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Provisions related to forced marriage in Uganda are found in the Prevention of trafficking in persons act, which addresses forced marriage and marriage without consent for sale or transfer of women for money at article 3 with a potential penalty of imprisonment for fifteen years. The criminal code 1950 also addresses abduction of male or female for marriage at article 126 with a potential penalty of imprisonment for seven years. The criminal code 1950, addresses fraudulent marriage at article 152, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for ten years. The divorce act addresses that nullity of marriage where the consent of either party to the marriage was obtained by force or fraud, in any case in which the marriage might be annulled on this ground by the law of England at article 12.
Provisions requiring consent to marriage in Uganda are found in the constitutional law 1995(2005), section 31(3) of which states that marriage shall be entered into with the free consent of the man and woman intending to marry. Section 12(1) of divorce act further recognises that the consent of a party or prospective party to a marriage is invalidated where the person is subjected to coercion or is of unsound mind.
There appears to be no legislation in Uganda that prohibits servile matrimonial transactions.
Provisions related to marriage trafficking in Uganda are found in the Prevention of Trafficking in Person Act 2009 , which prohibits trafficking for forced marriage at article 3, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for fifteen years. Legislation in Uganda also prohibits abduction for marriage under article 126 of the Criminal Code 1950, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for seven years.
The minimum age for marriage in Uganda is 18, without differentiation of gender, as set out on Article 31 of the 1995, as amended in 2005. However, according to Article 17 of the 1904 Marriage Act and Article 32 of the 1904 Customary Marriage Registration Act, the minimum age for civil marriages without parental consent is 21.
Africa
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Mixed
23. Protection of personal liberty
25. Protection from slavery, servitude and forced labour
a. any labour required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court;
b. any labour required of any person while that person is lawfully detained which, though not required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court, is reasonably necessary in the interests of hygiene or for the maintenance of the place at which the person is detained;
c. any labour required of a member of a disciplined force as part of that member’s duties as such or, in the case of a person who has conscientious objections to service as a member of a naval, military or air force, any labour which that person is required by law to perform in place of that service;
d. any labour required during any period when Uganda is at war or in case of any emergency or calamity which threatens the life and well-being of the community, to the extent that the requiring of the labour is reasonably justifiable in the circumstances of any situation arising or existing during the period or as a result of the emergency or calamity, for the purpose of dealing with that situation; or
e. any labour reasonably required as part of reasonable and normal communal or other civic obligations.
29. Protection of freedom of conscience, expression, movement, religion, assembly and association
a. to move freely throughout Uganda and to reside and settle in any part of Uganda;
b. to enter, leave and return to, Uganda; and
31. Rights of the family
34. Rights of children
40. Economic rights
a.to provide for the right of persons to work under satisfactory, safe and healthy conditions;
b.to ensure equal payment for equal work without discrimination; and
c.to ensure that every worker is accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays.
a.to form or join a trade union of his or her choice for the promotion and protection of his or her economic and social interests;
b.to collective bargaining and representation; and
c.to withdraw his or her labour according to law.
44. Prohibition of derogation from particular human rights and freedoms
Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, there shall be no derogation from the enjoyment of the following rights and freedoms-
freedom from slavery or servitude;
22. General punishment for misdemeanours
When in this Code no punishment is specially provided for any misdemeanour, it shall be punishable with imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
126. Abduction
Any person, whether male or female, who—
(a) with intent to marry or be married to or to have sexual intercourse with another person or to cause that person to marry, be married or have sexual intercourse, takes that other person away or detains him or her against his or her will; or
(b) unlawfully takes another person under the age of eighteen years out of the custody of any of the parents or of any other person having lawful care or charge over that person,
commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
131. Procuration
(1) Any person who—
(a) procures or attempts to procure any girl or woman under the age of twenty-one years to have unlawful carnal connection, either in Uganda or elsewhere, with any other person or persons;
(b) procures or attempts to procure any woman or girl to become, either in Uganda or elsewhere, a common prostitute;
(c) procures or attempts to procure any woman or girl to leave Uganda, with intent that she may become an inmate of or frequent a brothel elsewhere; or
(d) procures or attempts to procure any woman or girl to leave her usual place of abode in Uganda, such place not being a brothel, with intent that she may, for the purposes of prostitution, become an inmate of or frequent a brothel either in Uganda or elsewhere,
commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
(2) No person shall be convicted of any offence under this section upon the evidence of one witness only, unless that witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused.
