Although the legal age of marriage is 18, the law is not strictly enforced. And without a national registry to track births, marriages and deaths, it is difficult for authorities to prove that a girl is a minor. If you are threatened with forced marriage or have experienced forced marriage, you are not alone. In 2013, the Department of Forced Marriages advised and supported 1302 possible cases of forced marriage, and many more women were supported by specialized women`s organizations for black and ethnic minorities, as well as other voluntary and community services. If you are a victim or survivor of a forced marriage, or if you think you are a victim or survivor of a forced marriage, this guide outlines what the law can do to help you. If you`re not sure if you`re being forced or forced to get married, check out www.gov.uk/forced-marriage. In case of emergency, you can call the police at 999. For more support and protection that may be available, see the list of emergency contacts at the end of this guide. One of the persistent problems is that in many countries, many minimum age requirements are ignored, even if they are enshrined in law. The report of the Un Secretary-General (A/71/253), presented to the 71st session of the General Assembly, outlines the progress made in efforts to eliminate child, early and forced marriage from April 2014 to May 2016. The report contains conclusions and recommendations aimed at ensuring sustained and effective efforts to eliminate this practice. Access contributions from States and other stakeholders on the report page.
In 2016, Nigeria`s Ministry of Women`s Affairs and Social Development launched a strategy to reduce child marriage by 40% by 2020 and end it completely by 2030. Forced marriage may be practised in some immigrant communities in Canada. [131] Until recently, forced marriage did not receive much attention in Canada. This lack of attention has protected the practice from legal interference. [41] In 2015, Parliament passed two new offences to address the issue. [132] Forcing a person to marry against their will is now a criminal offence under the Criminal Code,[133] as is supporting or supporting a child marriage in which one of the participants is under the age of 16. [134] There is also the long-standing criminal offence of celebrating an illegal marriage, which was also amended by the 2015 Act. [135] If you are not sure if you have been or should get married, you can find more information here or contact one of the organizations listed at the end of this guide. In November 2014, UCL organised an event, Forced Marriage: The Real Disgrace, which featured the award-winning documentary Honor Diaries, and a panel, including Jasvinder Sanghera CBE (founder of Karma Nirvana), Seema Malhotra MP (Labour Shadow Minister for Women) and Dr Reefat Drabu (former Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Great Britain), discussed the concept of Izzat (honour). recent changes in UK law, obstacles to tackling forced marriage and reasons to expect positive change.
[130] Note: This document is intended to help you understand the dynamics of forced marriage in general and does not provide legal definitions or advice. According to the United Nations, in 2008, 70-80% of marriages in Afghanistan were forced without full and free consent or under duress. Another study found that 59% of women had experienced forced marriage. [100] Forced marriages can be entered into on the basis of family pride, parental wishes, or social obligations. For example, according to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, many forced marriages in the UK within the British-Pakistani community are aimed at giving British citizenship to a family member who is currently in Pakistan and feels responsible to the instigator of the forced marriage. [108] In response to the problem of forced marriage among immigrants in the United Kingdom, the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 (applicable in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) was passed, which allows victims of forced marriage to apply for court orders to protect them. Similar laws have been passed in Scotland: the Forced Marriage, etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) Act 2011[44] (Scotland) gives the courts the power to issue protection orders. Sometimes called servile marriage, forced marriage also occurs when one woman is forcibly transferred to another in exchange for a certain type of payment, or when a widow has no choice and is inherited from one of her husband`s male relatives. In 2011, the German Ministry of Family Affairs found that 3,000 people were in forced marriage, almost all from migrant families and most (83.4%) from Muslim families, by interviewing humanitarian organizations. [105] These figures exceeded estimates by the humanitarian organization Terre des Femmes, which until then estimated that about 1,000 migrant women sought help each year. [105] More than half of the women had experienced physical violence and 27% had been threatened with weapons or received death threats.
[105] Of the victims, 30% were 17 years of age or younger. 31.8% were from Germany, 26.4% from Asia, 22.2% from Turkey and 5.6% from Africa. [106] In 2016, the German Ministry of the Interior found that 1475 children lived in forced marriages. Of these 1474, 1100 were girls, 664 from Syria, 157 Afghans and 100 Iraqis. [107] Several countries also have different age requirements depending on their religious affiliation. For example, couples in the Philippines must be 21 years old to marry without permission, unless they are Muslims; Muslim boys can marry at age 15 and Muslim girls can marry at puberty. And in Tanzania, Muslim and Hindu girls can marry at the age of 12, as long as the marriage is not consummated until the girl reaches the age of 15. Limited economic and educational opportunities also make marriage an attractive option for teens looking for a stable life. The traditional customs of the dowry and the bride`s price contribute to the practice of forced marriage. [50] [51] [52] A dowry is the property or money that a woman (or the woman`s family) brings to her husband at marriage.
[53] A bridal prize is a sum of money or property that the groom (or his family) pays to the bride`s parents at the wedding. Over the past decade, 25 million child marriages have been prevented worldwide, thanks to rising girls` education rates, proactive government investment in adolescent girls, and greater public awareness of the harms of child marriage. Nevertheless, the prevalence rate of child and forced marriage remains high, particularly in some regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which account for 18% and 44% of the global burden, respectively; followed by East Asia and the Pacific, 12 per cent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 9 per cent; Middle East and North Africa, 5%; and other regions, 12 per cent, according to UNICEF. If you are a U.S. citizen outside the U.S. and are forced to marry, please contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate for assistance. Forced marriage in Mauritania has three main forms: forced marriage with a cousin (known as Maslaha); Forced marriage with a rich man for the purpose of earning money; and forced polygamous marriage to an influential man. [81] Arranged marriage is a common practice in many cultures and is not the same as forced marriage […].