US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA461

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000461 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/IWI (L. Khadiagala) 
DEPT FOR AF 
 
E.O. 12958; NA 
TAGS: ECON, ELAB, PHUM, PGOV, SCUL, SOCI, CG 
SUBJECT: DR CONGO: CHILD MARRIAGE EXISTS 
 
REF: STATE 36341 
 
1.  (SBU) Response is keyed to reftel. 
 
Begin response: 
 
A) The legal age of marriage is 15 for girls and 18 for 
boys. The government is revising the family code, and 
experts believe the legal age of marriage for girls 
will be raised to 18. There is not a lower legal age 
for marriage with parental consent. 
 
B) Underage marriage for girls is widely accepted in 
the DRC, and in many rural areas a significant number 
of girls get married as early as 13. Dowry payments 
greatly contribute to underage marriage and create a 
vicious circle for many families. For example, in some 
cases, parents marry off a young daughter against her 
wishes in order to collect dowry payments to finance a 
son's dowry payment to his future wife so he can get 
married. 
 
According to a 2001 UNICEF study, the average age of 
first marriage for males was 26.0 (28.7 in urban areas 
and 24.9 in rural areas). The average age of first 
marriage for females was 21.0 (21.0 in urban areas and 
20.1 in rural areas). Nearly 97.5% of males aged 15-19 
are single (98.6% in urban areas and 96.8% in rural 
areas). Only 76.7% of females aged 15-19 are single 
(81.9% in urban areas and 76.7% in rural areas). 
 
C) Underage marriage adversely affects the well-being 
of girls because it limits their access to education, 
and often leads to unsafe pregnancies or multiple 
pregnancies during teenage years. 
 
Although the U.S. does not directly fund initiatives to 
address child marriage, USAID has family planning 
programs and HIV/AIDs awareness programs that promote 
abstinence and waiting until maturity to engage in sex 
or get married. USAID partners, including organizations 
that work with street children, also educate families 
and communities about the importance of keeping girls 
in school and taking care of their children. USAID does 
not have concrete data about whether these programs 
reduce the incidence of child marriage. 
 
End response. 
 
MEECE