132. Procuring defilement of women by threats, etc
(1) Any person who—
(a) by threats or intimidation procures or attempts to procure any woman or girl to have any unlawful carnal connection, either in Uganda or elsewhere;
(b) by false pretences or false representations procures any woman or girl to have any unlawful carnal connection, either in Uganda or elsewhere; or
(c) applies, administers to or causes to be taken by any woman or girl any drug, matter or thing with intent to stupefy or overpower her so as to thereby enable any person to have unlawful carnal connection with that woman or girl,
commits a misdemeanour.
(2) No person shall be convicted of an offence under this section upon the evidence of one witness only, unless that witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused
245. Kidnapping or abducting in order to subject person to grievous harm, slavery, etc
Any person who kidnaps or abducts any person in order that such person may be subjected or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being subjected to grievous harm, or slavery, or to the unnatural lust of any person, or knowing it to be likely that such person will be so subjected or disposed of, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fifteen years.
249. Buying, etc. of any person as a slave
Any person who imports, exports, removes, buys, sells or disposes of any person as a slave, or accepts, receives or detains against his will any personas a slave, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
250. Habitual dealing in slaves
Any person who habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics or deals in slaves commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fifteen years.
251. Inducing a person to give up himself or herself as a slave
Any person who induces another person to give up himself or herself as a slave commits a felony and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for ten years.
Any person who attempts or conspires with another person to induce a person to give up himself or herself as a slave or is an accessory thereto commits a felony and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years.
252. Unlawful compulsory labour
Any person who unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person commits a misdemeanour.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a “crime against humanity” is an act specified in article 7 of the Statute.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a “war crime” is an act specified in –
(b)article 8(2)(b) of the Statute (which relates to other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict); or
(d)article 8(2)(e) of the Statute (which relates to other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict not of an international character).
2. Interpretation.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
(b) “debt bondage” means the status or condition arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services or labour, or those of a person under his or her control as security or payment for a debt, when the length and nature of services is not clearly defined or when the value of the services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt;
(d) “exploitation” includes at a minimum, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, child marriage, forced labor, harmful child labour, use of a child in armed conflict, use of a person in illegal activities, debt bondage, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude, human sacrifice, the removal of organs or body parts for sale or for purposes of witchcraft, harmful rituals or practices;
(e) “forced labour” means all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered him/herself voluntarily;
(p) “slavery” is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised;
(q) “slave trade” includes all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with the view to selling or exchanging him or her and with the intention of reducing him or her to slavery;
(r) “trafficking in persons” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, 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;
3. Offence of trafficking in persons
(1) A person who—
(a) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, 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;
(b) recruits, hires, maintains, confines, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person or facilitates the aforementioned acts through force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of engaging that person in prositution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, involuntary servitude, death bondage, forced or arranged marriage;
commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for fifteen years.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), where the offender is a legal person, it shall be liable to a fine of one thousand currency points, and temporary or permanent closure, deregistration, dissolution, or disqualification from practice of certain activities.
(3) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall constitute “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subsection (1) of this Section.
(4) The consent of the victim of trafficking or if a child, the consent of his or her parents or guardian to the acts of exploitation shall not be relevant.
