Forced marriage : The phenomenon persists in Toviklin

Located at 150 km from Cotonou, Toviklin is one of the six communes in the Couffo department. In this region of Benin, girls are still in the throes of forced or early marriages. Despite the existence of many texts, the phenomenon resists time and legislation. This, as if the arsenal put in place by the State is made up of flaws or that it is not well implemented to eradicate this practice of mores that this municipality shares with the other municipalities of the department.

A. Atchiwé, a 17 years now and escaped forced and early marriage by 2015. Divorced parents, she lived with her mother in Togo. She had 11 years old and was in fourth grade when her father picked her up from her mother. Once in Doko, one of the boroughs of Toviklin, she starts CM1. More, at the age of 12 years, her father decided to give her in marriage to a man who is also much older than her. The girl went to tell the teachers of her school about the situation. When the masters intervened, the father, one morning went to school with a haircut to finish them off. This is when the Social Protection Center (CPS) and the Toviklin police station intervened and the father was arrested. He was held for five days before being released. And since 2015, custody of A. Atchiwé was left to Marie Juliette Oké, president of the NGO Mahuli. Today, the girl is in the process of obtaining her diploma in haute couture.

Marie Juliette Oké says that for two, the CPS stopped accompanying him but, she manages to provide for the needs of the orphans who are in her care as well as the three daughters saved from forced or early marriage. This confidence is very edifying and despite the time, the phenomenon persists. "Yes it is a reality that continues in the municipality of Toviklin", cowardly Eulalie Gbédè, secretary general of the NGO Tofodji. According to a source in this town, The report 2020 on the state of evil is not yet near. More, in 2019, for example, 29 cases have been registered. In 2018, 26 cases have been registered. "Forced or early marriage, it is one of the cultural phenomena in vogue in the area. This is a phenomenon that is happening everywhere in almost every family in Toviklin.. There are difficulties in denouncing. And so, it is a few who come to denounce the practice ", confides the source. To believe it, those who do, it's usually, those who have not had their account in the marriage that is being hatched or those who find themselves in a position of competitor with the party to which the girl went.

A practice with several variations

A Toviklin, forced or early marriage occurs in several ways. Either it is kidnappings followed by kidnapping and then we go to see the parents of the girl to inform them or we do not go. And when the girl gets pregnant, she is released. The parents of the girl realize that their daughter is pregnant and sometimes I hope in vain that the perpetrator of the pregnancy comes to them. Either the girl is coached to the point that she decides one day to take her things and join the husband. Or it is the parents themselves who instigate their coup well and propose the mechanism by which the suitors will come and snatch the girl. The instigator can be the father or the mother or a paternal uncle or a maternal uncle etc.. Bartholomew Zinsou, president of endogenous religions and president of traditional medicine practitioners at Couffo explains how parents are complicit in the kidnapping of their daughters. According to him, children are in school or learning yet, some parents start by negotiating with their sons-in-law to pick them up. So, sons-in-law begin by wooing young girls. Without the girls understanding anything, they can start by taking money from these men. More, when the men go to touch the girls, parents will stand up again to say they didn't know. Occasionally, the girl is in apprenticeship and for lack of means of the parents, the boy starts by financing the girl. A way to influence the girl and after, he snatches the girl off and says he married her. Some are even ready to kidnap the girl and bring her to Djidja or Agounan or Nigeria.

Motivations

First, in Toviklin, this cultural practice has stood the test of time. Barthélémy Zinsou makes known as it is done in ancient times, tradition was respected so that certain numbers of things are respected. He notes that even if the girl is kidnapped, the mechanism exists to regularize the situation. And the goal is to get the girl to a good home, in a good family even if the financial side is taken into account. More, this tradition has been perverted by other considerations. Today, for reasons of illness of one of the girl's family members, we can give her in marriage. For example, the girl's father may be sick and needs surgery. Having no financial means to deal with this operation, mother or family accepts money from a donor who takes, in exchange, the girl to take in marriage. If it's with a healer, a pastor or with a Church leader whom the father finds satisfaction, it's the same process. The girl can be given in marriage to pay off debts. There are also sociological constraints. "For example, confides a source, the mother of the girl should marry another and did not. So, the girl will take her mother's place in the family where she was supposed to get married ”.

Legal provisions

In Benin, several laws have been passed to protect the child against forced marriage. Provisions are even taken to punish the perpetrators and accomplices of forced marriage. Far 2015-08 on the children's code in the Republic of Benin. The article 129, of the Children's Code establishes that "the child has the right to protection against all forms of exploitation and violence". And the article 181 states that "practices leading to early or forced child marriage such as coercive measures, psychological pressure, emotional blackmail and intense social and family pressure, are prohibited ". The article 376 of the same code says that "any person who gives in marriage his child under the age of eighteen (18) years, excluding the exemptions granted by the Personal and Family Code, is punished by imprisonment for three (03) years to ten (10) years and a fine of one hundred thousand (100 000) at five hundred thousand (500 000) CFA francs ". Law no.2011-26 of 9 January 2012 on the prevention and repression of violence against women in its article 31 indicates that "Anyone who is guilty of or complicit in a forced or arranged marriage or forced cohabitation, as defined in article 3 of this law is punishable by imprisonment of a (01) year to three (03) years and a fine of five hundred thousand (500 000) two million francs (2 000 000) of francs. All persons who are accomplices in the planning and / or execution of such a marriage or cohabitation are also guilty ".

What to do about the persistence of the phenomenon ?

"We must punish severely. The law must be applied with all its rigor as soon as the case arises. Do not hide behind considerations such as the consequences of imprisoning the offending parent. Car, people have the information but continue to be stubborn. Proof, as soon as they give a girl in forced or early marriage and an investigation is initiated, everyone involved flees. So, they know that what they have done is not good ", fulminates our source. More, as these are behaviors that we want to change, he advocates that the people involved should not be treated as thieves, robbers or other bandits. For him, we must humanize the treatment of these people. Justice must be social justice in this case. The sanction mechanism must be different from that applied to other crimes. To believe it, a parent who marries his daughter is not doing so with the intention of harming his daughter. That's because he did it while the girl is not yet old or the girl didn't want him to fall foul of the law. So the repression against this offense must ensure that the offender is not seen as a delinquent. It may be necessary to explain to this person the consequences that his act can have in the life of the girl and for the country.. We can find him community service to do and release him. For Barthélémy Zinsou, awareness must be increased. And that's why, social protection centers can be used. In reality, their role is first to denounce the practice and get the community to denounce this practice as soon as it happens somewhere. Ensuite, we must assist the parties who want the texts to be applied. The role of the CPS is to ensure that parents understand that these are no longer practices that should continue to flourish.. For that, the CPS organizes the popularization sessions of the texts in force in Benin. More, the departmental head of endogenous religions thinks that awareness-raising must be done by the community itself on the control of customary chiefs, traditional and district chiefs. Better, he finds it wiser to have community-wide punishments rather than jail. Car, according to him, when you punish someone in front of their parents, his brothers and his friends, not only will he no longer fall in the same ways, but also, it dissuades those who have in mind to do so. More, care must be taken to supervise the customary chiefs, traditional and district chiefs in this exercise.

Arthur SEAL (Coll)