a legitimate, natural or adoptive ascendant of that person or by a person who has authority over him or abuses the authority conferred on him by his functions;
– or by abuse of a position of vulnerability due to age, illness, infirmity, physical or mental disability or apparent or known state of pregnancy; – or in respect of a person who was outside the national territory or on arrival in the national territory;
– or for the purpose of servitude or slavery or of removal of one or more of his organs.
Trafficking in human beings with respect to a minor is punishable by up to fifteen years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000,000 FCFA.
Art.344.‐
The perpetrator of trafficking in human beings shall be punished by up to twenty years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000,000 FCFA, when it is committed with at least two of the circumstances provided for in points 1° to 7° below:
– 1° in respect of several persons;
– 2° in respect of a person who was outside the national territory or upon arrival on the national territory;
– 3° where the person was put in contact with the perpetrator through the use of an electronic communication network for the dissemination of messages to an undetermined public;
– 4° in circumstances which directly expose the person in respect of whom the offence is committed to an immediate risk of death or injury likely to result in mutilation or permanent disability;
– 5° with the use of violence which has caused the victim to be totally unable to work for more than eight days;
– 6° by a person called upon to participate, by virtue of his or her duties, in the fight against trafficking in human beings or the maintenance of public order;
– 7° where the offence has placed the victim in a serious material or psychological situation. Trafficking in human beings with respect to a minor shall be punishable by twenty years’ imprisonment when it is committed with one of the circumstances listed in points 1° to 7° above.
Art.345 –
The offence is punishable by thirty years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of up to 50,000,000 FCFA, when it is committed in an organised gang.
The perpetrator of trafficking in human beings shall be punished by thirty years of life imprisonment and a fine of not more than FCFA 50,000,000 when the offence is committed by means of torture or barbaric acts.
Art.410.‐
Whoever gives in customary marriage or customarily marries a non-consenting woman or a minor under the age of sixteen years is punished by imprisonment for a maximum of five years.
TITLE XV: OFFENSES RELATING TO MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Art.410.‐
Whoever gives in customary marriage or customarily marries a non-consenting woman or a minor under the age of sixteen years is punished by imprisonment for a maximum of five years.
Article 411: Whoever, accomplishes or attempts to accomplish the sexual act on the person of a minor aged sixteen years, for the consummation of the union of a marriage customary, is punishable by imprisonment for five years more.
If this results in injuries to the minor severe, even temporary infirmity, or if the reports resulted in the death of the minor, the culprit is punished by criminal imprisonment on time
TITLE XVI: CRIMES AND OFFENSES AGAINST THE CHILD
Article 423: Whoever, without fraud or violence, has kidnapped or diverted a minor under the age of eighteen is punished imprisonment for not more than five years and a fine of 2,000,000 francs at most, or one of these two penalties only.
When an abducted or diverted minor has married his kidnapper, he can only be prosecuted on the complaint of people who have standing to request the annulment of the marriage and cannot be condemned only after this annulment was pronounced.
Article 202:
No action may be granted to compel the bride or groom who refuses to marry.
The conventional penalties which would have been stipulated to be applied in the event of refusal to celebrate marriage or in the event of an engagement breakdown, cannot be carried out
Article 203:
The man, before the age of eighteen, the woman, before the age of fifteen, cannot contract wedding.
Nevertheless, the President of the Republic or, failing that, the President of the Supreme Court, may grant age exemptions for serious reasons.
Article 205:
Even if the conditions required by article 203 are met, the young man or the young girl who has not under the age of 21 cannot enter into marriage without the consent of his father and mother.
In the event of refusal by one of the father and mother, the consent of only one of the two is sufficient.
In the event of divorce or legal separation, the consent of the person who has custody of the child will always be required.
If one of the father and mother is dead or unable to express his will, the consent of the other is sufficient.
This will be the same for children for whom no paternal filiation has been established.
Article 206:
If the father and mother are dead or unable to manifest their will, or forfeited of their authority, consent must be given by the tutor or by the tutorship council and, failing that, by the grandfathers or grandmothers closest in each row.
In case of refusal of one or more of these ancestors, the consent of the others or of one of them is enough.
Article 207:
The adoptive child cannot contract marriage before the age of 21 without the consent of the adopter.
If it has been adopted by two spouses, the rules provided for in article 205 apply.
If the adopter (s) are dead or unable to express their will, consent is given by the tutor. However, if the adopted child returns to his family of origin, the provisions of Articles 205 and 206 will be observed.
Article 208:
When the father, the mother and the ancestors are deceased, or in a state of absence, or that, their residence being unknown, they have not given their news for a year, the minor child without a guardian and decided to contracting marriage must make a written declaration of these facts before the tribunal de grande instance of the place where the marriage must be celebrated. This court, after investigation, will authorize or refuse the celebration of the planned marriage.
False declarations made by the child in the cases provided for in this article will be punished with imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year and a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 francs, or one of these two penalties only.
Article 209:
Consent, except in cases where it is given by the Trusteeship Council or by the court, may be given orally at the time of the celebration of the marriage or by authentic instrument drawn up either by the notary or by the registrar of the domicile or residence of the guardian or ascendant authorized to give consent.
