Forced Marriages to be Illegalized in the UK?

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.

Category:

News & Politics

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[geewhiz76]

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.

[Pologameboy]

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

[discoverybube]

...it's  just for middle asian girls - 。-

[H1MLA]

@CaligirlSofia Your comments posted is the voice of muslims, who are delusional and are constant denial of how evil islamic beliefs and maltreatment of women is. Don't take my word for it. Just watch thousands of videos on YT, showing murders of women in the islamic faith club, killed in cold blood, for refusing to accept forced marriages, leaving islam, murdered via honour killing to restore muslim respect to their community. Human rights & muslims don't mix and you are proof of that. Peace!

[CaligirlSofia]

@H1MLA i would have told u to google taqiyya or watch my main video but instead i will leave u with this, a quote by Ali says "when i argue with someone more ignorant than me he wins the argument and when i argue with someone wiser than me i win the argument"

point is the stupidity of your arguments is so irrational that no one can win you with rational thinking, therefore you win, peace

[H1MLA]

@CaligirlSofia Insults are the calling cards of losers in discourse and you represent that kind well. When muslims are found wanting, your position is to practice Tayyiyah. But that isn't going to prevent the truth from coming out. Using culture as an excuse for Islam dark ages laws on women won't save you hun. Having sex with your relative is WRONG. Everyone knows that, bar muslims like you. Honour killings goes hand in hand with islam. If not, why are many murdered girls murdered?

[CaligirlSofia]

@H1MLA no he didnt marry a baby, gosh i feel like i am speaking to an idiot, but an idiot nevers knows he is an idiot, 1) what you are speaking about are issues, and none of these issues are done by one group that is just ignorant and highly inaccurate 2) incest has no universal definition and is defined by each culture and group of ppl, fact 3) honor killings are culture issues nothing to do with religion 4) discredited??? wtf??? LOL google religion HAHAHA your such a fucking retard!!!!

[H1MLA]

@CaligirlSofia Yeah so you keep saying. Remind me again, didn't Mohammed marry a baby? Then you wonder why muslim try to imitate mohammed and engage in all manner of child abuse, incest, honour killings, force marriagesand abuse of women. I'm sorry, but Islam is totally discredited as an organised religion. Look at Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, Libya and any where Islam colonise, its nothing but hell on earth. Come on, learn to think for yourself, girl :)

[H1MLA]

@CaligirlSofia You met, Ugandan muslims do Honour Killings? Ugandans who are not muslims do not engage in Honour killings. Stop being in denial girl, honour killings, incest marriages and force arrange marriages are mainly market sectors mostly monopolise by muslims in particular and Asians in general. Why is it, muslims are often in denial of truth? Can't you guys for once accept the facts? I guess you were practising Taryiyah.

[CaligirlSofia]

@enzojatt786  RETARD

[CaligirlSofia]

@H1MLA 1) MAJORITY of muslims dont engage in it dumbass, 2) christian arabs, 3) uganda they have honor killings 4) somalis dont do honor killings neither do most african muslim nations

were you dropped as a baby????

[enzojatt786]

YOU DIRTY PAKI BITCH GET BACK TO YA FUCKING COUNTRY