Against “summer holiday marriages”: the Commission wants to improve protection against underage marriages

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The committee views the continued number of underage marriages in Switzerland as worrying, parliamentary services said on Wednesday.

In concrete terms, the Civil Code is intended to increase the age within which disability cases against underage marriages can be filed. Under current law, marriages involving minors can no longer be declared invalid once the person concerned reaches the age of 18. In the future this should be possible up to and including the 25th anniversary.

Deadline up to 25 years

However, current legislation provides for the possibility of continuing marriages with minors in individual cases. This must remain the case in the future. If someone is still a minor at the time of the assessment, the marriage should be allowed to continue as long as this is in accordance with the overriding interests of those involved. However, if the person is between 18 and 25 years old, he must declare of his own free will that he wants to commit to the marriage.

Private international law also needs to be adjusted. According to the proposal of the Federal Council, supported by the Commission, marriages with young people under the age of 16 should be generally prohibited.

Protection against ‘summer holiday weddings’

The proposal also stipulates that so-called ‘summer holiday marriages’, where minors living in Switzerland get married while on holiday abroad, will generally not be recognised. The committee plans to discuss the details of the proposal at one of its next meetings.

Forced marriages and marriages involving minors have become increasingly known to the general public in recent years. In Switzerland, authorities counted a total of around 350 suspected cases of invalid marriages due to coercion or underage in a survey between 2013 and 2017. (SDA)

Source:Blick