There is escalating concern in the international community over the large number of underage marriages among those seeking asylum in Europe, with some of the female spouses as young as 11, and married to men much older.
According to statistics published by Germany's Central Register of Foreign Nationals, 1,475 foreigners under 18 were registered in the German migration office as married, and almost all were girls.
According to the figures, 664 child brides arrived from Syria, 157 from Afghanistan, 100 from Iraq and the rest from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Greece.
Authorities are concerned that the actual number of married minors who have not been registered may be even higher.
Many of the girls are believed to have agreed to the marriages to escape poverty and war in their home countries. Women's rights groups have protested against court decisions ruling that their husbands are their official guardians.
"A husband cannot be the legal guardian of a child bride because he is involved in a sexual relationship with her — a very obvious conflict of interests," Monika Michell, of Terre des Femmes, a group campaigning against child marriage, told the Sunday Times.
Thomas Kutschaty, justice minister for North-Rhine Westphalia, told German media in June that "there is no clear legal foundation to prohibit in Germany what we believe to be indecent."
Federal justice minister Heiko Maas last week formed a working group with state justice ministers to discuss the issue and come up with legislation.
