“Marriages under the age of 18 should be taboo in principle”

Federal Minister of Justice Heiko Maas © Bernd von Jutrczenka

CBA: The coalition is arguing about how to deal with marriages of minors contracted abroad. The Union wants to ban marriages under 18 years of age. You are in favor of more flexibility and a margin of discretion for marriages between 16 and 18 years of age.

Heiko Maas (Federal Minister of Justice/SPD): The standard should always be the well-being of the affected women. We must do everything to protect young girls as effectively as possible. Therefore, it is quite clear: Marriages under 18 should be taboo in principle. In very special exceptional cases – for example, if there are already children from the marriage or the wife is pregnant – it may make sense under certain circumstances to recognize marriages contracted between 16 and 18, so that the woman concerned is not completely without rights and protection. However, such recognition should not be the norm. If it does not come to recognition, such marriages should be annulled. That would be tantamount to a divorce, including with regard to maintenance claims. We will present the draft this month so that the Cabinet can adopt it quickly.
CBA: Human rights activists argue that marriage on the run can also offer protection from abuse and advocate looking at the individual case even for marriages under the age of 16. What do you think about it?
Maas: I disagree. Marriages in which one partner is under 16 should be illegal without exception. With the change in the law, we do not want to create incentives for such marriages to take place. We must do everything possible to protect underage girls from forced marriages.
CBA: Since 2009, no civil marriage is required in Germany before a church wedding ceremony. Now the "pre-marriage ban" is to be reintroduced in view of religious marriages with minors. Where do you stand on this?

Maas: Government factions have agreed to reintroduce this ban. I think that Thomas de Maiziere, as the responsible minister, will present a corresponding bill before the end of the year, especially with regard to Islamic marriages with minors.

CBA: Family forms are changing in Germany. A working group on parentage set up by them is to investigate by 2017 whether the legal situation is still up to date. Where do you see a need for clarification?
Maas: The current law has been overtaken by social developments in the question of the meaning of biological and social or legal parenthood. The working group, which also includes the ministries of the interior, health and family, will discuss where reforms make sense. This circle, however, is not designed to produce bills during this legislative period. Changes in such sensitive and complex areas of law need more time.
CBA: However, a draft bill on the sperm donor registry is now available from the Ministry of Health, which also addresses the ie of parenthood. Donors should have no legal obligation to the child. For the Federal Medical Association, this is a question of parentage law.
Maas: That is a different and separate topic. The working group will not discuss the permissibility of reproductive techniques or the consequences of such techniques, unless they are of a legal nature. But if you recognize sperm donation as such, you should also regulate the rights and obligations of the donor and protect him, who contributes to the desire of others to have children, from maintenance obligations. Otherwise, it should also become much more difficult to find sperm donors.

CBA: There are also private sperm donations. Should you also regulate this?

Maas: This is to be dealt with first by the working group on ancestry, because difficult additional questions arise here. Currently, in my opinion, the regulation in the Ministry of Health's draft is sufficient for the time being. Otherwise, many other points would have had to be included in a draft.

CBA: They want to take stronger action against hate messages on the Internet – including legislation. For this you cooperate with social networks like Facebook. How can prere be increased on such corporations, which so far seem to be doing little?

Maas: By March 2017, we will review the deletion rates of social networks. So far the operators of the platforms delete punishable entries clearly too little and too slowly. Companies that earn a lot of money from their social networks have a social responsibility: they should not allow their platforms to be misused to spread criminal hatred, racism, anti-Semitism or Islamist terrorist fantasies. That's why: If firefighting rates don't improve, we will need to take legislative action.
CBA: Have you yourself already made an effort at Facebook for a deletion?
Maas: No, then I would also have nothing else to do.

CBA: On the net, people are bullied, insulted and even driven to suicide; weapons and drugs can be bought on the "darknet". Does the constitutional state not get a grip on this?

Maas: Those who commit crimes on the Internet should be told clearly: The Internet is not a lawless space. Criminal Haas, like all other offenses on the Internet, must be prosecuted very consistently and with all the means of the constitutional state. But the fight against racism and xenophobia must not begin in court. This is also a task for society as a whole. If the silent majority finds the increasing verbal radicalization bad, but nevertheless continues to be silent, that is not enough.
CBA: Should the churches also get more involved here??
Maas: I would think of many things under the heading of "charity on the net". There is much more at stake here than just legal ies. We should all join forces in the fight against incitement on the web. We must not allow our debates to be poisoned by the hatred of a particularly loud few. The churches have an important say in such a discussion of values.
CBA: The Green Party plans to adopt a paper on religious policy this month. In it, you also plead for reforms, for example, in Catholic labor law. You're a Catholic yourself, what's your take on such demands?
Maas: Churches would do well to develop their labor laws in practice and incorporate cultural changes. They should be more tolerant of their workers in many places, such as the question of sexual orientation or remarriage after divorce. When I have the opportunity to talk to bishops, I bring it up as well. This is a special concern for me as a Catholic. I was an altar boy myself and was socialized in Catholic youth associations.
CBA: The churches in Germany have the status of public corporations, as do some Muslim associations. Should this status be granted to all Muslim associations in the medium term??
Maas: The possibilities and privileges that the Basic Law offers to religious communities are not only open to the Christian churches, they can in principle be used by everyone. For the state to make treaties, however, Muslims as a whole need to become more organized in terms of membership.

The interview was conducted by Anna Mertens and Birgit Wilke.