In my thesis I present the occurrence and prevalence of forced marriages of Roma children in Slovenia. Initially, in the theoretical part, I associate forced marriages with the umbrella term – human trafficking (TzL). Then I present the problem of children trafficking and violence against children, which is closely linked to exploitation and forced marriages. One or more elements of violence are always present when talking about a given problem. Second topic it is about the legal framework of forced marriages in Slovenia, the field of trauma and work with victims of forced marriages. Finally, I focus on forced marriages in our country and forced marriages in Roma communities in Slovenia. At the end I turn to the role of non-profit organizations and centres for Social Work in preventing and recognizing forced marriages and working with victims.
The research focuses on getting information about forced marriages between the years of 2015 and 2018. My intention was to get more up-to-date data from the Centers for Social Work and see if there were more, fewer or the same cases. I was also interested in the opinion of experts who encounter forced marriages of Roma children in their work. I wanted to get their perspective on identifying, preventing education and protecting the victim of forced marriages. I focused on one subjective narrative and wanted to see their perspective on a given issue.
The results show that the issue of forced marriages is still hidden in our country. It is often the case that cases and victims are not recognized and they disappear without the result of a hearing and the protection of the victim. Although the survey results show that there are fewer cases than in previous years, this is due to poor recognition by professionals. Although work on preventing forced marriage is still not good, progress is being made in the area of professional education and media exposure. More and more issues are being addressed and changes are being made in the right direction, although much work remains to be done. In the Roma population, forced marriages are still seen as part of the tradition, and are seen by the general public as a harmful cultural practice that has great psychological and physical consequences for children. The key to success would be to educate the Roma population – especially the children – until primary school is completed, as many Roma children still drop out of the school system before the completion of grade 9 in Primary school.
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