~ FORCED MARRIAGES COULD BE BANNED ~

[HOUDA-K]

Parents who coerce their children into forced marriages could face prosecution under proposals unveiled by ministers.

Currently families who compel their children to marry can be charged only with offences like assault or kidnap.

But now ministers are holding a three-month consultation to decide whether to create a specific criminal offence of forcing someone to marry.

The joint Home and Foreign Office forced marriage unit has dealt with 1,000 cases over the past four years.

'Sensitive issue'

The police have already told the government that forced marriage should be a new, separate offence.

They believe bringing in a new law will make prosecutions easier and send a clear message that intimidating young people into marriages they do not want is unacceptable in the UK.

In a government consultation document, entitled "Forced Marriage - a wrong, not a right", ministers accept that the arguments against creating a specific criminal offence outweigh those for it.

But Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said a new offence would act as a preventative measure and "say to people this is wrong".

"It's like a clarion call that this is not legal, you are not going to get away with it," she told reporters in central London.

"I don't know if it's true that it will make it less likely that people come forward - that's why the consultation is so important."

She said the government recognised that this was "a very sensitive issue with no clear or easy answers".

Controversy

It was "not a south east Asian issue", she argued, but affected communities including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Syria, Sri Lanka, USA, Holland, Somalia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Turkey and Bosnia.

"It is an abuse of human rights and a form of domestic violence which cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds," she said.

But many young people involved in forced marriages have a "real dilemma", she added.
"They love their parents - they want to continue the relationship - but they want to stop what's happening. They want to stop the abuse."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said: "Forcing someone into a marriage against their will is a clear abuse of their human rights. The police service is committed to tackling forced marriage and where a criminal offence has taken place, we will take positive action to enforce and uphold the law.

"The police service welcomes the forthcoming consultation on the creation of a specific offence for forcing someone into marriage. We will continue to provide support to victims of such practices and protect those at risk."
The group Imkaan, which supports Asian women and children experiencing domestic violence, said: "We're really pleased to see the government engaging in a public consultation on this important issue and look forward to hearing what our members have to say."

Creating a specific offence would cost around £420,000 in the first year of implementation and £220,000 in subsequent years.

Overseas prosecutions

Possible penalties could include fines, community punishment and imprisonment.

The government would also want to be able to prosecute in the case of forced marriages that take place overseas, where the perpetrator and the victim are British citizens.
BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett says hundreds, possibly thousands of Britons, come under this kind of pressure from within their communities.

It is not only linked to so-called honour killings, where families take revenge on individuals who resist their wishes, but a high suicide rate among young Asian women.
Most cases involve females, with some victims as young as 13, although experts suggest up to 15% of cases may involve men marrying against their will.

Those being consulted include the police, social services, support groups in the voluntary sector and individuals who have been forced into marriages themselves.

Forced marriages differ entirely from legitimate arranged marriages, which take place with the consent of all parties involved.

[Ruks]

I was reading about this a while back - not sure if it will work.

Many women (mainly), tend not to come forward for help in the first instance - and asking them to go to the police to have their parents arrested is going to be hard for any child to do.

I think we do need to tackle this issue desperatly - but i'm not sure this is the right way - sometimes - children need to speak up and stand their ground and say that they are not going to marry someone - of course your parents are gonna be in a mood - but eventually they'll come out of it.

I think more work to help parents to rid themselves of this type of mentally is essential and we need leaders in the community to make a more vocal and visble stand against forced marriages- it just happens too often.

[Khokom]

Salam Ruks, long time no see, hope you doing well.

You made a point towards the end, why doesnt the government bring this issue up with local community leaders and imams. I reckon the only solution is to get rid of this backwarded dark corner of the culture and replace it with Islam where it gives women and men rights (with the involvement of family) to marry who they are pleased with.

But anyway lets look into this society for a second. Recently I heard they are bringing up the legal age of marriage from 16 to 18. This will have alot of negative impacts. What they also added is that a girl can have a relationship from 14+ but cannot get married until 18.

Subhan'Allah, our faith encourages the young to get married and have a legal permissable ever-lasting relationship called marriage whereas in UK they are literally giving green light for teenage pregnancy to increase, STDs to spread among teenagers, alot of psychological and emotional problems to go with that, the cheating, the broken hearts,....etc the list goes on.

Back to the main topic, forced marriages are wrong simple as that, we as a muslim community have to treat this with serious consideration. Its impact are very damaging. It destroyed families.

If the government and involved bodies want to get somewhere with this issue they MUST liaise with the local communities. All these new legislations will not help much.

Khokom.

[HOUDA-K]

Assalam alaikoum,

Considering that this topic is currently being discussed at the highest levels in this country {UK} and has recently been given a spotlight in the media. Here is a link
that a home office consultation has been launched to try and find out what the public think of making forced marriages a criminal offence.

So where do these rumours and untruths sprout? Obviously there exists the practice of forced marriages in the Asian community but why link this to Islam? Many Asians may be Muslims but that does in no way justify pinning the blame on Islam. Those that do force their children into an unwanted relationship are usually quite ignorant of the teachings of Islam. They have no idea of their massive responsibility to their children whom they have a duty to care for. They usually either conveniently ignore their faith or try to justify it by saying that they are helpless to change tradition. They have no idea about the evil they are causing by ignoring the human rights afforded to their children by Islamic teachings.

The problems is when parents start playing too big a role and start imposing their will upon the impressionable and naïve youngsters that things start falling apart.

[Sweet_Pea]

It's about time something is done about this if you ask me! Its been going on for way too long. Didn't just a few days a woman turn up dead from one of these?

[HOUDA-K]

It is the MUSLIM responsibility to ensure that people understand real Islam & to make sure that we do NOT become an obstacle for anyone wanting to learn about the true aspects of Islam.

If our actions prevent people from seeing the truth then we are guilty of turning people away from Islam and we would have to answer to our Creator for the misguidance and misery that we helped proliferate.

[Ruks]

Assalamu alaykum all - hope everyone is well and enjoying this month.

Khokom - alhamdulilah - i'm well- hope you are too. what i meant was that our muslim leaders should be more proactive in stating that this is unislamic there are many leaders in the community who do not practice the deen with their families and force these things upon them.

Houda - of course it shouldn't be assocaited with islam - but the problem is once a muslim family does this it is automatically gonna be assumed its an islamic thing - people fail to reliase that it happens in sikh families and hindu families - but no one wants to know - in india young baby girls are still being killed and divorced women are shunned from their families or even killed as well! the probelm is really severe in the asian coummunity - but not exclusively

Its wrong and sad that it should occur anywhere at all.