Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of... https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?... Democratic Republic of the Congo: Early or forced marriages, including among women and girls; prevalence, related legislation, and the ability to refuse such a marriage; state protection and support services (2019–March 2021) 1. Situation 1.1 Prevalence of Early Marriage According to the 2017–2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (Institut national de statistique, INS) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with support from UNICEF and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), among women aged 20 to 24 at the time of the survey, 29.1 percent were first married or [translation] “in a union” before the age of 18, and 8.4 percent before the age of 15 (DRC Dec. 2019, ii, 17). The same source reports that among men aged 20 to 24, 5.6 percent were first married before the age of 18, and 1.6 percent before the age of 15 (DRC Dec. 2019, 17). The source adds that at the time of the survey, 18.0 percent of women and 2.2 percent of men aged 15 to 19 were married (DRC Dec. 2019, 17). The MICS provides the following data on women aged 20 to 49 at the time to the survey: Area of Percentage who were Percentage who were residence married before age 15 married before age 18 Urban 7.3 24.8 Rural 11.6 37.3 Index of economic well- Percentage who Percentage who being [1] (population were married were married divided into quintiles) before age 15 before age 18 Poorest 12.5 38.4 Second 12.3 37.4 Average 9.9 35.9 Fourth 10.0 33.7 Wealthiest 4.4 15.7 (DRC Dec. 2019, 278) The MICS provides the following data on the prevalence of early marriage by province in the DRC: 1 of 15 4/29/2021, 10:17 AM Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of... https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?... Province Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of women aged 20 women aged 20 women aged 15 to to 49 married to 49 married 19 who are before age 15 before age 18 married/in a union Bas-Uele 9.7 27.6 16.4 Équateur 6.7 28.1 9.7 Haut-Uélé 12.7 35.1 31.6 Haut- 11.5 39.7 23.1 Katanga Haut- 10.8 39.1 19.9 Lomami Ituri 9.6 30.6 23.0 Kasaï 16.8 51.3 31.8 Kasaï 17.2 51.3 23.4 Central Kasaï 19.5 56.8 22.0 Oriental Kinshasa 4.7 17.8 6.8 Kongo 4.2 19.0 9.2 Central Kwango 8.1 24.9 12.8 Kwilu 6.7 27.2 13.3 Lomami 9.7 38.5 18.9 Lualaba 8.4 29.5 26.3 Maï- 11.6 37.5 28.0 Ndombe Maniema 16.0 44.6 39.4 Mongala 9.8 33.4 42.1 Nord-Kivu 9.2 28.2 17.2 Nord- 12.7 36.1 35.2 Ubangi Sankuru 9.8 34.4 22.9 Sud-Kivu 11.5 29.2 11.5 Sud-Ubangi 12.5 42.3 29.2 2 of 15 4/29/2021, 10:17 AM Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of... https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?... Province Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of women aged 20 women aged 20 women aged 15 to to 49 married to 49 married 19 who are before age 15 before age 18 married/in a union Tanganyika 16.0 49.3 31.0 Tshopo 8.7 33.9 23.2 Tshuapa 12.7 32.6 20.3 (DRC Dec. 2019, 279) 1.2 Prevalence of Forced Marriage UNHCR and INTERSOS [2] publish monthly protection monitoring reports for certain regions of the DRC, which provide statistics on forced marriage, such as the following: Ituri In June 2020, 7 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 13 July 2020, 1) In September 2020, 10 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 14 Oct. 2020, 2) In October 2020, 7 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 17 Nov. 2020, 2) Nord-Kivu In October 2020, 1 forced marriage (INTERSOS and UN 31 Oct. 2020, 9) In December 2020, 1 forced marriage (INTERSOS and UN 27 Jan. 2021, 8) In January 2021, no forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 23 Feb. 2021, 8) Sud-Kivu and Maniema In July 2020, 5 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 20 Aug. 2020, 8) In September 2020, 3 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 23 Oct. 2020, 2) In December 2020, 3 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 18 Dec. 2020, 2) Tanganyika and Haut-Katanga In January 2020, 3 forced marriages (UN 31 Jan. 2020, 6) In October 2020, 18 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 8 Dec. 2020, 8) In December 2020, 2 forced marriages (INTERSOS and UN 21 Jan. 2021, 12) In correspondence with the Research Directorate, Dieudonné Lwaboshi Manegabe, a program manager at Women in Action for Social Progress (Femmes en action pour le progrès social, FAPROS), a women’s and children’s rights organization in the DRC, stated that [translation] “the rate [of forced marriage] among adult women is much lower. [Adult women] are rarely subjected to forced marriage” (Lwaboshi Manegabe 6 Mar. 2021). Information on the statistical prevalence of forced marriage of adults in the DRC could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3 of 15 4/29/2021, 10:17 AM Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of... https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?... 