Legal protection for forced marriage victims

Listen Listen to Emily Buchanan's report from Pakistan (5 mins 8 secs)

For some teenage girls in Britain's large Pakistani immigrant community, a trip to visit family overseas can turn into a nightmare.

Thousands of British girls are forced to marry each year

Some are taken to Pakistan by their parents, ostensibly on holiday, and are then forced to marry a man they've never met.

Usually he will be a relative, and by marrying a British citizen, he wins a visa and the prospects of a better life.

For the girls, though, forced marriage can be a misery. Now the British government is giving them legal protection.

The BBC has been given unprecedented access to the assistance unit at the British High Commission in Islamabad, which spends most of its time helping the victims of forced marriage.

Emily Buchanan reports on the British officials trying to help these young girls.

First broadcast 1 December 2008