In the face of concerns over the importation of millions of migrants from Islamic terrorist hotbeds and the unlikelihood of their assimilation, then-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel stated in August 2015, "We can do it."
Merkel's optimism has not aged well.
'Child marriages are incompatible with our values.'
The influx of migrants from the Middle East not only corresponded to a dramatic rise in Islamic terrorist attacks and helped drive a spike in crime, especially rape, but apparently left Europe with a child marriage problem.
In response to a parliamentary query from two members of the Alternative for Germany party, better known as the AFD, the interior ministry of the southwestern German state of Baden-Wurttemberg revealed in September that hundreds of child marriages have taken place in the region since Merkel made her infamous statement.
Martin Rothweiler, the leader of the AFD in the Baden-Wurttemberg state parliament, said Tuesday in a statement on X that was translated by the platform, "Our country and our values are being abolished before our very eyes."
The Tübingen Regional Council has been recording child marriages in Baden-Wurttemberg — home to roughly 13.46% of the total German population — since 2012. Between 2017 and 2026, the regional council recorded 358 child marriages with victims as young as 11, according to the interior ministry's report.
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RALF HIRSCHBERGER/AFP via Getty Images
Under German law, minors 14 years and younger are considered children, and those 15 to 18 are considered adolescents. This is in keeping with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which holds that "a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier."
The men marrying these minors were predominantly from Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Only eight of the recorded child marriages since 2012 — including a marriage between a 16-year-old German girl and a 25-year-old Pakistani man and a marriage between a 14-year-old Afghan girl and a 30-year-old Afghan man — were broken up with a legally binding annulment, according to the report.
The government noted that there are no legal proceedings under way to annul any of the other marriages.
The state report also noted that of the 271 cases recorded last year by the state-funded counseling center YASEMIN, 80 cases involved individuals at risk of forced marriage. In these forced-marriage cases, 33 individuals were minors — four of whom were under the age of 12, five of whom were 12, and two of whom were 13.
Emely Knorr, one of the AFD politicians who requested the data, said last week in a statement on Instagram for which Euronews has published a translation, "Child marriages are incompatible with our values. Children have a right to safety, education, and a self-determined future. That is why we need effective protection, early intervention, and resolute action against forced marriages."
Nikolaos Boutakoglou, the other AFD politician behind the query, said earlier this month in a statement on X translated by the platform, "Almost every single child marriage in Baden-Württemberg since 2017 can be traced back to mass migration!"
"Nearly 40% of child marriages were contracted between Syrians, while child marriages between two Germans account for only 0.3%!" Boutakoglou added.
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