Erkännande av utländska barnäktenskap - förlikning med dolda tvångsäktenskap?

Sammanfattning: Involuntary child marriage is an international phenomenon, that Sweden attempts to thwart. As a result, Sweden does not recognize foreign child marriages concluded with ties to Sweden. In contrast, foreign child marriages concluded without such ties are recognized, as long as the child was over 15 years old at the time of the conclusion. Forced marriages, on the other hand, shall never be recognized. The purpose of this essay is to, by using a traditional legal dogmatic method, investigate what is meant by coercion, and how grave the coercive element must be for a child marriage to be considered a forced marriage. It is also analysed how Sweden considers children's consent to marriage and what the shaping of the regulation regarding recognition of foreign marriages can result in for children in practice. Such practices that normally are sufficient to persuade a child to marry, have generally proven to be insufficient for a child marriage to constitute a forced marriage. The discovery of coercion also requires that one of the spouses informs the Swedish authorities about the coercion, and that the presence of coercion is made probable. This combined can lead to remarkable results, especially considering asylum seeking married children who are granted a residence permit in Sweden. Based on this result, a discussion is held about whether or not, and if so how, the current regulation should be changed. Because of what the changes that are purposed possibly can result in, such as abuse of the regulation and too far-reaching interference in people's lives, the current regulation is, however, found to be acceptable.