Plan UK: prevention to stop forced marriage - Sky News interview

Marie Staunton, Chief Executive of children's charity Plan UK, was interviewed on Sky News about forced marriage and the UK Government's decision to criminalise forced marriage in the UK.

Criminalising forced marriages may be necessary but it's not sufficient. Prevention rather than prosecution will avoid needless suffering, early pregnancy and school drop-outs.

Plan UK has launched the UK's first national lesson resource to be used in schools to help teachers and pupils spot the signs of forced marriage. Schools have long shied away from discussing the issue, despite hundreds of girls in the UK going missing to be married off every year. You can find out more about the lesson resource at http://www.plan-uk.org/the-right

"This is the first national effort to provide materials for use in British classrooms on the issue of early and forced marriage."

"There are up to 8,000 cases of forced marriage reported in England alone, and overseas early and forced marriage is one of the biggest development challenges of our time."

"We want to support young people to understand how it can cut short a girl's education -- and how they can take action both here and overseas," says Marie Staunton.

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