Serbia

6% of girls in Serbia marry before the age of 18 and 1% marry before the age of 15.

1% of boys marry before the age of 18.

Child marriage occurs predominantly among the Roma population and Hungarian communities.

Child marriage is most prevalent in Southern and Eastern Serbia, Sumadija and the Western region and Vojvodina.

Trends show that child marriage is decreasing in the country.

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

In Serbia, child marriage is exacerbated by:

Poverty: Women and girls from the poorest 60% of households in Serbia are twice as likely to marry before the age of 15, compared to the richest 40% of households. 73% of women from the poorest households are married before the age of 18. Arranged marriage within Roma communities involves the payment of money or livestock to a girl’s family. This sometimes incentivises families facing financial difficulties to marry their daughters at a young age. Families living in poverty are inclined to marry their daughters at a young age as girls are viewed as an economic burden, commodity and a means to settle family disputes. Dowry or bridal prices can also influence a girl's life.

Level of education: Roma girls are at particular risk of dropping out of school around the ages of 12 to 14, which increases their risk of marrying young. This is driven by a belief that girls should prepare for marital life and motherhood. In the Roma community, 21% of girls with just a primary education were married before the age of 15, compared to 2% of girls with secondary or higher education.

Family honour: Engaging in pre-marital sex can bring shame to Roma families. Child marriage is sometimes used to preserve the family’s and the girl’s honour.

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

The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum since 2019.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2018 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government mentioned the implementation of the Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma Men and Women, which includes measures to prevent early and forced marriages of Roma girls. In its Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum in 2019, the government noted that child marriage has a low prevalence amongst the general Serbian population but remains high within the Roma Settlements.

Serbia co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on 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, Serbia also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

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

Serbia succeeded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2001, 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) in 2001, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2013 the CEDAW Committee stated that no progress had been achieved in preventing child marriage among the Roma and other minority groups in Serbia. It recommended that the government take all measures necessary to raise awareness about the negative effect of child marriage among these communities. In 2019, the Committee expressed concerns that child marriage continues to be present in the general population, in urban and rural areas, and in particular in the Roma community, and recommended Serbia take coordinated action to prevent and eradicate child and forced marriage.

In 2012, Serbia ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating 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.

In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, the government of Serbia committed to changing the Family Law and to continue work with partners to prevent child marriages.

The government has made efforts to address child marriage through the establishment of the National Coalition for Combatting Child Marriage. The Coalition submitted a proposal to amend the Family Law, Criminal Code and the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence. The Coalition contributed to policy and advocacy for the recognition of child marriage as a form of violence in the new national Strategy for Prevention and Protection of Children from Violence (2020-2023), which was adopted in May 2020.

Programme activities were implemented in the cities of Belgrade, Pirot and Novi Bečej. These activities were aimed at interventions for girls and families in more than 20 Roma settlements. The Germany Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Serbia provided support towards the implementation of this project.

The government launched the social media campaign, “Childhood, not Marriage.” This campaign serves as a guide for local self-governments and it is hoped that it will encourage evidence-based practice.

In early 2019, the Coordination Body for Gender Equality of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and UNICEF launched the National Coalition to End Child Marriage, bringing together representatives from civil society, parliamentarians, authorities and other stakeholders. The Coalition aims at ending child marriage in Serbia, particularly in the Roma population, through targeted and coordinated action.

As part of the National Coalition, the Association of Roma Novi Becej is piloting a project to reduce the risk of child marriages in the city of Novi Becej.

In 2016 the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs announced the adoption of the Strategy for the Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia 2016-2025. The strategy outlines targets for preventing the number of child marriages and adolescent pregnancies in the Roma community, as well as supporting continued education and employment within the community.

The National Gender Equality Strategy for 2016-2020 includes among its goals raising awareness about the damaging consequences of early marriage.

This builds on Serbia’s National Action Plan (2010-2015) for the implementation of the National Strategy for the Improvement of the Status of Women and Promotion of Gender Equality, which included measures aimed at recognising, preventing and solving the practice of child marriage and bride selling.

Despite these efforts, according to civil society organisations in Serbia, the competent authorities have considered child marriage a “Roma tradition”, and have failed to understand it as a gross violation of the rights of girls.

Under Article 23 of the Family Law 2005 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years. However, Article 23 also indicates that minors can marry at 16 years with permission of the court, if the court establishes that they have reached mental and physical maturity to perform the rights and duties of marriage.

Article 190 of the Criminal Code stipulates that an adult living in a common-law marriage with a minor shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of between three months and three years or, if the criminal offence was committed for gain, for a term of between six months and five years.