Forced and early marriage (FEM), contracted without the free and valid consent of one or both partners or before the age of 18, is internationally acknowledged as a violation of human rights and as a form of gender-based violence. The purpose of the EU FEM Roadmap is to provide frontline professionals with a guidance document to assist in the protection and support of (potential) victims of FEM.

 

The EU FEM Roadmap has been created by frontline professionals specialized in providing support to victims of FEM as a guidance document that compliments existing national guidelines and standard operating procedures at the organizational level. It includes a seven-step referral pathway for all frontline professionals, and then provides specific guidance for school/educational providers, child protection services, health professionals, criminal justice (police and justice) professionals and magistrates of civil marriage services.

 

In addition to the full EU FEM Roadmap, which has been published in English, Russian, French, German and Portuguese, an eight-page summary in each of the five languages (including English and Russian) and a one-page poster in English are also available for download.

 

This document was prepared within the project ‘EU Roadmap’ for Referral Pathways on Forced/Early Marriage for Frontline Professionals. Partners are APF-Portugal, BAWSO-United Kingdom, Orient Express-Austria, PsytelFrance, University of Vechta-Germany, and UNFPA-Eastern Europe and Central Asia.