Page 18 - The economic recession, coupled with a slowdown in the State‟s activities and its harmful effect on budgets allocated to social services, especially for children; - Traditions and customs that deter the realization of the rights and welfare of children; - Worsening HIV/AIDS pandemic, which increases mortality of parents and the number of orphans and vulnerable children. III - DEFINITION OF THE CHILD A. Concept of the Child Cameroon has subscribed to the definition of the child as set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To this end, the child is defined as “any human being aged under 18”. Ongoing reform of legislation (draft code on persons and the family and preliminary draft child protection code) is aimed at standardizing the age of children for all aspects of life and has made a significant step in defining the child as “any human being aged under 18”. B. Consent to Marriage Marriage in Cameroon is founded on the free will by a man and woman to join together as husband and wife. Free and solemn consent to marriage is therefore essential to the validity of marriage. Such consent is one of the major items mentioned in the marriage certificate. Paragraph 4, article 52 of marriage ordinance 81/02 of 28 June 1981 stipulates that “No marriage can be celebrated unless the future couple has consented to it”. Cameroon‟s legislation is emphatic about the importance of consent to marriage to demonstrate its firm opposition to forced marriage. Recognizing marriage as a form of emancipation of the child, the provisions set forth in title VI, chapter III of the above ordinance, carefully stipulates consent by parent(s), guardians or religious leaders for child marriages (15 years for girls and 18 for boys). This legal instrument, adopted in 1981 prior to ratification of the children‟s charter, is under amendment. The possibility of child marriage and parental consent are absent from the draft child protection code. Consent to marriage, which is still part of the prerogatives of “parental power”, along with the concept of “parental authority over the person of the child” (Book I, Title IV), will thus disappear with the promulgation of the code on the protection of children. Parental authority is defined as “a set of rights and duties conferred on the father and mother in the interest of the child”. The father and the mother have