UNITED KINGDOM: Forced Marriage victims call on UK government to make the practice a crime

Record ID: 737859

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Forced Marriage victims call on UK government to make the practice a crime
  • Date: 22nd March 2008
  • Summary: (BN12) DERBY, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 19, 2008) (REUTERS) SIKH TEMPLE
  • Embargoed: 6th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Legal System
  • Reuters ID: LVA93R2OEITCCY7XGN81TCGSR6ND
  • Story Text: When she was 12 years old, Shazia Qayum's best friend at school was murdered by her father for dishonouring her family.
    At 15, Shazia's mother told her that she was being taken out of school and would be sent to Pakistan to be married to a man she had never seen before.

    "I knew the things I could do and couldn't do at the age of 12. I knew what honour meant in the Asian family. Now, when I was 15 and I came back from school one day and my mother presented me with a photograph of my first cousin and told me she'd arranged my marriage in Pakistan. She also told me 'no' was not an option and she also told me she was not going to let me finish my education," she told Reuters Television.
    For that whole year Shazia said she was kept at home. If she went outdoors she was escorted and if she met friends, she there was always a family member present.
    While Shazia felt like a prisoner in her own home, she also felt let down by the government and school authorities.

    "The surprising thing in that whole year is that no one asked the question where I was. No one from education welfare. No one from social services and no one from the police," Shazia said.
    She eventually went ahead with the marriage. She was 17 years old then.
    Despite letters to various government agencies and the British embassy in Pakistan, her husband was given a visa to come to England. At eighteen Shazia ran away from home and has not seen her family since.
    Shazia Qayum's case is not unique and the issue of forced marriage in many conservative Asian communities in Britain is not unique, either. Shazia says the only way parents will be discouraged from forcing their children to marry is if the practice is made a criminal offence.
    However, Wayne Ives, who heads up the government's Forced Marriage Unit says criminalising the practice would do more damage than good.

    "A consultation was held on this. We consulted in 2005 and 2006 on whether or not forced marriages should be criminalised. And the majority of respondents to that consultation felt that actually the disadvantages outweighs the advantages of criminalising. And the reason why is because when we spoke to victims at the time, if we even mentioned that the police might be involved, very often is their response is not to get the police involved is because what they don't want to do is have their families arrested. The issue is underground enough as it is and what we don't need to do is drive it underground further," he said.
    The numbers of British Asians being forced into marriage are on the rise. While the practice is old, official statistics go back just three years as the Forced Marriage Unit was set up in 2005.
    The Unit handles case work in the UK and overseas in conjunction with the Foreign Office and local authorities of individual countries.
    Last year the Forced Marriage Unit handled 400 cases where it directly intervened on the behalf of British nationals. A lot of the cases centre on British citizens being forced into marriage with someone from overseas with the aim that they can sponsor their visas to come to the UK.

    "Vast majority of cases we deal with are South Asian but one of the reasons behind that is that to some extent it reflects Britain's ethnic minority population. But it also reflects the fact that when the unit was set up, we knew there was a problem, we had a lot of cooperative agencies, who knew there was a problem within certain South Asian communities so we targeted them. Now we're becoming much more aware of the fact that we're seeing a rising number of cases from the Middle East, we know that forced marriage happens for example in some northern east African communities, the sort of Turkish Kurdish communities as well, so we've started to do more work this year to really raise awareness," Ives said.
    The lack of awareness or access to information led Jasvinder Sanghera to found Karma Nirvana, a relief organisation in Derby in the north of England.
    Derby has large and socially conservative Sikh, Muslim and Hindu communities. Most people stick to their communities and do not mingle with white British residents.
    When she was 15, Jasvinder was told she was to marry a man of her parent's choice. Jasvinder's response was negative and as a result she says she was abused by family members. That abuse led Jasvinder to run away from home at the age of 16.

    "Of all the thousands of cases that we have seen in the UK, we see very few prosecutions. So here we have an area of criminal activity where people are not being held to account. Now you would not turn a blind eye to an area of activity in the UK like rape, where we see few prosecutions but there is work being done to try and empower and encourage prosecutions. Same thing happens with domestic violence in the UK. Before we had legislation people were arguing that we don't want to have legislation because women would not want to get their partners into trouble. We have legislation now, we have had it for a long time, we have empowered victims to report. Now we see many prosecutions going through the court. Forced marriage and honour-based crimes should be dealt in exactly the same way," Jasvinder said.
    Fifteen percent of cases Karma Nirvana handles deal with men who are either being forced to marry, or undergoing pressure from their family.
    Twenty-year old Mandeep, (not real name), fears his family is actively looking for a prospective bride. Mandeep is gay and his problem is that he has not told his family. He fears that when and if he does, he might be cut off from his community.

    "There are men who have issues as well. So now what I am doing is that we are starting up the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) section of Karma Nirvana just within the last couple of weeks and its gaining so much ground. I've had a few phone calls and there are people out there." said 'Mandeep.' In mid-April a government inquiry into forced marriages and honour killings will report its findings. Campaigners such as Jasvinder and Shazia at Karma Nirvana are instrumental in writing the report. They want the report to force schools to make forced marriage material available to students so that young people are aware of their right to choose. This would be a first step for stronger legislation in time to come.
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