Shpresa is a teenage girl who feels most alive on the football field, chasing the ball and imagining her future. Like many girls her age, she has dreams and plans, but her ambitions collide with the weight of expectations that she should marry young.

Her story lies at the heart of Romni, a short film produced by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 2020. Since then, the film has been used to inspire dialogue on early and forced marriage.

Recently, 300 young people and their parents gathered in three locations across Kosovo to watch the film. Organized by the NGO Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, the screenings created a rare, shared space for families to sit side by side, confront a difficult reality, and reflect together.

They are a continuation of a series of community-based events designed to open intergenerational conversations about early marriage and its long-term consequences.

While early marriage affects many communities around the world, it continues to be particularly prevalent among Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in Kosovo.

“My mother was married at the age of 16,” said UNMIK spokesperson Hayat Abu-Saleh at a screening in Pristina, noting that early marriage is not confined to any community or culture, but is a reality found across many societies.

“That was a different time, and much has changed since then – but the issue still exists and the lives of young girls – and boys – are being shaped by decisions that are not their own.”

Early and forced marriage remains a sensitive social and human rights issue in Kosovo. According to 2020 research by UNICEF Kosovo Programme and the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, an estimated one in 25 women and one in 50 men in Kosovo are married before the age of 18.

Within Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities, the figures are significantly higher, affecting approximately one in three women and one in ten men.

Roma activist Almedina Skenderi spoke at multiple screenings from firsthand experience. For her, ending early marriage is not an abstract goal, but a deeply personal responsibility. 

“It is about protecting our girls’ rights and dignity,” she said, calling families, communities, and institutions to share that responsibility.

Romni was also shown at the UN’s International Virtual Film Festival.