A DEFECTIVE LIFE

Incidents in the Goranboy and Balakan districts of Azerbaijan have once again raised the pressing issue of parents' crude interference in their children's lives and the violation of the rights of underage girls.

The police prevention of a 16-year-old girl's engagement ceremony in Goranboy and the detention of men in the Balakan district suspected of kidnapping a 17-year-old for marriage are not just crime reports, but another reminder of deep-rooted social problems.

For the sake of the nation's healthy gene pool

These cases, along with the active discussion of Azerbaijan's experience in banning marriages between close relatives at the press conference "Family, women and children in the legislation of Azerbaijan" by Bahar Muradova, Chairperson of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, form a unified agenda: protecting the institution of the family, children's rights, and ensuring a healthy gene pool for the nation.

Although a downward trend in the number of officially registered early marriages has been observed in recent years (before 2012, their number reached 3,500-4,000, but then decreased to 350-400 per year), the problem has not lost its relevance.

According to the State Statistics Committee, 270 girls married while underage in 2022. In the same year, 2,011 children were born to mothers aged 15-17 in Azerbaijan—361 more children than in 2021. Most of these cases occur in rural areas. Experts note that the statistics do not reflect the real picture, as many unions are concluded unofficially, through religious ceremonies—nikah.

The problem of early marriages is particularly acute in regions where traditional customs are strong and the level of education is below average. These tend to be the southern (Lankaran-Astara), north-western (Shaki-Zagatala), and central Aran districts. It is there that cases of girls dropping out of school, seeking unofficial work, and being subjected to forced marriage are most frequently recorded.

Early marriage is a deep and multifaceted social situation, the consequences of which are felt not only at the level of the individual and family, but also by the entire state. This phenomenon deprives young people, primarily girls, of their right to childhood and education, forcing them into a premature and often unbearable adult burden. A girl forced to marry before reaching adulthood is effectively deprived of the opportunity to receive a full education, which subsequently limits her economic potential and condemns her family to poverty. Early maternal and financial unpreparedness becomes a factor that perpetuates the cycle of poverty into the next generation, as mothers who have received an education tend not only to have healthier children but can also better provide for their future.

Threats to health and demography

Early marriages carry serious health risks. A teenage girl's body is not yet physiologically ready for the changes ahead, which greatly increases the likelihood of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, including maternal and infant mortality. Children born to underage mothers often have low birth weight and face developmental problems. All this affects the demographic health of the nation and increases the burden on the healthcare system.

Legal and psychological aspects

Such a marriage is often tantamount to coercion and a violation of personal freedoms. An underage bride is extremely vulnerable to domestic violence, exploitation, and discrimination, as she lacks the necessary knowledge and legal rights for self-defence.

The psychological consequences are also catastrophic: premature marriage causes stress, depression, social isolation, and a sense of hopelessness, as the young woman does not have time to go through the natural stages of personality formation and emotional maturity. She is forced to play the role of wife and mother while being emotionally unprepared for it, which subsequently leads to a high divorce rate among young couples or, in the worst cases, to many years of an unhappy life.

A barrier to social progress

For society, early marriages are an obstacle to social and economic progress. When a significant portion of the youth, especially females, is excluded from the education system and the workforce, the state loses enormous human capital. This slows down economic development, reduces the level of innovation, and hinders the affirmation of the principles of equality and justice. The problem also undermines the foundations of the family institution, as marriages contracted under duress or out of necessity lack the fundamental bases of love, mutual respect, and consciousness, which ultimately breeds dysfunctional families and passes destructive behavioural models on to subsequent generations.

In this sense, early marriage is not just a personal choice, but a societal ailment requiring systemic intervention and enlightenment.

The consanguineous virus

As for the problem of consanguineous (kinship) marriages, a significant number of such unions were registered before the legislative ban came into effect.

For example, in one year—from July 2024 to July 2025—this figure was 2,599. The legislative ban (which took effect in July 2025) has already shown its effectiveness: in July 2025, the number of registered marriages in the country almost halved compared to June of the same year.

Given that such marriages pose a serious threat to people's health, the genetics of future generations, and the development of society, amending the legislation to prevent them was an important step.

Bahar Muradova noted that this experience, aimed at protecting the gene pool, has also attracted the attention of other Islamic countries, which are studying Azerbaijani practice. Children born in such unions are exposed to a significantly higher risk of hereditary diseases, as the probability of recessive pathological genes inherited from a common ancestor manifesting in their genome increases.

According to experts from the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan, consanguineous marriages are one of the main causes of childhood disability, congenital malformations, metabolic disorders, and mental disorders.

Such unions are directly linked to the increase in the number of children with thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, and other severe genetic diseases, which places a heavy burden on the healthcare system and presents a social problem.

Marriage of interest

Another problem in Azerbaijan is the coercion of young men into marriage, which is a violation of human rights regardless of gender. Such unions are concluded based on social and economic stereotypes, not on law. Unfortunately, in Azerbaijan, as in other countries with strong patriarchal traditions, official statistics focus almost exclusively on early marriages and the violation of the rights of teenage girls, as they are the most vulnerable and the problem most often concerns their marital age.

