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Syrian Girl Faces Forced Marriage After Being Lured to Syria
The German news website "T-Online" has shed light on the case of a 16-year-old Syrian girl whose family allegedly attempted to force her into marriage in Syria.
The website used the name “Farah” to protect the girl’s identity. About a year ago, Farah traveled with her family to Lebanon. While they were driving, however, she realized that they were heading toward Syria. According to her account, her parents had told her that the trip would be limited to a visit to one of Beirut’s beaches. But after arriving in the Lebanese capital, she noticed road signs pointing toward Syria.
Farah said she waited until the car stopped and then managed to escape. She subsequently sent a message via WhatsApp to "Paul Bernd", a teacher at her school in Berlin, asking for help. She told him that her parents intended to take her to Syria under the pretext of a holiday, where she was expected to be forced into marriage.
After fleeing, Farah sought refuge with a relative in Lebanon. Since then, she has been trying—with the assistance of her teacher, several organizations, and German government agencies—to return to Germany. During one attempt, the teacher booked her a flight to Berlin, but Lebanese authorities prevented her from leaving the country without her father’s consent.
One of the main obstacles to her return is that she does not hold German citizenship, limiting the German Embassy in Beirut’s ability to intervene directly on her behalf.
Farah’s case does not appear to be an isolated one. A study conducted by the "Camino" research institute found that many of the institutions surveyed had dealt with cases of forced marriage. A total of 181 cases linked to Berlin were recorded in 2024, although some cases may have been counted more than once.
Earlier data from Berlin’s Working Group on Forced Marriage recorded 570 cases in 2017 involving people from, or connected to, the city. The report stated that approximately one-third of the affected girls and women were minors, while women were taken abroad in nearly 90% of the cases and forced to marry there.
Farah’s case falls under what is known as “abduction for marriage.” According to the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, the term refers to cases in which a young man or woman is taken to the family’s country of origin and then forced to marry against their will.
The journey is often presented as a family holiday, only for its real purpose to become clear later—as happened in Farah’s case.