4. Aggravated trafficking in persons
A person commits the offence of aggravated trafficking where—
(a) the victim of trafficking is a child;
(b) adoption, guardianship, fostering and other orders in relation to children is undertaken for the purpose of exploitation;
(c) the offence is committed by a syndicate, or on large scale;
(d) the offender is an organization engaged in the activities of organizing, directing or protecting the vulnerable persons in society;
(e) the offender is engaged in organizing or directing another person or persons to commit the offence;
(f) the offence is committed by a close relative or a person having the parental care, authority or control over the victim or any other person;
(g) the offence is committed by a public officer;
(h) the offence is committed by military personnel or law enforcement officer;
(i) where the person organizes, facilitates or makes preparations for the kidnapping, abduction, buying, selling, vending, bringing from or sending to, receiving, detaining or confining of a person for purposes of harmful rituals or practices, human sacrifice, removal of any body part or organ, or any other act related to witchcraft;
(j) the victim dies, becomes a person of unsound mind, suffers mutilation, gets infected with HIV/ AIDS or any other life threatening illness; and shall be liable to imprisonment for life.
5. Trafficking in children
A person who—
(a) does any act referred to under Section 3 in relation to a child;
(b) uses a child in any armed conflict;
(c) removes any part, organ or tissue from the body of a child for purposes of human sacrifice;
(d) uses a child in the commission of a crime;
(e) abandons a child outside the country;
(f) uses a child or any body part of a child in witchcraft, rituals and related practices;
commits an offence of aggravated trafficking in children and may be liable to suffer death.
6. Engaging the Labour or Services of a Victim of Trafficking in Persons
A person who while knowing or having reason to believe that a person is a victim of trafficking, engages the labour or services of that victim in that status, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
7. Promoting Trafficking in Persons
Any person who—
(a) knowingly leases or subleases, uses or allows to be used any house, building or establishment for the purpose of exploitation;
(b) produces, prints, issues or distributes, any document or information of any Government agency, which relates to immigration, for purposes of trafficking;
(c) tampers with, or falsifies any government or government agency’s document or information relating to the immigration regulations or requirements;
(d) utters or aids any person to utter any false document relating to immigration for the purpose of facilitating that person’s entry or stay in Uganda, or exit from the country;
(e) gives or facilitates the giving of false information to any authority for the purpose of enabling the entry, stay in Uganda, or exit from the country of any person;
(f) advertises, publishes, prints, broadcasts, distributes or causes the advertisement, publication, printing, broadcasting or distribution by any means, including the use of information technology and the internet of any pornographic or other material intended or likely to facilitate trafficking in persons;
(g) in any way engages in the selling or buying of persons;
(h) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a child for any purpose without authority of the parent or guardian of such a child; except that this provision shall not apply where the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt is done lawfully, in good faith and in the best interests of the child;
(i) abandons a child. in circumstances likely to cause fear, isolation, injury, pain or other harm; or to facilitate the trafficking of that child;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred and twenty currency points or to imprisonment for five years, or both such imprisonment and fine, and on subsequent conviction for the same offence, is liable to imprisonment of seven years without the option of a fine.
8. Offences Related to Trafficking in Persons
A person who—
(a) attempts to traffic in persons;
(b) conspires with another person to do an act of trafficking in persons;
(c) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours, provides or receives a person for domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship with the intention of trafficking;
(d) recruits a person below 16 years in any form of employment for the purposes of exploitation;
(e) introduces or matches any person to another for purposes of sexual exploitation;
(f) confiscates, conceals, or destroys a passport, travel documents, or other personal documents or belongings of a person for the purpose of unlawfully denying that person freedom of movement, or access to any public services;
(g) adopts or facilitates the adoption of a person for illicit purposes;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years or a fine of one hundred and twenty currency points or to both such imprisonment and fine, and on subsequent conviction for the same offence, is liable to imprisonment of seven years without the option of a fine.
Rights of the family
3. Marriage shall be entered into with the free consent of the man and woman intending to marry.
Chapter V
Punishment for misdemeanours
When in this Code no punishment is specially provided for any misdemeanour, it shall be punishable with imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
Any person, whether male or female, who—
(a) with intent to marry or be married to or to have sexual intercourse with another person or to cause that person to marry, be married or have sexual intercourse, takes that other person away or detains him or her against his or her will; or
(b) unlawfully takes another person under the age of eighteen years out of the custody of any of the parents or of any other person having lawful care or charge over that person,
commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Chapter XIV Offences against morality
Any person, whether male or female, who—
with intent to marry or be married to or to have sexual intercourse with another person or to cause that person to marry, be married or have sexual intercourse, takes that other person away or detains him or her against his or her will; or
unlawfully takes another person under the age of eighteen years out of the custody of any of the parents or of any other person having lawful care or charge over that person, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Chapter XV Offences relating to marriage and domestic obligations
Any person who wilfully and by fraud causes any woman who is not lawfully married to him to believe that she is lawfully married to him and to cohabit or have sexual intercourse with him in that belief commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Any person who dishonestly or with a fraudulent intention goes through the ceremony of marriage, knowing that he or she is not thereby lawfully married, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.
