Forced Marriage should be criminalised as much as trafficking and other sexual exploitation of women and young girls

Press Releases
Forced Marriage should be criminalise as much as trafficking and other sexual
exploitation of women and young girls
Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women Organisation (KMEWO) provides free, confidential and nonjudgmental advice and support services to women victims/survivors of violence and Traditional
Harmful Practices including Honour Based Violence, Forced Marriage and FGM .
KMEWO fully support the principles of zero tolerance to any kind of violence towards women and
children and accepts no justification for such violence under the pretext of; upholding traditional
practices, culture or religion. We believe that all types of violence are human right’s abuses and
should be treated as criminal offences.
This paper is KMEWO’s collective response to The Home Office’s Consultation paper on Forced
Marriages, published in 2011. The government is considering whether to make forcing someone to
marry against his/her will a criminal offence . KMEWO supports criminalization of forced
marriages, because it will send an uncompromising message to potential perpetrators and will give
victims the confidence to resist any attempt by their families to arrange a marriage on their behalf
against their freely expressed will. