Family
The 2015 Civil Code sets a statutory family law over customary and religious practice
The 2015 Civil Code contains the family provisions, setting 18 as the minimum marriage age and providing for civil, religious and customary marriage. Sharia courts handle Muslim personal status, and customary practice remains strong.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National, with community courts at first instance and sharia courts for Muslim personal status.
Governing law
- Civil Code of Eritrea, Proclamation 165/2015 — family law provisions
- Transitional Civil Code of Eritrea 1991 — the predecessor
- Proclamation 158/2007 abolishing female circumcision
In practice
The statutory position is comparatively progressive: minimum marriage age of 18 for both sexes, consent requirements, monogamy as the civil norm, and provision for judicial divorce and property division. FGM was prohibited by Proclamation 158/2007. Eritrea also has a longstanding formal commitment to gender equality dating from the liberation struggle, in which women fought in large numbers. The difficulty is verification: three marriage regimes coexist — civil, religious and customary — and in rural areas customary and religious practice governs, with early marriage and FGM prevalence remaining significant despite prohibition. Community courts staffed by elected lay judges handle first-instance family matters. The absence of published case law, a functioning bar and independent monitoring means the relationship between the 2015 code and actual practice cannot be established from open sources.