German State Reveals Hundreds of Child Marriages
New data shows girls as young as 11 were married, many to men from Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan, prompting calls for action.
Hundreds of child marriages have been recorded in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, with new data revealing that girls as young as 11 have been married to adult men, many from countries including Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan.
Since April 2012, officials in Baden-Württemberg registered 358 marriages involving a minor. However, only eight of these marriages were formally annulled. The data emerged following a parliamentary inquiry by local politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Among the reported cases was the 2020 union of an 11-year-old Iraqi girl and a 17-year-old Iraqi boy. It remains unclear when or if this marriage was annulled. In 2018, a 14-year-old Afghan girl was married to a 30-year-old Afghan man; details regarding the annulment of this marriage are also not specified.
Since 2015, a total of 350 instances of child marriage were documented. AfD politician Nikolaos Boutakoglou stated that approximately 40% of these child marriages involved Syrians, while marriages between two German nationals accounted for only 0.3%.
The state government has indicated that no legal proceedings are currently underway to annul any of the registered child marriages. Emely Knoll, another AfD politician involved in raising the issue, emphasized that child marriages are incompatible with German values, asserting children's rights to safety, education, and a self-determined future.
According to the data from Baden-Württemberg, the vast majority of individuals underage in these marriages are female. Globally, the United Nations reports that nearly one in five women are married before the age of 18, with this proportion being highest in west and central Africa, where 32% of women marry before their 18th birthday. Furthermore, one in 25 women worldwide are married before the age of 15.
UNICEF defines child marriage as a fundamental violation of human rights, often leading to early pregnancy, social isolation, interrupted schooling, limited career opportunities, and an increased risk of domestic violence.