Chapter XXIV
Offences against liberty
Any person who kidnaps or abducts any person in order that such person may be subjected or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being subjected to grievous harm, or slavery, or to the unnatural lust of any person, or knowing it to be likely that such person will be so subjected or disposed of, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fifteen years.
Chapter XXXIV Punishment for forgery
Any person who signs or transmits to a person authorised by law to register marriages, a certificate of marriage, or any document purporting to be a certificate of marriage, which in any material particular is tohis or her knowledge false, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Any person who knowingly and with intent to procure the same to be inserted in a register of births, deaths or marriages makes any false statement touching any matter required by law to be registered in any such register, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
2. Interpretation.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
…
(d) “exploitation” includes at a minimum, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, child marriage, forced labor, harmful child labour, use of a child in armed conflict, use of a person in illegal activities, debt bondage, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude, human sacrifice, the removal of organs or body parts for sale or for purposes of witchcraft, harmful rituals or practices;
…
(r) “trafficking in persons” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, 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;
(1) A person who—
(a) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, 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;
(b) recruits, hires, maintains, confines, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person or facilitates the aforementioned acts through force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of engaging that person in prositution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, involuntary servitude, death bondage, forced or arranged marriage;
commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for fifteen years.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), where the offender is a legal person, it shall be liable to a fine of one thousand currency points, and temporary or permanent closure, deregistration, dissolution, or disqualification from practice of certain activities.
(3) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall constitute “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subsection (1) of this Section.
(4) The consent of the victim of trafficking or if a child, the consent of his or her parents or guardian to the acts of exploitation shall not be relevant.
A person commits the offence of aggravated trafficking where—
(a) the victim of trafficking is a child;
(b) adoption, guardianship, fostering and other orders in relation to children is undertaken for the purpose of exploitation;
(c) the offence is committed by a syndicate, or on large scale;
(d) the offender is an organization engaged in the activities of organizing, directing or protecting the vulnerable persons in society;
(e) the offender is engaged in organizing or directing another person or persons to commit the offence;
(f) the offence is committed by a close relative or a person having the parental care, authority or control over the victim or any other person;
(g) the offence is committed by a public officer;
(h) the offence is committed by military personnel or law enforcement officer;
(i) where the person organizes, facilitates or makes preparations for the kidnapping, abduction, buying, selling, vending, bringing from or sending to, receiving, detaining or confining of a person for purposes of harmful rituals or practices, human sacrifice, removal of any body part or organ, or any other act related to witchcraft;
(j) the victim dies, becomes a person of unsound mind, suffers mutilation, gets infected with HIV/ AIDS or any other life threatening illness; and shall be liable to imprisonment for life.
A person who—
(a) does any act referred to under Section 3 in relation to a child;
(b) uses a child in any armed conflict;
(c) removes any part, organ or tissue from the body of a child for purposes of human sacrifice;
(d) uses a child in the commission of a crime;
(e) abandons a child outside the country;
(f) uses a child or any body part of a child in witchcraft, rituals and related practices;
commits an offence of aggravated trafficking in children and may be liable to suffer death.
