Wednesday,
05 July, 2000
Forced Marriage
The issue of forced marriages
can be a cultural minefield. Despite being illegal in Britain,
the marriages of British Asian women, and a few men, to spouses
they have never seen and do not want to share their lives with,
remains a controversial practise in some British Asian communities.
Last week a report published by the British Home Office, outlined
the difficulties in prosecuting families, but maintained a firm
stance of condemnation.
Outlook's, Heather Payton, examines the pressures to
conform and discovers the truth about forced marriage.
The
women are usually British citizens. Sometimes they are tricked
by their families into going abroad, where they are married
against their will. Sometimes it happens in Britain, where it
is illegal, though the families are seldom prosecuted. One problem
is the unwillingness of a frightened young bride to make a statement.
Another is that it's often deemed to be a cultural issue in
which the British authorities shouldn't intervene. For the women,
brought up in Britain, it can be traumatic. But now the British
government, in a report just published, says it wants parents
who force their children into marriage to be charged with kidnapping
or false imprisonment, and task forces are to be set up in British
embassies abroad.
What Constitutes A Forced Marriage?
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a British Asian writer
and journalist. She was also part of the Home Office appointed
Working Group. She makes the crucial distinction between arranged
and forced marriages:
'On the whole arranged marriages involve a consultation procedure
between parents and their children. Often they are more successful
than love marriages because a lot of research has gone into
them. With forced marriages some form of coercion is used, whether
it is emotional blackmail, mothers threatening to commit suicide
or actual abuse, physical violence and imprisonment. Any kind
of coercion that gets a person, usually a young woman, into
a position where she has to oblige with what the parents want,
is a forced marriage.'
Home Office Report
Whilst the governmental report, entitled A Choice By Right,
recognises the impossibility of assessing the scale of the problem,
it does make recommendations on how to tackle the issue.
One of the authors of the report is Lord Ahmed, of Asian extraction
himself:
'What we are doing is making extra recommendations to the government.
Extra training is needed, extra resources are needed, sensitivity
is essential, but we made it very clear that we do not want
to see a change in law or a change in immigration law, because
we don't think that will help. We think that educating people,
dealing with it sensibly and providing services for the victims
are important.'
Whilst the report does not call for a change in the law, the
British government will shortly review its legislation with
regards to sexual offences. Within its review it will examine
whether offences such as abduction, could be extended to cases
of forced marriage. In the meantime, Lord Ahmed welcomes the
suggestion that dedicated teams be set up within embassies in
certain countries on the Asian subcontinent. He comments:
'There is a need to set up dedicated desks with people who
know about forced marriages. For too long the embassies and
consulate sections abroad have not been able to deal with it,
because they think that it is a community matter, or it's a
matter for the families, or because of dual nationality they
can't get involved.'
 |
| 'Multicultural
sensitivity is not an excuse for moral blindness'
|
|
|
Hidden Problem
The Home Office Working Group consulted more than 700 women's
groups from around the country. It found that more than 1000
reports had been made of British teenage girls being tricked
into visiting the sub-continent by their families, only to discover
that they had been sent there to marry a stranger. In some cases
individuals were emotionally pressurised into the marriages,
in others they were physically restrained. After studying the
claims and supplementary evidence, the message that the Home
Office report makes is clear. It recognises that the issue of
forced marriages is not limited to Asian communities, but also
involves families from the Middle East and Africa. It states,
'We must value our diversity [but] we must not excuse
practises that compromise or undermine the basic rights accorded
to all people.'
On the reports release Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien added
to this saying,
'Multicultural sensitivity is not an excuse for moral blindness.'
However forced marriages remain a hidden problem, Alibhai-Brown
comments,
'Before this report came out it was a subject that hadn't
even been discussed properly. What I do know is that it is a
hidden problem that communities both in Britain and the Sub
Continent are keeping hidden. The one thing that this report
does, just by existing, is say "this can not be a hidden problem
anymore." It is a hard hitting report that makes clear that
some things are wrong whoever does them and that you can't make
cultural and religious allowances. It also liberates police,
social workers and teachers who have felt trapped by feeling
that they can't interfere because they will be accused of being
racist.'
|
| 'All
families are good when they are good, but they can
also be deeply oppressive' |
|
|
Opposition
Criticism of the report is wide ranging.
Those in favour of intervention claim that mediation is not
enough and that what the women really need is protection. For
others the report is seen as meddling in family affairs and
its recommendations are not welcomed.
Para Tia works for Genderwatch, an organisation that looks at
the problems of women and children in developing countries.
She is against the idea of the authorities intervening,
'I am against any third party intervention. I think that what
we need to recognise is that this is a private issue, one that
can only be resolved within the family, friends or relatives.
Any intervention whether by police, social workers, teachers
or the government would cause more harm. It would bring about
distrust in the family and it would weaken all sorts of relationships…Intervention
creates division, it pitches one against the other and this
sort of report opens every family up to inquisition. '
Meanwhile advocates of the report defend the authorities
right to intervene. Alibhai-Brown comments:
'Without intervention what we are saying is that it is OK to
force young girls into marriage and have them legally raped.
I have cases where 14-year-old girls have been raped within
these marriages until they were pregnant. I find it quite shocking
that these precious things called "families" are being treated
like a religion. All families are good when they are good, but
they can also be deeply oppressive. I think that we should never
collude in the oppression of children and in the violation of
their bodies and their rights in the name of this thing called
family.'
Attitudes will not change overnight and whether government
or family intervention is the right way forward remains to be
seen. However what is certain is that the Choice By Right
report has pushed the issue of forced marriage out of the shadows
and has opened it up for debate.
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| The
forced marriage report was compiled for Outlook.
Find this on our interactive
radio... |
 |
|
 |
|
| Case
Notes |
 |
|
|
In
Manchester in 1998 the parents of Rehana Bashir
were jailed for drugging their daughter and trying
to take her to Pakistan where she would marry a
man that she did not know.
In Derby in 1998 a mother and two sons were charged
over the death of their daughter/sister.
She
was murdered when it was discovered that she was
pregnant, when her husband was still waiting for
her in Pakistan.
In Oldham in 1997 a woman refused to be cowed by
her husband who had recently arrived form Bangladesh.
He was charged with her murder after stabbing her
70 times.
In Glasgow in 1996, two girls privately prosecuted
their father, after he had kidnapped them and forced
them to marry unknown relatives in Pakistan. |
|
 |
|
Listen
to the whole interview
