Forced Marriage

About 300 forced marriages are reported to the authorities every year - predominantly involving people from Britain's South Asian community. The Forced Marriage Unit (set up 3 years ago by the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office) reports that 30% of the girls it helps are minors. In most cases young women are pressured into marrying, but at least 15% involve coercion of men. Hundreds of young people, some as young as 13, are taken abroad each year and forced into marriage.

Within these communities where Forced Marriage can take place, there is strong element of inequality between men and women steming from the concept of the 'dowry'. In marriage women are not seen as equal partners. Marriage is a means of developing a kinship network, strengthening family links, honour long-standing family commitments or ensuring land remains within the family. Consequently, the suicide rate of Asian women between the ages of 16-24 is three times the national average.

Forced Marriage is not the same as an arranged marriage in which both spouses can choose whether or not to accept the arrangement. In Forced Marriage one or both the spouses do not consent to the marriage and some element of duress is involved. Duress includes both physical and emotional pressure. Forced Marriage can involve child and sexual abuse including abduction, violence, rape, enforced pregnancy and enforced abortion. Resistance can place a young person at risk of murder, also known as 'Honour Killing'.