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| LOCAL CHARITY ASSISTS VICTIMS OF FORCED MARRIAGE |
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| 2009-12-23 04:04:40 |
By Lynne Townley, Barrister and Trustee of Save Your Rights charity
During the last decade the issues of honour crime and forced marriage have come into the public consciousness and also to the notice of central government. This has been most significantly demonstrated by the advent of the Forced Marriage(Civil) Protection Act 2007 which changed the law at the end of last year.
The new legislation enables courts to prevent forced marriages and provide recourse for those already in forced marriages. The definition of ‘forced marriage’ adopted generally by statutory agencies is ‘a marriage without consent of one or both parties and where duress is a factor’. The courts also have the power to make ‘Forced Marriage Protection Orders’ to protect individuals against conduct that may lead to them being forced to marry; or to protect a person who has already been forced into a marriage.
One of the first such orders under the new law was served on the family of Dr Humayra Abedin, a trainee GP based in London. In August 2008 Dr Abedin flew to Bangladesh believing that her mother was very ill. Once there she was imprisoned by members of her family in their home and her travel documents were taken from her. She managed to alert friends in Britain by text message but that prompted her family to confiscate her phone. She was bound, gagged and taken to a psychiatric hospital in Dhaka where she was injected daily with mood stabilisers. Dr Abedin entered into a marriage against her will and under duress. Subsequently, the High Court in London issued an injunction under the new legislation against the perpetrators of this forced marriage and with the co-operation of the Bangladeshi courts the doctor was able to return to Britain. The extent of the problem should not be underestimated. In 2008, the joint Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Forced Marriage Unit stated that they had encountered over 1,600 cases of forced marriage. Academic studies, however, indicate that the figure is more likely to be between 3,000 to 4,000 cases per year in the UK.
A local charity, Save Your Rights is campaigning both nationally and internationally to raise awareness about forced marriage and to assist victims and potential victims. For more information on the work of the charity see the website at www.stopforcedmarriages.org or for general advice call (07988) 841 228
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