Should Sweden acknowledge foreign child marriages? Double standards according to some. Necessary in practice according to others. At the JiA-debate held by the Law Students’ Union, the question was discussed by renown people such as Göran Lambertz and Sven-Erik Alhem.
By: Oskar Madunic Olsson Translation: Carl-William Ersgård
In order to marry in Sweden, you have to be 18 years old. But if a married couple immigrates to Sweden, there are other rules. The main principle is that a marriage approved in the home country should be approved here as well, except in cases of forced marriage or marriage under the age of 15.
Criticised regulations
These regulations have been criticised by politicians earlier this year. Not least when it was discovered that the City of Malmö had been placing underage girls fleeing to Sweden together with their adult husbands. However, several experts in law have defended these regulations.
At the labour days at the Law Students’ Union, JiA, a panel consisting of professors, politicians from the municipality and law profiles had a chance to debate the issue thoroughly.
”Cannot dismiss all marriages”
The people in support of acknowledging foreign child marriages often raised practical issues.
”If a couple in their fifties married when they were seventeen and have lived together since then, we cannot refuse to acknowledge their marriage when they come to Sweden. That is wrong”, says Göran Lambertz, judge at the Supreme Court and previously on the government commission on child marriages.
Göran Lind, professor of family law at Örebro University, approached the issue similarly, turning the perspective around.
”In Mississippi, you have to be 21 to marry. Is it reasonable for them to dismiss our Swedish ’child marriages’ and not see some of us as married? That would cause disturbances in the entire global community”, he says.
Another aspect was raised by Michael Borgdan, professor in international civil law at the Faculty of Law in Lund, which is the protection and rights provided by marriages.
”One risk with not acknowledging foreign marriages is the disappearance of the presumption of fatherhood when a woman becomes pregnant. That can cause practical problems, especially of the man has died or is abroad”, Michael Bogdan says.
”Children can’t consent”
But everyone did not feel as positive. Philip Sandberg, municipal commissioner in Lund, condemned the current regulations. The rules must be the same for everyone, he argued, while also questioning the boundaries between child marriage and forced marriage.
”According to the Ombudsman for Children in Sweden, all marriages where the two spouses are below the age of 18 are forced marriages, since children can’t consent to marriage”, Philip Sandberg says.
Sara Mohammad from the organisation Never forget Pela and Fadime, was herself forced to marry as a child. She especially points at honour culture as a reason never to accept child marriage.
”The other debaters doesn’t understand how it feels to have a Kalasjnikov pointed at your head. The children in these marriages need protection. Today, they are married off against their will, raped within the marriage, abused and forced into slave labour in the kitchen”, Sara Mohammad says.
Another prominent critic against different measures for Swedish and foreign marriages was previous chief prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem.
”We were at the forefront of banishing corporal punishment in the home. Should we allow it as long as the parents come from other countries? Just a little bit? No, our laws apply, even when it comes to marriage”, Sven-Erik Alhem says.