A person who while knowing or having reason to believe that a person is a victim of trafficking, engages the labour or services of that victim in that status, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Any person who—
(a) knowingly leases or subleases, uses or allows to be used any house, building or establishment for the purpose of exploitation;
(b) produces, prints, issues or distributes, any document or information of any Government agency, which relates to immigration, for purposes of trafficking;
(c) tampers with, or falsifies any government or government agency’s document or information relating to the immigration regulations or requirements;
(d) utters or aids any person to utter any false document relating to immigration for the purpose of facilitating that person’s entry or stay in Uganda, or exit from the country;
(e) gives or facilitates the giving of false information to any authority for the purpose of enabling the entry, stay in Uganda, or exit from the country of any person;
(f) advertises, publishes, prints, broadcasts, distributes or causes the advertisement, publication, printing, broadcasting or distribution by any means, including the use of information technology and the internet of any pornographic or other material intended or likely to facilitate trafficking in persons;
(g) in any way engages in the selling or buying of persons;
(h) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a child for any purpose without authority of the parent or guardian of such a child; except that this provision shall not apply where the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt is done lawfully, in good faith and in the best interests of the child;
(i) abandons a child. in circumstances likely to cause fear, isolation, injury, pain or other harm; or to facilitate the trafficking of that child;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred and twenty currency points or to imprisonment for five years, or both such imprisonment and fine, and on subsequent conviction for the same offence, is liable to imprisonment of seven years without the option of a fine.
A person who—
(a) attempts to traffic in persons;
(b) conspires with another person to do an act of trafficking in persons;
(c) recruits, transports, transfers, harbours, provides or receives a person for domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship with the intention of trafficking;
(d) recruits a person below 16 years in any form of employment for the purposes of exploitation;
(e) introduces or matches any person to another for purposes of sexual exploitation;
(f) confiscates, conceals, or destroys a passport, travel documents, or other personal documents or belongings of a person for the purpose of unlawfully denying that person freedom of movement, or access to any public services;
(g) adopts or facilitates the adoption of a person for illicit purposes;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years or a fine of one hundred and twenty currency points or to both such imprisonment and fine, and on subsequent conviction for the same offence, is liable to imprisonment of seven years without the option of a fine.
The Prevention of Trafficking in Person Act 2009 – English (PDF)
(1) The registrar, at any time after the expiration of twenty-one days and before the expiration of three months from the date of the notice, upon payment of the prescribed fee, shall thereupon issue his or her certificate in Form C in the First Schedule to this Act; except that he or she shall not issue the certificate until he or she has been satisfied by affidavit—
(a) that one of the parties has been resident within the district in which the marriage is intended to be celebrated at least fifteen days preceding the granting of the certificate;
(b) that each of the parties to the intended marriage (not being a widower or widow) is twenty-one years old, or that, if he or she is under that age, the consent hereafter made requisite has been obtained in writing and is annexed to the affidavit;
(c) that there is not any impediment of kindred or affinity, or any other lawful hindrance to the marriage;
(d) that neither of the parties to the intended marriage is married by customary law to any person other that the person with whom such marriage is proposed to be contracted.
(2) The affidavit required by subsection (1) may be sworn before the registrar or before a magistrate.
(3) The registrar or magistrate taking the affidavit required by subsection (1) shall explain to the person making it the prohibited degrees of kindred and affinity and the penalties which may be incurred under other provisions of this Act.
The Minister, upon proof being given to him or her by affidavit that there is no lawful impediment to the proposed marriage, and that the necessary consent, if any, to the marriage has been obtained, may, if he or she shall think fit, dispense with the giving of notice, and with the issue of the certificate of the registrar, and may grant his or her licence, which shall be according to Form D in the First Schedule to this Act, authorising the celebration of a marriage between the parties named in that licence by a registrar, or by a recognised minister of some religious denomination or body.
Any person whose consent to a marriage is required by this Act, or who may know of any just cause why the marriage should not take place, may enter a caveat against the issue of the registrar’s certificate, by writing at any time before its issue the word “Forbidden” opposite to the entry of the notice in the Marriage Notice Book, and appending to the word his or her name and place of abode, and the grounds upon or by reason of which he or she claims to forbid the issue of the certificate; and the registrar shall not issue his or her certificate until the caveat shall be removed under sections 14 to 16.
If either party to an intended marriage, not being a widower or widow, is under twenty-one years of age, the written consent of the father, or if he is dead or of unsound mind or absent from Uganda, of the mother, or if both are dead or of unsound mind or absent from Uganda, of the guardian of that party, must be produced annexed to the affidavit as required by section 10 before a licence can be granted or a certificate issued.
