Family in Equatorial Guinea

The Constitution treats the family as a basic social unit and provides for state protection of the family, maternity, family assets and responsible parenthood. It also protects children from conception and recognizes equal rights and opportunities for women in public, private and family life. Some older Civil Code provisions conflict with these constitutional principles, including provisions on a married woman's obedience, unequal access to divorce and unequal remarriage rights. Practical enforcement of family rights remains uneven. Marriage at age 18 is provided for both sexes, and marriage registration is obligatory. Equatorial Guinea recognizes civil marriage, called matrimonio civil, customary marriage and religious marriage through a locally recognized church. A civil marriage is handled before a notary or judge with both spouses present, proof of age, witnesses and an affidavit; registration and certificate fees may apply. A customary marriage can be certified by the Presidente de Comunidad de Vecinos, while a recognized church can issue a religious certificate that is commonly added to a civil-registration request. Birth registration is legally required and should be reported within 30 days. Registration itself has no fee, but a birth certificate fee applies; processing commonly takes about one week to one month. The listed documents include the birth notification, identification documents, the parents' nationalities and the presence or consent of both parents. Birth certificates are used for identity documents, education, inheritance and social assistance, yet the displayed UNICEF indicator based on 2016–2017 data recorded only 54% of children under five as registered, so it should not be treated as a current national rate. Under Ley General de Trabajo No. 4/2021, maternity leave covers six weeks before and six weeks after childbirth, with a medical extension for illness related to pregnancy or childbirth. The law also provides two paid nursing breaks of 30 minutes per day until the child is 12 months old, seven paid paternity days within 15 days after birth, and a two-hour daily infant-care break for the father during the first 12 months when the mother does not use that break. Marriage leave is 10 days, and bereavement leave is seven days for specified close relatives. No general paid parental-leave scheme or established family-care subsidy is evidenced. MINASIG, the Ministerio de Asuntos Sociales e Igualdad de Género, coordinates assistance and protection for children, older people, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Its Dirección General de Asuntos Sociales can operate or supervise reception, protection, childcare, elderly and orphan facilities, conduct socioeconomic assessments and provide family or community mediation. Coverage, eligibility, fees and waiting times for these services are not established in the available evidence, so daily care remains mainly with families and communities. Child-protection work addresses violence, abuse, exploitation, abandonment and family separation through cooperation among social affairs, health, education, justice, the Fiscalía General del Estado, security services, the Comité Nacional de los Derechos del Niño and civil-society organizations. The first Oficina de Atención de Menores, Víctimas y Testigos del Delito opened in Malabo on 11 June 2026 with Fiscalía and UNICEF support and provides child-sensitive testimony procedures; expansion to other provinces remains a future plan. A family can contact MINASIG or its family and community mediation section as a social or administrative entry point, but this is not a verified substitute for a specialized family court. Separation and maintenance disputes can use the formal court process, while no specialized family court, fast-track procedure, public legal-aid system or established alternative-dispute process has been verified nationwide. The available evidence does not establish a general non-contributory social-protection system, and the proposed unified social registry and cash-plus model remain planned or tested rather than general family entitlements. The emergency cash intervention after the 2021 Bata explosions was a pilot. Death registration is obligatory, has no registration fee but does have a certificate fee, and requires a medical death certificate, identification and the date and age at death. Relatives, household residents, neighbours, an institution head or another competent authority may report the death. The certificate supports inheritance, social assistance and pension matters. MINASIG promotes adoption mechanisms and family foster institutions, but nationwide procedures, eligibility, consent rules, fees, timing and appeal routes have not been publicly verified.