Separate statistics for when young men over 18 are forced by their parents into a loveless marriage for social reasons ("so he doesn't do anything foolish," "so he starts a family quicker," "a suitable bride") are generally not kept. Such cases are classified not as a violation of the marriage age law, but as social pressure and coercion into family life, which is extremely difficult to prove and register.

Unhappy marriage

Although there are no official figures confirming this phenomenon among young men, family relations experts and sociologists recognise that the problem of forced marriage based on social stereotypes exists and is a hidden cause of many divorces and dysfunctional families.

Several traditional prejudices underlie such pressure on young men. It is believed that marriage to a "suitable" girl, often more submissive and unambitious, will quickly make the young man a "responsible man" and protect him from "unnecessary foolishness," external liaisons, and undesirable company. A son's early marriage is often seen as the family fulfilling a social duty, as well as a way to quickly strengthen kinship ties with the bride's "good" family. By forcing a young man into marriage before he is on his feet (financially or professionally), parents often retain control over his life and finances, as well as the life of his daughter-in-law.

Consequences for all parties

Such "loveless" marriages are quite destructive in nature. The young man is forced to take on financial and emotional responsibility for which he is not ready, often remaining infantile or dependent in his decision-making. This leads to frustration, aggression, or the search for emotional satisfaction outside the family. In turn, the girl finds herself in a marriage with a person who did not love her from the start, who is not ready for marriage, and who perhaps considers himself its victim. As a result, she often faces emotional alienation, a lack of respect, and a lack of financial stability.

The most tragic outcome is the creation of an unhappy family environment, devoid of mutual understanding and respect. The lack of love between spouses has a detrimental effect on the mental and emotional development of children, who grow up in an atmosphere of conflict or cold indifference, which leads to the reproduction of the unhealthy relationship model in the next generation. An indirect but significant indicator of this problem is the divorce statistic. This is about 40% of the number of marriages contracted, most of which occur within the first five years of living together.

It is precisely the financial unpreparedness, emotional immaturity of the young husband, and lack of personal motivation to start a family, characteristic of forced unions, that are the key factors destroying such marriages.

From law to social culture

To eradicate these harmful phenomena, a comprehensive approach is needed, combining stricter legislation with active educational work at the domestic level to ensure irreversible social changes. Strict compliance with the provisions of the Family Code, which sets the marriage age at 18, is required. A crucial point is the rejection of the norm that allows the marriage age to be lowered, which created grounds for abuse.

It is necessary to ensure criminalisation and strict, unavoidable responsibility for individuals who organise early marriages, force them, or carry out kidnapping for the purpose of marriage, as was the case with the 17-year-old girl in the Balakan district.

It is also critically important to strengthen accountability measures for conducting religious marriage ceremonies without prior official registration with the civil registry offices, as such unions deprive girls of all legal and social protection.

Since 2015, mandatory medical examinations for those entering marriage have been introduced, and this mechanism must be constantly improved, especially in the context of combating consanguineous unions, with an emphasis on in-depth genetic counselling. At the domestic and public levels, the key lies in education and enlightenment. Raising the educational level of girls and adolescents, especially in rural areas, is the main factor in preventing early marriages.

It is necessary to combat school absenteeism, which is often the first step towards forced marriage. To solve the problem of coercion of young men and reduce the number of divorces, it is necessary to introduce programmes that teach young people independence, financial literacy, and responsible choice of a life partner, as well as help spouses build relationships on the principles of partnership, love, and mutual respect.

It is necessary to conduct constant, targeted preventive talks and campaigns in schools, communities, and among parents, explaining the legal consequences, medical risks (especially with consanguineous marriages), and social threats of early marriages.

The role of local authorities, support centres for children and families, and the police needs to be strengthened in responding promptly to information about preparations for early marriages, so that preventive work is systemic and not just reactive.

Finally, it is important to work actively to change outdated patriarchal attitudes that view a woman as a "burden" or "commodity," and to affirm the value of women as full members of society, capable of education and self-realisation.

Effective work

For practical support of young families in Azerbaijan, the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs is actively implementing programmes aimed at economic and psychological support, especially in the regions.

Public organisations and NGOs are being created that conduct personal growth training, seminars, and public campaigns to form norms of responsible parenthood and strengthen family values.

As part of these projects, as well as through support hotlines (860), assistance is provided to families facing psychological and physical violence, as well as those in need of legal and psychological counselling to preserve the family.

An important element is also the improvement of the legal mechanisms for divorce. The Family Code, for example, provides for restrictions on the dissolution of marriage by the husband during the wife's pregnancy or until the child reaches the age of one. However, given that courts often rely on the conclusions of commissions in divorce proceedings, which may have only one psychologist for an entire district, it is necessary to strengthen the role of qualified family psychologists and mediators in the pre-trial and judicial resolution of conflicts.

Only joint and consistent efforts by the state and society, acting as a single whole, will make it possible to finally eradicate harmful customs, ensuring that every girl and young man in Azerbaijan can realise their right to childhood, education, and conscious choice, and that the country's gene pool will be protected for future generations.