divorce, repudiation, kinship, inheritance, gifts, testaments, unregistered estates, the acquisition or transfer of which shall have been established by a proven mechanism laid down law). 271. The government plans to amend the civil code, particularly Article 144 in order to set the marital age at 18 years for girls and boys instead of 18 years for boys and 15 years for girls. It must be emphasized that civil marriage is an option for couples who do not want to submit to the customary marriage rules. 272. In the civil code, respect for the required age and the consent of the would-be couple are basic conditions for the marriage whereas the customary marriage is not subject to a minimum age and the consent of the parents of the would-be couple takes precedence over the couple’s consent. However, even though the principle of the application of the custom is accepted, the law provides that when this is contrary to international conventions, legislative provisions and fundamental rules relating to public order or to freedom of persons, the courts can set aside its enforcement. Thus, any aggrieved party can present his complaints to a competent court of law to seek redress and to have their right respected. 273. In order to protect the girl child attending school from early or forced marriage, Decree No. 2017-935 on protection, support and assistance to the girl child attending school was adopted on 5 December 2017. This regulation which is accompanied by an implementing order is a major step in the fight against the phenomenon where girls drop out of school due to early marriages. 274. The draft Children’s Code is still pending but its Action Plan which was mentioned in the previous report as having been designed to help address the issue of child marriages, has now been promulgated. The projected Strategic Plan Implementation Protection Committees were established by Decree No. 2019369 /PRN/ MPF/PE of 19 July 2019 on the establishment, powers, organization, composition and functioning of the Child Protection Committees. III: SPECIFIC RIGHTS A. Rights of Women: Article 18 275. At the institutional level, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Protection is the main government institution in charge of gender promotion. Niger revised and adopted the National Gender Policy on 10 August 2017 to take into account the new challenges such as demographic, environmental and security issues, humanitarian emergencies, migration and climate change concerns. 276. At the socio-economic level, as part of the improvement of the livelihoods of the population, especially concerning women, efforts have been made since the last report, and the following are worth mentioning, among others:  Continuation of the 3N Initiative “Nigeriens Feeding Nigeriens”, the provision of equipment to reduce domestic chores, the allocation of funds for Income Generating Activities (IGAs);  Continuation of the implementation of social safety nets;  Establishment of the Business House towards the facilitation of the establishment of women’s businesses;  Establishment of 342 multi-functional platforms in seven (7) regions (Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabéry, Zinder and Niamey) including 102 platforms in 2018. They are equipped with a two-stroke cycle engine which enables it to function with different types 62