Defending child marriages in Kosovo or children from underage marriages

According to the Law no. 2004/32 Family Law of Kosovo, child marriages are allowed for people from 16 to 18 years old, under the existence of specific circumstances of the case evaluated by the court. Underage marriages have been classified an exclusion from the rule of marriages, in specific circumstances, which have to be reasonable. Referring to Article 50 (3) of the Constitution of Kosovo, all actions related to children, undertaken by either public or private institutions, shall be in the best interest of the children. The law enforcement in Kosovo has create a supportive climate, which also is disputable if can be considered in the best interest of a child. The European Convention of Human Rights stipulates that from of marriageable age, a man and a woman have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws, governing the exercise of this right. Also, Resolution 1468 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe regulates this situation by underlining Article 12 of the ECHR, according to which the exercise of the right to enter into marriage is governed by national law. During the last decades, many countries in Europe have banned child marriages as in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, as well as in the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden after a fifteen years debate. What about the civil society and especially the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo, this is considered an issue that influence to the level of education and women empowerment, in the country the level of illegal marriages, domestic violence, child death, leading to join the trend in other countries. The aim of the paper is to analyse the both fronts from the perspective of the social conditions and statistics in Kosovo, and also arguing on our opinion that this issue requires differentiated appliance. In relation to this, will be analysed the Federal Court of Germany in the decision of 14 November 2018, case no. XII ZB 292/16, which in its argument refuses such an absolute prohibition. The questions that will be addressed in the paper are if Kosovo needs to attend to the trend of banning persons under 18 years old. Which are arguments that support the actual solution and how will be treated the marriages that are bounded abroad the countries that do not allow them and the enforcement of the same for all