The act of consent, the deliberation of the Trusteeship Council or the decision of the court authorizing the celebration of the planned marriage must contain, on pain of nullity, the names, first names, dates and places of birth and domicile of the future spouses and of all those who participated in the act, as well as their degree of kinship.
Article 210:
A minor child who produces an act of consent of one or more of his ancestors or of a guardian or which involves them at the time of the celebration of the marriage, must present at the same time, the death certificate of his father and mother or a court decision or an act of notoriety issued by the President of the court establishing that the latter are unable to manifest their will or are deprived of paternal power.
Article 211:
Each of the spouses must personally consent to the marriage at the time of its celebration.
Article 212:
Consent is not valid if it has been extorted by violence and threats, or if it has not been given that following an error on the religion of the spouse, on his serious state of health at the time of the celebration of the marriage, or on the physical conformation of a spouse who does not have the organs necessary for consummation of marriage.
The error in nationality is considered as an error in civil identity.
Article 226:
The right to oppose the celebration of a marriage belongs to the father and the mother and, failing the father and mother, to the ancestors and to the guardian. However, after a judicial lift of an opposition lodged by a ascendant or by the tutor, no new opposition filed by another ascendant or by the tutor is admissible and cannot delay the celebration.
In the absence of ascendants or guardian, the brother or sister, uncle or aunt, cousins and first cousins, adults, may file an objection based solely on their parent’s state of dementia; but this opposition will only be accepted at the charge of the opponent to cause the ban and to have a decision taken as quickly as possible.
The right to file an opposition also belongs, in the case of monogamy, to any person linked by marriage to one who proposes to contract another.
Finally, the right to file an opposition belongs to the public prosecutor, whenever an impediment public order is brought to its attention.
Article 237:
Failure to comply with the provisions of articles 203, paragraph one, 213, 216 of this code, as well as gender identity, entails the absolute nullity of the marriage.
The court can also pronounce the nullity of the marriage for serious or fraudulent violation of the articles 219 and 231
Article 238:
The action for nullity based on the non-observance of the provisions of articles 213, 216, or on the identity of sex, can be exercised by any interested person and, during the lifetime of the spouses, by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
An action for nullity based on failure to comply with the provisions of Article 203, paragraph 1, cannot be exercised only by the spouse who has not reached the required age, by his father and mother or guardian, or other ascendants called to consent to marriage and, during the lifetime of the spouses, by the Public Ministry.
The father, mother, guardian or ascendants who have consented to this marriage are not admissible to bring an action for nullity.
An action for nullity based on violations of the provisions of Articles 219 and 231 can only be brought by the spouses and by the father, mother, guardian, ascendant (s) who did not consent to the marriage and, during the lifetime of the husband, by the Public Ministry.
Article 239:
Marriage contracted by spouses who were not yet of the required age or where one of the two had not reached this age, can no longer be attacked:
1 ° when the spouse or spouses have reached this age;
2 ° when the woman has conceived.
Article 242:
The action for annulment based on article 212 can only be brought by that of the spouses whose consent was not given.
An action for annulment based on article 212 can only be brought by that of the spouses whose consent was not free or was misled. It ceases to be admissible whenever there has been cohabitation continues for 6 months since the spouse acquired full freedom or the error was made by him recognized.
The action for annulment for violation of article 202 can only be brought by the interdict himself, his guardian and the people who can request the ban.
Article 243:
Any marriage contracted without the consent required by articles 205, 206, 207 and 208 may be annulled by the court at the request of those whose consent was required, when the marriage has been approved expressly or tacitly by those whose consent was necessary, or when a year has passed without claim on their part since they learned of the marriage. It cannot be brought either by the husband when he has reached marital majority
Article 252:
By the effect of marriage, the husband owes protection to his wife, the wife owes obedience to her spouse.
The spouses owe each other fidelity, help, assistance.
Article 253:
The husband is the head of the family. He performs this function in the common interest of the household and the children.
The wife concurs with the husband in assuming the moral and material direction of the family, and the prosperity of the latter, to bring up their children and to prepare their establishment.
The wife replaces the husband in his functions of head of the family, if the latter is incapacitated or found in a state of absence, or if he is condemned for abandonment of family. It is the same if the husband gives up voluntarily living together or if he is unable to express his will because of his remoteness or any other cause.
Article 254:
The choice of the residence of the family belongs to the husband; the woman is obliged to live with him, and he is required to receive it.
When the residence fixed by the husband presents dangers of a physical or moral order to the family, the a woman may be authorized by the court to have another residence for herself and her children.
The spouses cannot, one without the other, have the rights by which the housing of the family is ensured, nor of the furniture with which it is furnished.
The spouse who has not given his consent to the act of disposal may request its annulment; the action in nullity is open to him within one year from the day on which he became aware of the act, without however being brought more than one year after the dissolution of the matrimonial regime.
Article 255:
Marriage does not affect the legal capacity of the spouses, but their powers may be limited by matrimonial regime or by law.