Police investigated 175 cases of early marriages in 2019
The MIA launched investigations into 14 cases of forced early marriage. Criminal proceedings were initiated against five individuals in 2019, while in 2018 only one person was brought to justice. Photo: Daro Sulakauri.
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The Georgian Interior Ministry launched investigations into 175 cases of early marriages in 2019, just five cases less than in 2018.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) says that police transferred under-aged individuals to shelters for victims of domestic violence if it was confirmed early marriages and coercion took place.
The rate of appeals to the police in cases of forced marriages in particular increased in 2019 compared to 2018. The MIA launched investigations into 14 cases of forced early marriage. Criminal proceedings were initiated against five individuals in 2019, while in 2018 only one person was brought to justice”, the MIA reports.
Lack of awareness and information still remain a challenge, which is why the police are often informed about the crime only a few months later.
An information campaign titled “Do not take my childhood away” was launched in the summer of 2019. Various events including meetings with local populations, government officials, schoolchildren and teachers were held during the campaign.
The minimum legal age for marriage in Georgia is 18.
Before 2016 young couples were able to get married with parental consent at the age of 16. However, the amendment made to the law in December 2016 made it impossible without the consent of the court ‘only for good reason’ – in the case of pregnancy or childbirth.
The Georgian Interior Ministry reports that they launched investigations into 180 cases of early marriage last year, adding that law enforces were informed regarding the incidents only several months after they took place on average.
The Georgian National Statistics Office has announced that the number of marriages last year decreased by 5.6 percent compared to 2016, while 7.2 percent more couples divorced in 2017 than in 2016.
More than 2,500 cases of domestic violence were reported in Georgia last year, there were more than two dozen cases of murder or attempted murder of females and hundreds of cases of underage marriage, said the Public Defender in his annual report to Parliament.
The old fashioned norm of arranged or forced marriages could soon become a illegal if changes to Georgian law are approved, resulting in a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.
Georgian law enforcers have detained four individuals for kidnapping a girl in Georgia’s southeastern Gardabani municipality.
In total 16,359 marriages were registered in 2020, showing a 29.7% decrease year-on-year, while the number of divorces equalled 7,643 decreasing by 31.8% compared to the previous year, says the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
The Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an information campaign against child marriage in partnership with the local office of the United Nations Population Fund, the Ministry said on Wednesday.
Georgian law enforcers have arrested two individuals for kidnapping a young woman in Georgia’s eastern Marneuli municipality, the Interior Ministry announced on Thursday.
Georgia’s public security management centre and the United Nations population fund on Wednesday signed an agreement on joint efforts to prevent early marriages and ensuring information campaigns over the societal problem, the country’s interior ministry said.
Georgian law enforcers have arrested two individuals for kidnapping a minor in eastern Georgia’s Marneuli municipality, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Thursday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday pledged further legal amendments to respond to the early marriage problem across the country following the murder of a 14-year-old kidnapped and forced into a marriage earlier this month in eastern Georgia.
The United Nations Population Fund on Friday held a meeting discussing the importance of accelerating national commitments to eliminate the practice of child marriage in Georgia through empowering adolescents and creating opportunities for their development.