Criminalising forced marriage risky, says activist

Summary of story from OpenDemocracy, November 29, 2011

A community and women’s rights activist says plans by the  UK government to criminalise forced marriage in the UK would put women and girls at an even greater risk of violence.

Sajda Mughal, who leads the JAN Trust, which educates, engages and empowers grass roots disadvantaged women and girls in the UK, says forced marriages can only be tackled from within and by the community.

Forced marriage is a serious – and growing – issue in the UK.

The UK’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) received 1063 reports of possible forced marriages in the first six months of 2009 – an increase of 25 per cent on the same period in 2008 – and in 2010 there were 1,735 potential forced marriages involving British citizens.

The majority of these involved families of Pakistani background, with the rest from other parts of South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Nearly 40 per cent of the cases dealt with by the FMU concerned people under the age of 18, and women and girls were the victims in 85 per cent of the cases.

In 2007 the UK government passed the Forced Marriage Civil Protection Act which protects individuals from being forced to enter into marriage without their free and full consent.

But Ms Mughal claims that the current government treats forced marriages primarily as an immigration issue, which underestimates the true extent of the issue.

In the last three years, the JAN Trust has consulted with nearly 1,000 Muslim and Pakistani women and 85 per cent of them said that a forced marriage had occurred in their family or to someone they know – and that the individuals involved were unhappy.

Government intervention is often perceived as a threat to the cultural heritage of minority groups and over 90 per cent of those quesitoned felt that a project was needed which specifically targeted the Asian and Pakistani communities.

One woman said: “Forced marriages are not discussed in the Pakistani community. It is sad, because they lead to bigger problems and ruin people’s lives. Something must be done … our community needs educating.”

Combating forced marriages will also prevent other types of violent and serious crime, because research has shown that forced marriage is linked to domestic and sexual violence, as well as to people trafficking and prostitution.