According to data, 30% of Roma women in Serbia enter into a marital/common-law union by their parents’ decision or are forced by their partners. 67% of Roma women enter a common-law union at less than 18 years old. The national legislation of Serbia aimed at protecting children who are at risk or in child marriage is harmonized with international norms and standards. However, the implementation of the law remains at a low level. Forced marriage (compulsory conclusion of marriage) is criminalized in Article 187a of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, and early marriage (common-law union with a minor) is criminalized in Article 190.The 2019 Report on the Basic Procedure for Assessing the Situation in Serbia by the GREVIO Expert Group states that early and customary marriages are common in our country and especially widespread among the Roma population. The GREVIO report expresses concern about the identified tendency of the authorities to combine the issues of customary and forced marriage within the Roma community and to consider both types of marriage as an inevitable consequence of the characteristics of the Roma culture, and for this reason, to abandon the application of the criminal law. GREVIO strongly encourages the authorities in Serbia to ensure effective criminal prosecution in all cases of early customary marriage, i.e., extramarital union with a minor and forced marriage.
To collect data on the number of criminal reports submitted to primary public prosecutor’s offices and the number of initiated criminal proceedings for the criminal acts of forced marriage and common-law union with a minor in 2020 and 2021, we sent requests for access to information on public importance to the primary public prosecutor’s offices in Serbia during the first halves of 2021 and 2022. We have been requested the following information:
The number of criminal reports of the criminal acts of Forced marriage and Common-law unit with a minor submitted to the Republic of Serbia’s primary public prosecutor’s offices in 2020 and 2021?
The number of criminal proceedings of the criminal acts of Forced marriage and Common-law unit with a minor initiated in 2020 and 2021 by the primary public prosecutor’s offices?
For 2020, we sent 34 requests, and 32 prosecutor’s offices submitted a response within the legal deadline. For 2021, we sent 58 requests, and 53 written responses were received.
During 2020, no criminal report of forced marriage was submitted to the primary public prosecutor’s offices in Serbia, and therefore no criminal proceedings were initiated. In 2020, 110 criminal reports of a common-law union with a minor were submitted to the prosecutor’s offices. Fifty-nine criminal proceedings were initiated, including ongoing pre-investigation proceedings.In 2021, no criminal report was sent to the public prosecution for the criminal offense of forced marriage. 126 criminal reports were sent for the criminal offense of a common-law union with a minor. The prosecution filed 53 indictments, which is only 42 percent of the total number of reports.
It is a worrying fact that all three public prosecutor’s offices in Belgrade, as many as there are, did not file a single indictment for this criminal offense, while only 11 criminal reports were filed in 2021.
The stated data are significantly lower than the prevalence of forced marriages and common-law units with a minor in the Roma population in Serbia. The question arises, what are (all) the causes that lead to the fact that the mentioned criminal acts are not reported and, therefore, not prosecuted?The data show that criminal reports for common-law unions with a minor have been sent to state prosecutor’s offices in a certain number. However, the number of reports is still low, considering the actual situation. Furthermore, public prosecutors file indictments in a few cases even when there is a report for this criminal act. In the end, there are only a tiny number of imposed sanctions or convictions for this criminal act.
All of the above leads to the conclusion that in Serbia, there is still a profound misunderstanding of the institutions of both the public prosecutor’s offices and the courts for prosecution and punishment of these criminal acts. In some of the answers we received from the mentioned institutions, it was explicitly stated that it is a “Roma issue,” so that is a justification for the court not to pronounce a guilty verdict on the perpetrator of the criminal act.