contents
According to the law, anyone who has not previously married in a civil manner may not be married religiously in Switzerland. But the paragraph is often disregarded. That suggests forced marriages. This has even happened several times in the mosque in the House of Religions in Bern, as “SRF Investigative” reveals.
A religious marriage without prior civil marriage is illegal and invalid in Switzerland. The so-called primacy of civil marriage applies. However, this legal provision is repeatedly disregarded.
Christian Eritrean communities, Hindus, Muslims, but also free churches perform religious marriages without the couples being civilly married.
social pressure
This happens again and again to bind young women who do not want to marry and bring them together with a chosen one of the family. They are forced marriages.
Although marriages are not permitted by law, many women cannot free themselves from forced marriages, says Anu Sivaganesan, President of the Forced Marriage Unit: “Marriage is socially binding for those involved. From the point of view of the family and the community, religious marriage is considered the right form of marriage.”
That’s how the young woman we call Laura experienced it. It’s not her real name. Because she is threatened by her environment, she should not be recognized. As a child, Laura fled to Switzerland with her family from a country where war was raging.
Legend:
Laura in front of the mosque where she was forced to marry.
SRF
At the age of eighteen, Laura was married against her will to a relative in the mosque in the House of Religions in Bern. They were not married civilly. Although everyone in the family wanted marriage and no one helped her, a few months later she decided to break with the family and flee.
Laura is not the only one who was forced into marriage in the House of Religions. An institution that unites eight faith communities under one roof and offers a broad program for cultural exchange.
“SRF Investigativ” knows of half a dozen cases in which religious weddings were held in the mosque in the House of Religions without prior civil marriage and which led to forced marriages.
horror and outrage
Regula Mader, President of the House of Religions association, is shocked “that this should have happened in our house”. She was very outraged about it, says Mader. The association is now examining a criminal complaint.
The weddings in the mosque were performed by an imam whom Mustafa Memeti, head of the Muslim association and imam in the House of Religions, says he does not know. The mosque had been abused: “We are stunned.”
Money from the city of Bern
The House of Religions receives CHF 300,000 annually from the city of Bern. The city emphasizes that the money does not benefit the religious communities, but is used for the cultural program. Nevertheless, the head of the culture department maintains that the sponsor condemns the events.
In practice, it is extremely difficult to enforce the primacy of civil marriages and to identify forced marriages. On the one hand, violations of this are hardly detectable, on the other hand, only a few people who have been forced into marriage want to defend themselves legally.
Markus Stoll, head of the civil status department in the canton of Zurich, notes that those affected are usually afraid and do not want to report anything. The procedure is a balancing act because criminal offenses have to be reported by law.