1.3 Reasons for Forced Marriage In an article published on 19 July 2020, Global Press Journal, a journalism platform (Global Press Journal n.d.), reports that in the province of North Kivu, the families of young girls with unwanted pregnancies can force them to marry the father of their unborn child (Global Press Journal 19 July 2020). Similarly, according to Issue 30 of the Dimitra Newsletter, a publication of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in the province of Kwilu, teenage pregnancies among 12-to-14- year-olds can lead to the girls marrying the fathers of their unborn children (UN Apr. 2019, 63). Sources report that early marriages may be due to families' poverty, since the bride- price to be paid by the future groom enables families to meet some of their needs (Balume Johnson 9 Oct. 2020; Lwaboshi Manegabe Dec. 2019). Similarly, UNHCR notes that because of poverty, hunger and disease, [UN English version] “hundreds” of families from Tanganyika province that have been displaced as a result of ethnic fighting “are compelling their children to marry young, in hopes of easing immediate financial burdens” (UN 26 July 2018). In a report on the impact of attacks on education for women and girls in Kasaï Central province, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) states that [GCPEA English version] “many” people interviewed for the report believed that early marriages were increasingly common as a result of the armed conflict in the province (GCPEA Apr. 2019, 46). The source notes that school principals and female students interviewed for the report indicated that families that were economically impacted by the conflict might marry off their daughters in order to receive the bride-price paid to the bride’s family (GCPEA Apr. 2019, 47). The same source reports that as a result of the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence, parents are opting for early marriages for their daughters, fearing that if their daughters experience rape, they will not be able to find a husband (GCPEA Apr. 2019, 46). Sources add that the COVID-19 pandemic puts young girls at increased risk for early marriage (US 24 Sept. 2020, 13; Lumbulumbu Kabuo Sept. 2020, 6). According to USAID, families that have lost income seek to compensate for the loss by marrying off their daughters and accessing the additional economic resources provided by the bride-price (US 24 Sept. 2020, 13). Similarly, in a report on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic broken down by gender, Françoise Lumbulumbu Kabuo, National Gender Equity Advisor at CARE DRC, a division of CARE International, which [translation] “works with poor communities in developing countries to bring an end to extreme poverty and injustice,” notes that lower income means that less food is available in some households and [translation] “sometimes minor daughters marry because they hope to have a better life in their partner's home and have their families benefit from it.” (Lumbulumbu Kabuo Sept. 2020, 6, 17). 1.4 Reasons for Forced Marriage In a letter dated 2 June 2020 addressed to the President of the UN Security Council, the Group of Experts on the DRC reports that, between January 2019 and February 2020, [UN English version] “widespread” sexual violence, including forced marriage, was committed by armed combatants, particularly those in the Nduma Defence of Congo-Rénové (Nduma défense du Congo-Rénové, NDC-R) and the Collective of Movements for Change/People’s Defence Forces (Collectif des mouvements pour le changement/Forces de défense du people, CMC/FDP) in the 4 of 15 4/29/2021, 10:17 AM Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of... https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?..