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The disclosure last week that 33 pupils in Bradford, England, are missing and unaccounted for was just the tip of the iceberg. It has now been revealed that over 2000 children who should be in school are not. Dr Nazia Khanum, a management consultant hired by the UK Home Office infers that 3000 or more have been forced to marry.
"The forced marriage unit deal with 300 hardcore cases a year. If you follow the examples of rape and domestic violence, where only 10 per cent to 12 per cent of cases are reported, it's a reasonable assumption it is the tip of the iceberg."
Conservative Muslim peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, shadow minister for community cohesion and social action, has urged that forced marriage be explicitly outlawed in the UK. She does not regard cultural differences as a valid reason to turn a blind eye.
"This is not a culturally sensitive issue, this is an abhorrent act which we must stand together on."
The Yorkshire Post recalls Roy Honeyford, a Bradford school headteacher in the early 1980s, who foresaw that catering to various ethnic minorities in school would foster social divisions. He was vilified and ostracised for his troubles.
He wanted to improve integration but was branded a racist and forced out of his job, taking early retirement in 1985 to protect his family. And since then, the argument goes, Bradford has been so scared of being seen as politically incorrect that it simply ignores the elephant in the room that is forced marriage.
Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, has long been a lone voice in the wilderness campaigning for justice for victims of forced marriage – so much so that she faced expulsion by Bradford's Labour councillors for embarrassing the party.
She said: "Bradford has always been a hotbed of political correctness. Since Honeyford, it has been seen as unacceptable to criticise anyone from the Asian community. They've failed to recognise that in order to protect vulnerable members of the community you have to take on the community leaders.
More British politicians are beginning to get their heads out of the sand but, apparently, it's already too late for the thousands forced to marry against their will.
The graphic at the top of the post comes from a public awareness poster put out by the Forced Marriage Unit of the British Government's Foreign and Commomnwealth Office. Their leaflet, "What Is A Forced Marriage?", is posted here (pdf).
The Yorkshire Post article excerpted above is well worth reading in full.
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The question should be about what the government is doing to prevent domestic violence and to improve the chances of couples enjoying good relationships. The role of local authorities in marriage preparation and in promoting domestic and social cohesion could be developed:
- as a part of Local Area Agreements [LAAs] local authorities should publish a local policy for the promotion of domestic and social cohesion and follow a code of practice approved by the Local Government Association
- the Statistics and Registration Service Act alters the employment position of registrars who become employees of the local authority. All couples expressing an intention of marrying whether as a sponsor or when attending a register office should be invited to complete a pre-marital inventory
- unmarried couples registering a birth should be offered the opportunity to undertake a relationship development inventory and a parenting education programme
- couples completing approved programmes in good faith should be rewarded with a choice of retail store vouchers
- failure to complete the inventory satisfactorily should be sufficient grounds for Registrars or Entry Clearance officers to decline to process applications if they are suspicious that an intended marriage is bogus or forced
- failure to obtain a certificate from a facilitator that a pre-marital inventory had been completed in good faith together with the completion of a programme of marriage preparation should be sufficient grounds to revoke leave to remain in the UK
- the evidence provided by one of the couple following the completion of a pre-marital inventory in conjunction with a registered facilitator would be crucial in determining if abuse of marriage is occurring, and sufficient grounds for referral to the senior legal officer in the local authority
- if a sponsor or partner is aware that they will be expected to complete a premarital inventory it is more likely they will acquire the necessary life and language skills to do so effectively
- as deputy Registrars, Church of England clergy should be endorsing a policy along the lines outlined above
[...] WAR ON WOMEN– England 3.000+Asian Children Abducted For Forced Marriages; Thousands of British school children forced into marriage …. (mypetjawa, [...]
Schools refuse to display forced marriage poster…
The British government is stepping up its campaign to raise public awareness of the issue of forced marriages, but schools in areas where the practice is believed to be prevalent refuse to go along. They’re afraid of offending parents.
See…
Police worker disciplined for speaking out on forced marriages…
Last week 56 British MPs praised police worker Philip Balmforth for publicising the hidden problem of forced marriages of school children, calling the vulnerable persons officer for the Bradford district a "hero" and a "knight in shining…