Detstvo bez násilia

Let's stop child abuse together and say STOP tos child marriages

The National Coordination Centre for Resolving the Issues of Violence against Children of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, pointed out the issue of child trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage. Despite the fact that it is an illegal act, a crime, child marriages are not a thing of the past in Slovakia either. Therefore, the Ministry of Labor has prepared information materials on this topic.

"Since last year, we have been intensively addressing the issue of children's marriages, especially in the affected Nitra region," says the director of the aforementioned coordination center, Mária Vargová. In cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, within the expert group for the fight against trafficking in human beings, both ministries prepared a joint information material, a leaflet entitled "Forced child marriages as a form of trafficking in human beings".The aim is also to draw attention in this way to the risk factors that could lead to trafficking in children, because in assessing the best interests of the child, all his or her rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be respected. Every child has the right to a child.

The leaflet will be distributed so far through online communication and regional experts of the center, later the distribution will be extended to schools and places where most people meet, the so-called communication points.

"Our expert team is working intensively on complex material, and after the end of measures in connection with COVID-19, we also plan to hold multidisciplinary meetings on this topic," adds the director of the center, Mária Vargová.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs will continue to draw attention to child trafficking in Slovakia by all possible communication, educational, preventive activities and means, and at the same time call on the public to actively cooperate and pay attention. "No violence against children is justifiable. In the event that the rights of the child are violated, each of us is obliged to report this fact to the social protection authorities for children and social guardianship. I beg people for that, "emphasizes the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Family Milan Krajniak. Statistics for the past years also prove that this is not a negligible problem. Since 2015, more than 12 cases of child trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage have been detected in Slovakia. The victims of children's marriages are 12-year-old girls.

You can find the leaflet for forced marriages in the documents.

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