the latest step in the fight against forced marriages
On Tuesday 13 December, the Home Secretary Theresa May launched
a consultation to create a specific offence of forcing someone into
a marriage against their will. In 2010, the Forced Marriage Unit
dealt with 1,735 possible cases of forced marriage, although the
number of cases is thought to be significantly under-reported.
This is not the first time that there has been a discussion
about whether criminalising the problem is part of the solution.
Earlier this year, a report from the cross-party Commons Home
Affairs Select Committee regarding forced marriages raised the
issue of whether a forced marriage should be made a criminal
offence as a way of sending a stronger message that it will not be
tolerated.
Irpreet Kaur Kohli, a senior solicitor in the Family team at
Blake Lapthorn solicitors, who specialises in dealing with family
cases with an Asian aspect, believes that criminalising forced
marriage, whilst in the words of Keith Vaz would be a 'bold step'
indicating a zero tolerance approach to the issue, would not
actually address or assist the victims in dealing with their
situations.
With the current provisions of the Forced Marriage (Civil
Protection) Act 2007 giving victims a civil remedy, provisions that
are increasingly being used, particularly in areas where forced
marriage is prevalent, victims do have options if they wish to
pursue those forcing them into marriage.
The victims can themselves, or through a third party, apply for
a Forced Marriage Protection Order, a process that the judiciary,
court staff and lawyers have become familiar with.
However, the suggestion that forced marriages should be
criminalised ignores the core root of the problem and the reasons
why victims are reluctant to come forward. Cultural ignorance on
the part of those forcing victims to marry is prevalent and they
often believe they are acting in the victim's best interests and
there is reluctance from the victims to issue proceedings against,
most often, their own parents and family. Changing the status of
these proceedings to criminal proceedings from the current civil
provisions available, whilst being a great campaigning point for
politicians, does not assist the victims or address the
problems.
