Romantic relationship in Togo

Togo has no state registration system or single official pathway for dating, and reliable national evidence does not establish one standardized dating-app or dating practice. Common terms include relation amoureuse for a romantic relationship, union libre or concubinage for an unmarried partnership, fiançailles for a formal promise to marry, and civil, religious or customary marriage. Social recognition often comes from the partners' families, religious communities or local networks, with differences between regions and between urban and rural settings. Fiançailles are a convention promising marriage, not a compulsory step and not a marriage obligation. Each partner must give free consent independently of parental wishes. A wrongful withdrawal may lead to a claim for damages in some circumstances, but expenses made for the engagement are not automatically reimbursed. Marriage requires the free and full personal consent of both partners. The legal marriage age is 18 for both sexes; a court may grant a dispensation for a serious reason, but never below 16. A minor also needs the required parental or legal authorization. Monogamy is the ordinary legal system, while polygamy applies only when expressly selected at the civil registry. Togo does not recognize same-sex marriage, and the legal definition of marriage refers to a man and a woman. A civil marriage is handled by the officier de l'état civil at the mairie. The usual file includes a birth certificate issued less than three months earlier, a certificate of uninterrupted residence covering three months, identification documents for both partners and the witnesses, fiscal stamps and, where relevant, a matrimonial agreement or evidence or declaration concerning the dot. The file should normally be submitted at least 45 days before the ceremony. Publication lasts 30 days, although the procureur may waive the period for a serious reason. The marriage is entered in the register and the certificate is issued immediately. Municipal fees apply and vary; a national fee harmonization schedule has not been published in the available civil-registration profile. The legal maximum for the dot is 10,000 FCFA, whether provided in money or goods. Municipal civil-registration offices, the Ministère de l'Administration territoriale and the justice authorities share relevant responsibilities. Current applications should be checked against the consolidated law, including amendments made by Loi 2022-017. Available national survey data from EDST-III in 2013–2014 recorded 66% of women aged 15–49 in a union, including 51% married and 15% in a consensual union; about half of men were in a union. The survey included civil, religious, customary and free unions. EDST-IV began fieldwork in March 2026, but updated national union figures were not yet published in the available research. Marriage creates duties of shared life, respect, affection, fidelity, care and assistance. The partners jointly decide the number and spacing of children. Household, maintenance, upbringing and education responsibilities are shared according to each partner's capacity. Each spouse may choose a profession. The law still describes the husband as head of the household while also assigning shared responsibility. The usual rule is a common residence, but separate residences may be justified for legitimate reasons or ordered by a judge when violence is a risk. Household and care contributions can receive monetary assessment when the relationship ends. Sexual relations within marriage still require free and ongoing consent. Sexual and reproductive health support is available through the Ministère de la Santé, youth centres and school infirmaries. Services may include information and counselling, contraception and condoms, pregnancy care, and STI or HIV prevention. In 2017 Togo had 35 youth centres, distributed unevenly: 13 in Plateaux, nine in Maritime, four each in Lomé and Kara, three in Centrale and two in Savanes. It also had 37 school infirmaries, with 51% in Lomé; these were mainly urban and often provided first aid and referral. A national family-planning, HIV and STI mobilisation programme in 2025 integrated family planning into maternity, newborn and child-health services. Relationship violence includes physical, sexual, psychological and other forms of abuse. Survey data from 2000–2018 recorded intimate-partner violence affecting 12.7% of women and girls aged 15–49. About 25% of women aged 20–24 had married before 18 and 6% before 15, according to UNICEF and Togo data. Under Loi 2022-020, a sexual act with an apprenant under 16 is sexual violence even when the child appears to consent. Sexual harassment, cyber-harassment and coercion are also relevant risks. Loi 2022-018 covers domestic violence in marriage, concubinage, a shared household and former marriages or concubinage; moral harassment within a couple is punishable. A victim can seek protection through the police judiciaire, the procureur or a judge. Measures may include removal from the home and contact or visiting restrictions, and domestic-violence cases cannot be settled by private transaction. Support includes social services, psychological and medical providers, magistrates and the police judiciaire. The One Stop Centre at the Centre Médico-social Adidogome in Lomé offers confidential, free and coordinated support. The police can be reached at 117, the child-protection line at 1011, the GBV Listening Centre at +228 70 16 76 91 and Akofa by WhatsApp or telephone at +228 93 96 89 89. Medical and forensic evidence for sexual violence is free under Loi 2022-018, and full legal aid is available for such cases. Maisons de justice can provide information and mediation for ordinary disputes, but mediation does not replace criminal or protective procedures for domestic or sexual violence. An informal dating or concubinage relationship has no single nationwide separation procedure. Questions about children, maintenance or shared property may still require legal assistance. Ending fiançailles is not the same as divorce. A marriage ends through death or divorce. For divorce by mutual consent, the partners submit a joint application and an agreement covering property and children, observe a three-month reflection period and renew the application within six months. Contested divorce may rely on grounds such as infidelity, excesses, abuse or insults, danger to the family or children, abandonment, separation of at least five years, sterility or impotence, or refusal to consummate the marriage. The application goes to the tribunal for the relevant residence, the spouses normally appear personally, and conciliation is attempted within 15 days. The judge may postpone the case for up to six months and decide housing, property and child-related consequences. Same-sex relationships face a high legal risk in Togo. The country provides no marriage or partnership protection for same-sex couples, and Penal Code Articles 392 and 393 criminalize an acte impudique ou contre nature with a person of the same sex, with a possible sentence of one to three years and a fine of 1 to 3 million FCFA. Confidential safety planning and specialist legal advice are therefore especially relevant where disclosure could expose a partner to criminal, social or physical harm.