31 applications for early marriage have been registered this year - GKSZHD

In 2024, 11 regional offices of the State Committee on Family, Women, and Children received 31 applications related to early marriages. The staff of the State Committee intervened. Out of these appeals, 18 early marriages were prevented, and 5 applications were found to be unfounded. One appeal was uninformative, and therefore, the case could not be investigated. For three appeals, the staff of the Family Group visited the families again as part of monitoring prior reports involving the same families. Four cases turned out to be marriages already concluded. This information was provided to Turan at the request of the State Committee on Family, Women, and Children of Azerbaijan.

According to reports from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and local authorities' commissions for minors, these cases were not accompanied by violence, and the marriages were entered into voluntarily. The girls themselves informed the State Committee, stating that they had turned 16 years old.

The State Committee reported that a law in the country mandates 18 as the minimum age for marriage. Previously, the law allowed girls and boys to marry at 17 and 18, respectively.

According to Article 1.4 of the law "On Forced Marriage" in the Family Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, only a marriage registered with the relevant executive authority is legally recognized. Article 1.5 of the same document notes that religious marriages have no legal standing. The law also provides for administrative punishment for religious marriages involving citizens under the age of 18.

In June 2024, the Milli Majlis (Parliament) amended the Criminal Code in relation to articles on forced or early marriages. Under the new version of the law, Article 176-1 of the Criminal Code (coercion of a woman to marry) was renamed to "Coercion to Marry or Early Marriage." The penalty for forcing a person under the legal marriage age to marry is a fine of 3,000 to 4,000 manats or imprisonment for up to four years.

In Articles 176-1 and 176-2 of the Criminal Code, "early marriage" refers to a union with a minor for the purpose of creating a family without legal marriage.

Since June 1, 2024, the law prohibits the issuance of a marriage permit at age 17 as an exception, even for objective reasons and with the permission of local authorities. However, this amendment will come into force on July 1, 2025, as informed by the State Committee on Family, Women, and Children to Turan.

Administrative penalties are also provided for the owners of catering facilities where mass gatherings for marriages involving citizens under the age of 18 were held, the State Committee added.