Croatia

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in Croatia.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on child marriage in Croatia, but available evidence indicates that it is driven by:

● Harmful practices: Child and arranged marriages still occur among poorer Roma communities. According to the government, the arrangement of marriages for minors in exchange for money or other compensation has been reportedly justified as a “Roma custom” but actually constitutes a form of trafficking.

Croatia has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review in 2019 and at the 2023 High Level Political Forum; however, there was no mention of child marriage.

Croatia co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council Resolutions: the 2013 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights, the 2017 resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage.

In 2014, Croatia also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Croatia co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Croatia deposited the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2022 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the government remove all exceptions for marriage below the age of 18 years, and strengthen comprehensive awareness-raising programmes on the harmful effects of child marriage, particularly within the Roma community.

During its 2015 review, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns about the persistence of harmful practices in Croatia, including child marriages, which lead Roma girls dropping out of school.

During its 2018 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child requested Croatia to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that the minimum age for marriage is 18 years old, without exceptions.

Croatia has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), which considers forced marriage a serious form of violence against women and girls, and legally binds state parties to criminalise the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child into a marriage.

Under the Family Act 2003 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.

However, a person aged 16 years and below 18 years may marry with the permission of the court.