Within the project „Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”, funded by UNHCR, Praxis prepared the report “2021 annual report on child marriages in Serbia with special focus on the practice of public prosecutor’s offices”. 

This year's report presents data on the proceeding of public prosecutor's offices in relation to the criminal offences of coercion into marriage and cohabiting with a minor, based on the answers submitted by public prosecutor's offices from the territory of the Republic of Serbia to freedom of information requests.

According to the obtained data, every third criminal complaint for the criminal offence of cohabiting with a minor results in a motion to indict, but in the previous three years no suspicions of coercion into marriage have been reported in the Republic of Serbia.

Uneven actions and inconsistency in the work of the police and public prosecutor's offices, reflected in proposing a suspended sentence in two-thirds of motions to indict, indicates serious problems related to the effectiveness and expediency of prevention and sanction mechanisms since they are unable to provide adequate protection of child’s rights.

Significant knowledge about child marriages, but also about the major obstacles to combating this phenomenon, which are described in this report, was obtained through the activities carried out with children and the meetings held with the representatives of social welfare centres and schools.

The report “2021 annual report on child marriages in Serbia with special focus on the practice of public prosecutor’s offices” may be found HERE.