(1) If the person required to sign a consent to marriage is unable to write, or is insufficiently acquainted with the English language, or both, then he or she shall sign his or her consent by placing his or her mark or cross to the consent in the presence of any judge, magistrate, justice of the peace, district commissioner, chief registrar of the High Court, registrar of marriages, registrar of deeds, medical officer in the service of the Government or minister of religion.
(2) The signature made under subsection (1) shall be attested by a person specified in that subsection in Form B in the First Schedule to this Act.
If there is no parent or guardian of the party under twenty-one years of age residing in Uganda and capable of consenting to the marriage, then the Minister or a judge of the High Court may consent to the marriage in writing, upon being satisfied after due inquiry that the marriage is a proper one; and that consent shall be as effectual as if the father or mother had consented.
Celebration of marriage.
A minister shall not celebrate any marriage if he or she knows of any just impediment to the marriage, nor until the parties deliver to him or her the registrar’s certificate or the Minister’s licence.
Whenever after the 1st July, 1914, any persons already married or professing to be married to each other by customary law desire to convert that marriage into a marriage by which they are legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both shall live by a ceremony before a registrar, such provisions of this Act as apply to a marriage before a registrar under section 26 shall apply to the conversion as though it were a marriage under that section; but in that case the Forms G, H, I, J and K in the First Schedule to this Act shall be used in lieu of the Forms A, C, D, E and F and the following forms shall be used in lieu of, and shall have the same effect as, those provided in section 26.
In lieu of the first form set out there, the following—
“Do I understand that you (name), and you (name), have been heretofore married to each other by customary law and that you come here for the purpose of binding yourselves legally to each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live?”
In lieu of the second form set out there, the following—
“Whereas you (name), and you (name), profess that you have been heretofore married to each other by customary law and whereas that marriage does not bind you by law to each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live and whereas you desire to bind yourselves legally each to the other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live: Know you that by the public taking of each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live, in my presence and in the presence of the persons now here, and by the subsequent attestation of that taking by signing your names to that effect, you become legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live although no other rite of a civil or religious nature shall now take place, and that hereafter your marriage cannot be dissolved during your lifetime, except by a valid judgment of divorce; and if either of you before the death of the other shall illegally contract another marriage while your marriage to each other remains undissolved, you will be thereby guilty of bigamy, and liable to punishment for that offence.”
And in lieu of the third form set out there, the following—
“I call upon all persons here present to witness that I, (name), take you (name), to be my lawful wife (or husband) so long as both of us shall live.”
(1) No marriage in Uganda shall be valid which, if celebrated in England, would be null and void on the ground of kindred or affinity, or where either of the parties to it at the time of the celebration of the marriage is married by customary law to any person other than the person with whom the marriage is had.
(2) A marriage shall be null and void if both parties knowingly and wilfully acquiesce in its celebration—
(a) in any place other than the office of a registrar of marriages or a licensed place of worship, except where authorised by the Minister’s licence;
(b) under a false name or names;
(c) without the registrar’s certificate of notice or Minister’s licence duly issued; or
(d) by a person not being a recognised minister of some religious denomination or body, or a registrar of marriages.
(3) No marriage shall, after celebration, be deemed invalid by reason that any provision of this Act, other than the foregoing, has not been complied with.
All marriages celebrated under this Act shall be good and valid in law to all intents and purposes.
Any person who is married under this Act, or whose marriage is declared by this Act to be valid, shall be incapable, during the continuance of that marriage, of contracting a valid marriage under any customary law, but, except as aforesaid, nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any marriage contracted under or in accordance with any customary law, or in any manner applied to marriages so contracted.
Any person who in any declaration, certificate, licence, document or statement by law to be made or issued for the purposes of a marriage, declares, enters, certifies or states any material matter which is false, shall, if he or she does so without having taken reasonable means to ascertain the truth or falsity of that matter, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year, or shall, if he or she does so knowing that the matter is false, be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.
