If you or someone you know is being forced into a marriage and is at risk: call the Police on 999. If your perpetrator is near you and it is not safe for you to speak, press 55 and the police will understand that you are at risk. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
If you need urgent advice, or need to get away call the 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247. For specialist advice, click here for a list of organisations, but most operate on weekdays, and usually between 9.00 a.m - 5.30 pm.
Forced marriage is a hidden crime. It is not restricted to any single racial, ethnic, or religious community or class. Men and women, girls and boys, and transgender people are forced into marriage
This site is updated regularly. Watch this space for the latest news on our work and the other challenges to forced marriage in the UK.
NCFM salutes the courage of the many brave women, men, and children who step forward to speak out against forced marriage in their communities. Often they face a lonely world, cut off from their families and communities.
We wish to remember those who died because they wished to flee a forced marriage; and all victims and survivors of forced marriage.
Mihammad Hanif
Mihammad Hanif, novelist, speaking in Punjabi about Malala's statement in Vogue in which she said: "Why do people have to get married if they want to spend their lives together?"
Jayne Ozanne, LGBTQ activist
Jayne Ozanne, who has been at the forefront of a campaign for legislation against conversion therapy talks to NCFM about the many LGBTQ persons who have experienced forced marriage as a form of conversion therapy - to cure them of what is considered a deviant condition, notwithstanding that same-sex love, and marriage is legal in the UK, as is gender reassignment.
Jayne describes the immediate pain and suffering and post-traumatic stress disorder faced by persons who go through conversion therapy.
It is expected that legislation to ban conversion therapy will be mentioned in the Queen's Speech on Tuesday 11th May 2021.
Shafilea Ahmad and Banaz Mahmod were killed by their parents; the people who should have protected them the most
Shafilea Ahmed
In 2003, Shafilea was killed by her mother and father because she refused to live by their rules and marry a man of their choice
To read Shafilea's story and hear Pakistani film, TV, and theatre star, NADIA JAMIL as she recites Shafilea's poem, Happy Families, click here.
Banaz Mahmod
Banaz we remember you today with a profound sense of having failed to protect you. RIP
We honour your memory with a commitment to strengthen our fight against forced marriage, and other unjust and violent practices that uphold patriarchy and hide behind a mask of so-called 'honour'.
In 2006, Banaz was killed by her father, other relatives, and members of her wider community for fleeing a forced and abusive marriage
Read Banaz's story here...
Anne-Marie Hutchinson (born 1 August 1957 - died 2 October 2020)
We are very sad to lose Anne-Marie Hutchinson, a pillar of the Commission. Our Chair, Baroness Butler-Sloss described Anne-Marie as, 'an exceptional person whose premature death will leave a great gap in a very important and not always well-understood branch of law.'
Read the full tribute from Chair, and Anne-Marie's obituary in the Guardian: here
Raj, Payzee and Sameem were victims of child marriage and forced marriage. Today they are activists and campaigners.
THEY TELL US WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO BREAK THE SILENCE
Raj Holness
Raj Holness was a victim of domestic and sexual violence for twenty years, barely escaping with her life from an attempted murder. Raj was being forced into a marriage by her family. Today she is a campaigner and an activist
Sameem Ali
Forced into a marriage at 13 and a mother at 14, Sameem Ali found freedom. Hear what she has to say about the evils of forced marriage.
Yehudis Fletcher from NAHAMU
