The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has decided that the law prohibiting so-called child marriages must be improved. Although marriages can be annulled in Germany if one of the spouses was under the age of 16 when they got married abroad, regulations must be made about possible consequences such as maintenance claims. In addition, it should be possible for such a marriage to become valid under German law once the person concerned has reached the age of majority.
The law was passed by the former CDU and SPD federal government in 2017. At that time, an increasing number of very young married people came to Germany and the authorities and courts dealt with this situation differently. The new regulation of 2017 declared marriages concluded abroad to be null and void if the parties involved were younger than 16 at the time of the marriage in order to protect children and young people from forced marriage. However, critics complained that they may also be deprived of protection, for example in the case of maintenance claims.
“Early marriages continued to be contracted in Germany and nobody found out about it”
Myria Böhmecke, consultant at Terre des Femmes, welcomes the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court. At the time, the women’s rights organization had worked intensively to ensure that the law came into force at all. “But we fear that the law has not arrived in detail in the individual federal states,” she tells FOCUS online. In an evaluation of the law in 2020, the authorities found that since the law came into force in Germany, only eleven marriages with minors between the ages of 16 and 17 had been annulled. What initially sounds like a pleasing number made the experts suspicious.
Because Böhmecke and her colleagues assume that many of the marriages were simply not reported, especially those involving children under the age of 16. Berlin, for example, did not report a single case. Inconceivable for Böhmecke, who has spoken to many young people in Berlin in workshops and knows that they often know the young people who are affected or even belong to them themselves. For her it remains clear: “Early marriages continued to be contracted here in Germany and nobody found out about it.”
Absolutely Necessary “that Girls Come into Marriage Virgins”
It is difficult to say how many so-called child marriages or early marriages there are in Germany at all. A distinction must also be made between children who are married abroad and later come to Germany and those who were born and grew up here.
Böhmecke speaks of a “very high number of unreported cases”. An outdated study by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs from 2008 listed 3,443 people who were threatened or affected by a forced marriage in Germany. However, it is assumed that the number increased again after 2015.
Most of the children and young people come from families with a “very patriarchal background,” explains the expert. There are clear role models and it is absolutely necessary that the girls come into the marriage as virgins. Family honor also plays a role, which should not be violated if possible, for example if the girl brings home the wrong partner. That is why care is taken to ensure that children are married particularly early, sometimes as early as 13 and 14 years of age, according to Böhmecke.
Many of those affected in Germany have roots in Turkey, Iran, Syria or Afghanistan
Many of the young people who are married here in Germany as part of traditional and religious marriages have their roots in Turkey, Iran, Syria or Afghanistan, for example. But Böhmecke also points out that the phenomenon is not necessarily related to Islam. The rate of early marriages is also noticeably high in Bulgaria and Romania.
In a global comparison, poverty is the biggest cause behind early marriages. Many families cannot afford to support multiple children. Some families see early marriage as their only chance to be cared for. In the poorest countries in the world, the rate of early marriages is therefore particularly high, in the Central African Republic it is even 70 percent.
Victims often do not know their own rights
Terres des Femmes works closely with the young people to provide more information directly to the children and young people. For example, with the theater project “My heart belongs to me”, which has just been performed for the 20th time in Berlin and is financed by “Aktion Mensch”. In the hands-on theater, the young people can play solutions to various scenarios on the stage themselves. It is not only about the subject of forced marriage, but also about self-determination, one’s own sexuality and much more.
Later, what has been played is discussed with the individual young people in workshops. According to Myria Böhmecke, these preventive measures are important because the young people often do not even know what rights they are entitled to. Many believe that their parents have the right to determine their marriage. There is also a rumor among teachers that children can marry from the age of 16 with the permission of their parents, which is not the case in Germany.
“Once a girl is abroad, there are few ways to bring her back”
The experts from Terres des Femmes would like to see more information from the responsible authorities and schools so that early marriages in Germany can be better prevented in the future. It is also extremely important that all minors who are already married and are entering Germany must register. The youth welfare office should then intervene and look after the young people concerned.
A new study is also needed. “Child marriages in Germany are often described as isolated cases, but we assume that child marriages are also a big problem here,” says Böhmecke. In order to properly tackle the problem, a numerical basis is also needed.
Under zwangsheirat.de Those affected, but also uninvolved third parties who want to help, can search nationwide for suitable advice centers and also get advice there anonymously. In acute cases, there is also a child emergency service in every city, which should be called on if, for example, a marriage is planned abroad. “Because once a girl is abroad, there are only a few ways to bring her back,” says Myria Böhmecke.
