200 girls as victims
Government Now Puts a Stop to “Summer Vacation Marriages”
An estimated 200 girls in Austria are victims of forced marriages. These are not arranged here, but mostly during the summer holidays in their home countries. Child marriages are prohibited in Austria, and now the law is being tightened so that action can also be taken against forced marriages abroad. The “Krone” has the details.
Last year, the National Council passed a ban on marriage for minors and relatives up to the fourth degree. Now the law is being tightened to allow for the annulment in Austria of forced marriages concluded abroad. To continue to comprehensively ensure the protection of minors, measures are being taken to ensure that foreign legal norms are fully in line with Austrian legal standards. Justice Minister Anna Sporrer presented a corresponding draft bill to her coalition partners today.
Child marriages will be annulled
To consistently prevent forced and child marriages, marriages involving individuals under the age of 18, even those concluded abroad, are to be null and void in all cases. Specifically, the draft bill stipulates that both partners must have reached the age of majority for the marriage to be valid. This is to be a mandatory requirement in cases where at least one spouse has their habitual residence in Austria.
In practice, this means: The public prosecutor’s office can challenge a marriage between a minor and an adult partner on the grounds of nullity if one of the partners has their habitual residence in Austria.
Closing a legal loophole
This proposal is a direct response to the practice of so-called “summer vacation marriages.” Counseling centers report cases in which young girls are forced into marriage during a stay in their country of origin. While the current “ordre public” clause(provisions of foreign law are not applicable if they violate Austrian fundamental values) previously allowed only case-by-case reviews, the new law now provides general legal clarity. This ensures that marriages performed abroad also comply with Austria’s strict regulations. The last legal loophole for child marriages is thus finally closed.
“Child marriages and forced marriages have no place in our society. With this amendment, we are creating unambiguous legal clarity and ensuring that the protection of minors from forced marriage takes precedence—no matter where in the world the marriage was contracted,” Minister Sporrer states.
Legal Implications
In drafting the bill, special care was taken to ensure that children and spouses remain legally protected even if a marriage is annulled, by preserving maintenance claims and custody rights as they would be following a divorce.
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