e3. Achievements  The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child protects these children.  Associations and NGOs carry out sensitization activities. F. Sale, child trafficking and abduction (article 29) The Penal Code punishes child snatching and the unlawful keeping, suppression, substitution and abduction of a child. The new Penal Code includes slavery as an offence (section 270(1), (2), (3), (4) and (5). The sale and tafficking of children is a phenomenon that is officially unknown in Niger. g) Children victims of harmful social and cultural practices A. Promise of marriage of girls and boys, early and forced marriage a1. Legislative, administrative and judicial measures Niger does not have a family code. It is the custom of the parties that regulates cases. The Mandel Decree of 13 July 1939 fixing the age of marriage at 14 for girls and 16 for boys is the only law of reference. Article 21 of the Charter which protects children from harmful social and cultural practices could be a response to the juridical lacuna. a2. Limitations Limitations are both legal and socio-cultural. At the legal level, the Mandel Decree, which is still in force, clearly conflicts with article 21 of the Charter. No harmonization measure is in sight. This difficulty is compounded by the non existence of a family code. On the socio-cultural front, early and forced marriages are an integral part of local customs. The different conventions ratified by Niger are perceived by society as a challenge to local customs. These marriages are a factor that fosters cases of fistulas and prostitution. Marriage is an affair of families: the consent of the spouses does not count. a3. Achievements    The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which proscribes these practices. The partnership agreements signed between traditional rulers and UNICEF to sensitize parents on the harmful consequences of these practices. Women‟s associations and other human rights groups carry out sensitization work, training sessions and debates for a better respect of these rights. 44