116. The Applicants submit that by adopting the impugned law, the Respondent State has demonstrated a lack of willingness to eliminate the traditional practices that undermine the rights of women and girls, and children born out of wedlock, especially early marriage, the lack of consent to marriage, the unequal inheritance - all in contravention of Article 1 (3) of the Children's Charter. 117. The Applicants assert that the impugned law makes early marriage of girls easier compared to the 1962 Family Code which permits the marriage of girls aged between 15 and 17 only with the consent of their parents, whereas the 2011 law permits the marriage of girls aged between 16 and 17 without parental consent. They further submit that the 1962 Code sets the special exemption for marriage at 15 years for girls with the consent of their father and mother, whereas the impugned law allows for the marriage of 1S-year-old girls even where the mother is opposed to it since only the father's consent suffices. 118. In conclusion, the Applicants maintain their arguments and reiterate their prayers in this regard (see supra paragraph 16). 119. ln the Response, the Respondent State contends that it is excessive to assert that Mali does not deploy efforts to eliminate the said practices; and that the Family Code of 2009 provides an adequate illustration of this contention. The Respondent State recalls the efforts deployed on this issue, particularly the launch of programmes for sensitisation and promotion of the rights of women and children, and the various laws enacted to guarantee the protection of these rights. *** 120. Article 2 (2) of the Maputo Protocol provides that: "States Parties shall commit themselves to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of women and men through public education, information, education and communication strategies, with a view to achieving the elimination of harmful cultural and traditional practices and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes, or on stereotyped roles for women and men." 4 25 g e.--