Any person who endeavours to prevent a marriage by pretence that his or her consent to it is required by law, or that any person whose consent is so required does not consent, or that there is any legal impediment to the performing of the marriage, shall, if he or she does so knowing that the pretence is false or without having reason to believe that it is true, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
(1) Customary marriages may be celebrated in any part of Uganda.
(2) Customary marriages may be polygamous.
Where a person contracts a customary marriage under this Act and subsequently contracts a monogamous or Muslim marriage with another person, the validity of the customary marriage shall not be affected by the monogamous or Muslim marriage, but the monogamous or Muslim marriage shall be void.
Any person who, for the purpose of doing anything required to be done under this Act, makes any document or utters any statement which is false in a material particular—
(a) if he or she made the document or uttered the statement without having taken reasonable steps to ascertain the truth or falsity of the matter, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings or to both; or
(b) if he or she made the document or uttered the statement knowing the matter to be false, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand shillings or to both.
The parties to a customary marriage who fail to register their marriage within the time specified in section 6 commit an offence and are liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred shillings.
(1) The registrar, at any time after the expiration of twenty-one days and before the expiration of three months from the date of the notice, upon payment of the prescribed fee, shall thereupon issue his or her certificate in the prescribed form; except that he or she shall not issue the certificate until he or she has been satisfied by affidavit—
(a) that one of the parties has been resident within the district in which the marriage is intended to be celebrated at least fifteen days preceding the granting of the certificate;
(b) that each of the parties to the intended marriage (not being a widower or widow) has attained the age of twenty-one or that, if he or she is under that age, the consent hereafter made requisite has been obtained in writing and is annexed to the affidavit;
(c) that the parties to the intended marriage are not within the prohibited degrees of kinship specified in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(2) Such affidavit may be sworn before the registrar or before a magistrate.
(3) The registrar or magistrate taking the affidavit shall explain to the person making it what are the prohibited degrees of kindred and affinity and the penalties which may be incurred under other provisions of this Act.
The Minister, upon proof being given to him or her by affidavit that there is no lawful impediment to the proposed marriage, and that the necessary consent, if any, to the marriage has been obtained, may, if he or she shall think fit, dispense with the giving of notice, and with the issue of the certificate of the registrar, and may grant his or her licence, which shall be in the prescribed form authorising the celebration of a marriage between the parties named in the licence by a registrar.
Any person whose consent to a marriage is required, or who may know of any just cause why the customary marriage should not take place, may enter a caveat against the issue of the registrar’s certificate, by writing at any time before the issue of the certificate the word “Forbidden” opposite to the entry of the notice in the customary marriage notice book, and appending to it his or her name and place of abode, and the grounds upon or by reason of which he or she claims to forbid the issue of the certificate, and the registrar shall not issue his or her certificate until the caveat shall be removed as hereafter provided.
Where a person, such as referred to in section 27 resides outside Uganda, an objection signed in accordance with the laws of his or her country of residence relating to the attestation of documents and duly authenticated by a notary public consul or other person authorised by the laws of that country in that behalf shall be sufficient evidence of objection to the celebration of that marriage.
If either party to an intended customary marriage, not being a widower or widow, is under twenty-one years of age, the written consent of the father, or if he is dead or of unsound mind, of the mother, or if both are dead or of unsound mind, of the guardian of the party, must be produced annexed to the affidavit as aforesaid before a licence can be granted or a certificate issued.
(1) If the person required to sign the consent is unable to write, or is insufficiently acquainted with the English language, or both, then he or she shall sign the consent by placing his or her mark or cross to it in the presence of one of the following persons: any magistrate, justice of the peace, district commissioner, registrar of the High Court, registrar of marriages, registrar of deeds, medical officer in the service of the Government, county chief, subcounty chief or any other person as the Minister may, by statutory instrument, appoint.
(2) Such signature shall be attested by such persons in a prescribed form.
Where the person required to sign the consent resides outside Uganda, a consent signed in accordance with the laws of that country of residence relating to the attestation of documents and duly authenticated by a notary public consul or other person authorised by the laws of that country in that behalf shall be sufficient authority for the celebration of that marriage.
