Forced Marriages to be Illegalized in the UK?

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NTDTV | March 26, 2008

ANCHOR: In Britain, women who have been the victims of forced marriage are ca...

NTDTV | March 26, 2008

ANCHOR:
In Britain, women who have been the victims of forced marriage are calling
on the United Kingdom's government to make the practice a crime. Here's more on the story.

STORY:
When she was 12 years old, Shazia Qayum's best friend at school was
murdered by her father for dishonoring her family. At 15 Shazia's mother
told her that she was being taken out of school and to Pakistan to be married
to a man she had never seen before.

[Shazia Qayum, Team Leader, Karma Nirvana]:
"I came back from school and my mother presented me with a
photograph of my first cousin and told me she arranged my marriage in
Pakistan. She also told me no was not an option."

For that whole year Shazia said she was kept at home and felt like a
prisoner. Shazia also felt let down by the government and school authorities.

[Shazia Qayum, Team Leader, Karma Nirvana]:
"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 eventually went ahead with the marriage. She was seventeen. At eighteen Shazia ran away from home and has not seen her family since. She now lives in Derby in the north of England.

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.

Wayne Ives who heads up the UK government's Forced Marriage Unit says
criminalizing the practice would do more damage than good.

[Wayne Ives, Director, Forced Marriage Unit]:
"The reason why, is that when we speak to the victims at the time, if we even mention that the police might be involved, very often their response is not to get the police involved because what they don't want to do is get their family arrested."

The numbers of British Asians being forced into marriage are on the rise. Official statistics go back three years as the Forced Marriage Unit was set up in 2005.
The Unit handles case work in the UK and overseas. Last year the Forced Marriage Unit handled 400 cases where it directly intervened on the behalf of British nationals.

[Wayne Ives, Director, Forced Marriage Unit]:
"The vast majority of cases we deal with is South Asian. One of
the reasons behind that is to some extent it reflects Britain's ethnic
minority population. But it also reflects, we knew there was a problem within
certain South Asian communities, so we targeted them."

[Siddhartha Dubey, Reporter]:
"The South Asian community is quite segregated from the mainstream white community. This is Normanton Road and as you can see all the shops here are owned by members of the South Asian community. Just a couple of streets up is another busy commercial area. Those shops are everything but South Asian.
The community here is also quite conservative. So much so that when the government tried to put this poster up in schools talking about the issue of forced marriages, the school's administrations rejected the poster."

The lack of awareness or access to information that led Jasvinder Sanghera to found Karma Nirvana, a relief organisation in Derby. When she was 15 Jasvinder's was told she was to marry a man of her parent's choice. Jasvinder's response was 'no' 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.

[Jasvinder Sanghera, Founder, Karma Nirvana]:
"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. Forced marriage and honor-based
crimes should be dealt in exactly the same way."

In April a UK government inquiry into forced marriages and honor killings will report its findings.

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.

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Highest Rated Comments

  • 1 year ago 4

    this happens all the time. girls at school/college get told their going on holiday to stay with family. we tell them we will help them with housing etc and they always say 'my family wouldnt do that to me'. they soon learn that isnt true. these cretins are living a middle ages lifestyle in a the modern world.

    geewhiz76 1 year ago 4
  • 2 years ago 4

    easynow

    What on earth is immoral about sex outside marriage and dating?

    Not all drugs are bad... ecstacy for example makes you nice to other people... (maybe gang members should be force fed it)

    Parents DONT always know whats best. many are stupid, abusive or into those drink and drugs.

    Why try letting yourself get raped and impreganted... then your life is over.

    Arranged marriages are like pimping and often backed up with threats of violence.

    Sex should be with somone you like

    Pologameboy 2 years ago 4
see all

All Comments (58)

  • 7 months ago

    Agree with Orange 786. Culture is treated as religion and religion as secondary. If only our people could understand what they read, they will respect it. As a male, I feel sorry for young girls. What I would say is there should be better solutions to find the right partner. I don't think marriage sites are the answer to this. Religious communities should be speaking to each other on this, including the parents. Thus, finding the right partners, with consent of the individuals.

    CLIK68 7 months ago
  • 7 months ago
    Comment removed
  • 8 months ago

    I have also read this book ,this book is biased it paints a picture of asians as being evil and violent.

    She seems to dig at muslims even deeper. categorizing a person as a muslim and using them as a scapegoat.

    ISLAM FORBIDS FORCED MARRIAGES,

    dailytimes 8 months ago
  • 8 months ago

    It is not permissible for a muslim woman to be MADE to marry someone she does not want. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: A previously-married woman should not be married without being consulted, and a virgin should not be married without asking her permission.

    I really do hate it when people mix their 'culture' with islam and then present the whole thing as islam. That is why this religon is the most misunderstood religon in the world.

    orange786 8 months ago
  • 10 months ago 2

    Derby is in the Midlands!

    bored574 10 months ago 2
  • 10 months ago

    I cannot believe that they won't outlaw this practice. It's kidnapping at the very minimum! This is a violent act and should never be condoned in any way. They could easily ask the young woman if she wants to press charges against her parents and still protect the young girl.

    MrsSarb 10 months ago
  • 11 months ago 2

    You mean forced marriages aren't illegal in Britan as of yet?

    About time something is done about this then!

    @dn1074: it's not legal in the US though. It's not part of the program.

    Britain once again shows that it has been turned into a joke by the leftwing nazis in charge of the country. Thank you Labour.

    TheAkinaka 11 months ago 2
  • 11 months ago 2

    jasvinder sangara..the book names shame..a book in which she wrote about her life nearly brought tears to my eyes to see how much she had suffer emotionally. Its a good idea to make awareness of it in schools so they know their choices..also in those asian areas so that the parents would know that there are people out there that their children can reach to on this topic so probally from that fear they would stop doing force marriage.

    sanarani66 11 months ago 2
  • 11 months ago

    i once fell for a muslim girl

    however,she told me we couldnt be a couple because i wasnt a muslim

    BOLSHEVIXTREME 11 months ago
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