The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Swiss authorities were correct in refusing to recognise the marriage of a 14-year-old girl and 18-year-old man. The Afghan couple, identified as Ms ZH and Mr RH, had argued that this violated their Article 8 right to respect for private and family life. The couple first arrived in Italy and then travelled to Switzerland where they claimed asylum in September 2011. The couple, now both adults, claimed they had married in a religious ceremony in Iran in 2010.
The couple’s first asylum applications, in December 2011 and March 2012, were rejected by Swiss migration authorities as according to the European Union’s Dublin II Regulation asylum must be sought in the first EU state entered. This rejection was upheld in subsequent appeals for a number of reasons. Firstly, the domestic courts found that the couple failed to produce a marriage certificate. Furthermore, their religious marriage could not be validly recognised in Switzerland because the law in Afghanistan prohibited marriage for women under the age of 15. Finally, the Swiss courts held that the marriage was incompatible with Swiss law on grounds of public policy given that sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 16 is a crime in Switzerland. As such, Ms ZH did not qualify as a member of Mr RH’s family and they could not claim a right to family life under the European Convention of Human Rights. Mr RH was deported to Italy on the 4th of September 2012.
The ECtHR held that Switzerland had not breached its obligations under Article 8 by refusing to recognise the marriage or by removing Mr RH to Italy. It noted in particular that Member States were under no obligation to recognise the marriage of a child, emphasising the importance of the protection of children and considering the regulation of marriage an issue best addressed by the national courts.
Click here to read the ECtHR press release.