OSVRT NA NUŽNOST ZABRANE MALOLETNIČKIH BRAKOVA SA ASPEKTA PRAVA DETETA NA OBRAZOVANjE

Abstract

Cohabitation with marriage impediments involving underage person or underage persons adversly affect the child՚ s right to development including inevitably the child՚ s right to education in terms of access to educational services and achieving continuity in their provision. The UN Committee for the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women refer to such forms of cohabitation with the generic sociological term of child or early marriage. Therefore, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, following a zero-tolerance policy towards child marriages, expressly suggests Serbia to remove from its family legislation the existing rules according to which marriage with the minor or marriage between the underage persons may exceptionally be concluded. This position of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child towards Serbia does not fundamentally contribute to better protection of the rights and interests of the child, since the procedure for granting permission to a minor or underage persons to conclude a marriage in Serbian law is adapted to the idea of the child rights. Thus, according to the interpretation of the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, child marriage is always a form of forced marriage, which marriage with minor or between the underage persons, that can be concluded exceptionally under Serbian law, is not. In order to reduce the risks of the emergence of cohabitations with marriage impediments involving minors, it is necessary to act on the very economic and social causes of problems related to poverty, gender inequality and customs incompatible with children's rights. Thus, in the context of the provision of education services, it is necessary to introduce subjects that would indicate the importance of reproductive health into the curricula for children of the appropriate age.