The public hearing was opened by Dr Muamer Bacevac, Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, who thanked the Roma Women's Network of Serbia for their initiative to hold this event. He welcomed the participants of the gathering, which, in addition to the MPs, included representatives of Roma women's organisation, relevant ministries, independent state bodies, civil society organisations and international organisations dedicated to solving this issue.

Dr Bacevac said that this public hearing was organised because it is the duty of the state and its institutions to pay special attention to children, as well as all of us to prevent harmful practices that can lead to the interruption of education and negatively affect the health of children, especially girls, and make them vulnerable, especially to violence, discrimination and abuse.

The National Coalition to End Child Marriage, formed in 2019 at the initiative of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality and UNICEF, has done a lot in terms of problem analysis and initiatives to solve this issue, Dr Bacevac opined.

He stressed that one of the biggest problems is that child marriage is seen as a kind of custom among the Roma population and this understanding is often reflected in the work of institutions, such as the prosecution and courts, which instead of punishing those responsible, actually sign and dismiss the cases with the explanation that this is a custom in Roma communities. The Committee Chairman used the opportunity to remind the attending that 8 April is International Roma Day.

Stana Bozovic, State Secretary of the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography, said that a series of researches show that more than half of Roma girls in the Republic of Serbia get married before the age of 18. "Their childhood and development are interrupted too early, they leave school, risks to their health are enormous because they become mothers before their body is fully developed and inevitably enter a spiral of poverty," said Bozovic. She stressed that the Republic of Serbia is firmly against such phenomena, because these are not officially marriages regulated by law. Therefore, the state indicates the harmfulness of this phenomenon through established measures and policies, said the State Secretary. Bozovic pointed out that this is why the Coordination Body for Gender Equality has actively joined the National Coalition to End Child Marriage, within which it almost every day raises its voice against the consequences child marriage leads to. Still, she said, the Republic of Serbia does not exclude underage pregnant women, mothers in labour and mothers with infants from the social care and protection program.

Prof. Dr Rejhan Kurtovic, State Secretary of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue pointed out that it is good to talk about this topic publicly, but on the other hand, it is alarming that this is still a current topic in our society. He added that though child marriages are synonymous with the Roma community, they also occur in other communities, just that they are not as visible. At the end of the presentation, he said that the involvement of the state is a priority, with a view to improving the position of the youngest Roma women, based on a clear policy, intersectoral cooperation and with the full participation of Roma communities, society and individuals.

Ombudsman MA Zoran Pasalic also addressed the gathering, greeting the participants and taking the opportunity to congratulate all Roma on International Roma Day, as well as the great holiday of Pesach, the day of freedom and justice, to members of the Jewish community. Pasalic agreed with Dr Muamer Bacevac about the existence of the prejudice that marriages of minors, as is often mentioned in the media, are traditionally linked to the Roma community and that judgment is often passed to the detriment of these individuals.

Djurdja Janicijevic, assistant to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, said that the Commissioner has been drawing attention to the importance of preventing child marriages since the establishment of this institution, both in her regular annual reports on the situation in the field of equality protection and in the Commissioner's special report on discrimination against children, published in December 2021 and presented to the National Assembly. She pointed out that child marriages represent one of the most serious forms of violation of children's rights and child abuse, the consequences of which are severe and far-reaching. The victims are disenfranchised and deprived of their basic rights to health, education and security, which is why they often face physical, psychological, economic and sexual abuse, Janicijevic said. "Child marriage is associated with frequent early pregnancies, high maternal and infant mortality rates, high risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth and a high risk of sexually transmitted diseases", underlined the Assistant Commissioner. She also said that statistics show that such marriages are often the result of numerous structural problems of the community, low living standards, inaccessibility of education and social exclusion, and that it is not rare that such a marriage represents an attempt to escape from one socially vulnerable environment to another. Janijevic also said that the phenomenon of child marriage exists in many national minorities throughout Serbia, but that it is most widespread among Roma communities.

Biljana Dakic-Djordjevic, Director of Trag Foundation, stressed that early child marriages represent a serious violation of the rights of girls, as well as boys, and that in this case we can also talk about human trafficking. She pointed out that in the past period, the Roma community has made great strides in solving this problem. The National Council of the Roma National Minority adopted a declaration on the abolition of child marriages, which clearly defined them as a violation of children's rights that endangers their lives and their future, and the National Coalition to End Child Marriage was also formed.

UNICEF representative Vesna Dejanovic expressed her satisfaction at the existence of social consensus to solve the big problem of premature child marriage. "Every time a girl gets married in this way, society takes a step backward because it has missed the opportunity to protect her and allow her to develop her potential," said Dejanovic. She emphasised that the consequences of such an experience do not resolve themselves, they require time, dedication and coordination of the entire society.

Slavica Vasic-Mitrovic addressed the gathering on behalf of the Roma Women's Network of Serbia, thanking the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality for helping organise the public hearing on this very important topic. She said that the Roma Women's Network has been conducting the Roma Women's Activism Month campaign since 2010, in the period from 8 March to 8 April 8 every year. In this period, members of the Roma Women's Network (RWN) gather around the common goal of raising the visibility of Roma in society. International Women's Day, 8 March, is an occasion for RWN activists to address the public and government representatives and draw attention to the position of Roma women in Serbia, while 8 April marks International Roma Day. This year's RWN campaign is aimed at ending the negative social phenomenon of child marriage, which is also present in the Roma community. She repeated that according to UNICEF data, one in two girls get married before the age of 18. In this regard, RWN had several meetings with local self-governments with a view of preventing child marriages in the local community.

The speeches were followed by a panel discussion on the topic: End Child Marriage, where the results of the Roma Women's Network concerning child marriage were presented, as well as the Initiative to change normative-legal acts in the Republic of Serbia.