Between 2018 and 2024: Eight child marriages annulled in Baden-Württemberg

In Baden-Württemberg, eight marriages with minors have been annulled in recent years. This emerges from a response published in Stuttgart by the Ministry of the Interior to a state parliament inquiry from the AfD.

The Tübingen regional council has been responsible for the issue of child marriage nationwide since 2012. The cases listed cover the period from 2018 to 2024. These involve marriages between men and women from Afghanistan, Romania, Moldova, Syria, Iraq, Croatia, Serbia, Pakistan and Germany. The men were generally significantly older than the women at the time of marriage. The latter were always under 18 years old, i.e. minors.

In an abolished child marriage between Iraqi nationals in 2020, the man was 17 years old and his wife was only eleven years old, as the Interior Ministry's response further revealed. In total, child marriages have not been annulled in 350 cases since 2010. Possible reasons included the underage partner coming of age before the annulment decision became final, or the death of a spouse.

In Germany you are only allowed to get married if you are 18 years old. In 2024, the Bundestag passed new rules to protect minors in marriages abroad.