This Part of this Act shall not apply to people who belong to any indigenous tribe of Uganda.
Customary Marriage (Registration) Act 1973 – UNSTAT – English (PDF)
The Marriage Act and the Marriage of Africans Act shall cease to apply to the celebration of marriages between persons both of whom profess the Mohammedan religion, and neither of whom is a party to an existing marriage, under or declared valid by those Acts, with any person other than a Mohammedan.
All marriages between persons professing the Mohammedan religion, and all divorces from such marriages celebrated or given according to the rites and observances of the Mohammedan religion customary and usual among the tribe or sect in which the marriage or divorce takes place, shall be valid and registered as provided in this Act.
(1) Application for registration shall be made within one month from the date of the marriage or divorce, before a registrar in the manner and by the persons following—
(a) in the case of a marriage, by the husband, or in the event of his death before the expiration of one month from the date of the marriage, by the widow; but if either party whose duty it is to apply is a minor, the application shall be made by his or her lawful guardian, and if the widow be a purdah-nisheen the application shall be made by her personally or on her behalf by her duly authorised vakil;
(b) in the case of a divorce—
(i) other than of the kind known as Khula, by the man who effected the divorce; and
(ii) of the kind known as Khula, by the parties to the divorce jointly, but if the woman is a purdah-nisheen the application may be made on her behalf by her duly authorised vakil.
(2) Nothing in this section shall prevent a woman or, if she is a purdah-nisheen, her authorised vakil, or her guardian applying for the registration of marriage or divorce if the man fails to apply, or a minor from so applying if his or her guardian fails to apply.
On application being made to a registrar for registration under this Act, and upon the receipt by the registrar of such fee as the Minister may by statutory order direct, he or she shall satisfy himself or herself whether or not such marriage or divorce has been effected by or between the parties, and also as to the identity of the parties; and, further, in the case of a person appearing as a guardian or a vakil, as to the right of that person to appear.
Any person, who being required by this Act to apply for registration of a marriage or divorce, fails to make that application commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one month and to a fine not exceeding two hundred shillings.
The Marriage and Divorce of Mohammedans Act 1906 – UNSTAT – English (PDF)
Notwithstanding anything in the Marriage Act, marriages may be celebrated under this Act between Africans both of whom profess the Christian or Mohammedan religions.¹
In cases where the consent of any person to the intended marriage is necessary, the minister to celebrate the intended marriage shall be deemed to be a registrar of marriages for the purpose of that consent, and if there is no parent or guardian in any particular case capable of consenting, then that minister may consent in writing to the marriage, upon being satisfied, after due inquiry, that the marriage is a proper one.
Nothing in the Marriage Act shall be deemed to prevent, invalidate or make an offence the celebration of a Mohammedan marriage under this Act by reason only of a former marriage, provided that the subsequent marriage is valid by Mohammedan law.
Nothing in this Act shall authorise—(a)the making of any decree of dissolution of marriage unless the petitioner is domiciled in Uganda at the time when the petition is presented;(b)the making of any decree of nullity of marriage unless the petitioner is domiciled in Uganda at the time when the petition is presented or unless the marriage was solemnised in Uganda.
In this Act, “minor children” means—(a)in the cases of Africans, Indians and Pakistanis, boys who have not attained the age of fifteen years and girls who have not attained the age of thirteen years;(b)in other cases, it means unmarried children who have not attained the age of eighteen years.
A husband or a wife may present a petition to the court praying that his or her marriage may be declared null and void.
(1)The following are the grounds on which a decree of nullity of marriage may be made—(a)that the respondent was permanently impotent at the time of the marriage;(b)that the parties are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, whether natural or legal, or affinity;(c)that either party was a lunatic or idiot at the time of the marriage;(d)that the former husband or wife of either party was living at the time of the marriage, and the marriage with the previous husband or wife was then in force;(e)that the consent of either party to the marriage was obtained by force or fraud, in any case in which the marriage might be annulled on this ground by the law of England.
(2)If the court finds that the petitioner’s case has been proved, it shall pronounce a decree nisi declaring the marriage to be null and void.