About Forced Marriage

About Forced Marriage

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A FORCED MARRIAGE IS A BREACH OF HUMAN RIGHTS

WE KNOW:

  • A FORCED MARRIAGE CAN LEAD TO RAPE
  • A FORCED MARRIAGE IS DOMESTIC ABUSE
  • A FORCED MARRIAGE HAPPENS IN AN ONGOING SCENARIO OF COERCIVE CONTROL
  • A FORCED MARRIAGE CAN LEAD TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND DOMESTIC SLAVERY
  • A FORCED MARRIAGE CAN RESULT IN THE DEATH OF THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO ESCAPE

For most adults, marriage is the single most important personal relationship that they form in their lives. When two people marry, we like to think that they are happy and they wish to marry the person whom they are marrying. Nevertheless, this is not always the case.

  • At times, a person is forced by his or her parent or both parents into a marriage.
  • A person can be forced into a marriage in several different ways, and for various reasons.
  • Parents and families can apply emotional pressure, and coerce a daughter or a son to marry a person selected by them - even when the son or daughter in question has expressed a clear desire not to marry the selected partner.
  • Marriage is seen by many families and individuals as a way of confirming or improving their status, in the milieu to which they belong or wish to belong.
  • Many families and social groups promote endogamy: a practice of marrying within their ethnic, religious, caste, social, political, or economic class. Many forced marriage cases happen when an offspring refuses to marry the partner chosen for him or her by the family.
  • In the tragic cases that have resulted in the death of the person who refused to be forced into a marriage, research reveals, that parents have acted (a) because they believe they have the right to force their offspring into marriage, and (b) because they are concerned that they will lose face in their community if their son or daughter does not marry a person who is chosen for them.
  • OFTEN FORCED MARRIAGE IS DESCRIBED AS SO-CALLED HONOUR-BASED ABUSE. THERE IS NO HONOUR IN USING YOUR SOCIAL POWER TO FORCE SOMEONE INTO MARRIAGE. THE RIGHT TO MARRY IS A UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT. IT MUST NOT BE SUPPRESSED.

    • The tragic deaths of Banaz Mahmod was killed for fleeing a forced marriage. Shafilea Ahmed was killed because she refused to be coerced into a marriage. They were let down by frontline services and the police. Samia Shahid another UK citizen was lured to Pakistan (under false pretences of her father's illness). Once there, she was murdered for fleeing a forced marriage, and choosing to marry the man she loved.

  • There is no harm with parents choosing a marriage partner for their son or daughter, as some do in an arranged marriage. Nevertheless, if a parent or a guardian exerts pressure, coercive control, or forces a son, daughter, or any other person into a marriage against his or her will – in the UK - they are breaking the law, and they can end up in jail.
  • The Commission’s research reveals that across the length and breadth of the UK, forced marriage happens in all communities, regardless of social class, race, ethnicity, and religion. Forced marriage even happens in the context of families that consider themselves ‘to the manor born’, and among so-called educated families. Nevertheless, the thinking that parents and elders have the right to choose a marriage partner for their son or daughter is more prevalent in some communities more than others.
  • Invariably, when forced marriage comes under discussion, the first reaction of the majority of people living in the UK is, ‘It doesn’t happen here,’ or ‘it happens in some communities from particular religious or ethnic backgrounds.’

    • The Commission's research revealed:

  • Forced marriage happens across all communities from different ethnic, religious, cultural, caste, and class backgrounds.
  • Forced marriage happens among the educated and the uneducated.
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    • Men and women, girls and boys, and transgender adults and children are forced into marriage in the UK.
    • in the UK, the age of consent (when a person can 'yes' to marriage) is 18. Nevertheless, there is a loophole in the law (click here to read more), and a child below the age of 18, but older than 16, can be given away in marriage by a parent or a guardian.
    • Many rights groups and voluntary sector organisations argue that It is not possible for a child to give informed consent, or say 'yes' to a marriage.
    • A child can have no understanding of the physical relationship with a spouse, or of the responsibility of childbearing or parenting.
    • There are campaigns to stop the marriage of children aged 16-18 such as Girls Not Brides and IKWRO
    • Many persons who are forced into a marriage do not know that the law in the UK provides remedies that can protect them from being forced into a marriage.
    • This page discusses forced marriage and the law in the UK.
    • In some cases, a forced marriage happens in a transnational context. There are cases when a British citizen is taken abroad to get married or a person from another country is brought into the UK to get married - often by force.
    • We have consulted lawyers and experts to discuss the laws in some other countries. Their opinions are being uploaded here