Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.3935/rsp.v28i1.1733
Child Marriages in the Roma Community in Croatia
Maja Kutnjak Vrtarić
orcid.org/0000-0001-9020-2930
Olja Družić Ljubotina
orcid.org/0000-0003-4298-0409
; Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper focuses on understanding the emergence of child marriage as a practice that grossly violates human and children's rights of girls and boys, threatens their well-being and prevents them from reaching their full potential. The first section analyzes the causes and consequences of child marriages and presents available data on the prevalence of this phenomenon in the region. Based on the available research in Europe, which indicates an increased prevalence of the phenomenon in the Roma community, and taking into account the lack of domestic research and literature on the topic, this paper presents the results of a qualitative study aimed at gaining insight into the personal experience of adult Roma women associated with their entry into marriage before the age of eighteen. The data were collected by semi-structured interview method and analyzed by the thematic analysis procedure. The results of the research coincide with the available knowledge in this field, but also additionally articulate the interplay of various factors from the level of the girls and parents themselves to the level of norms in the Roma community. Consequently, the public policy framework is also discussed, and activities aimed at preventing the practice of child marriage in the education system and activities within the community aimed at providing support to young people, but also at changing the norms which support this practice, have been proposed.
Keywords
child marriages; Roma; circumstances of entry into marriage; experience of married life; prevention
Hrčak ID:
256428
URI
Publication date:
13.4.2021.
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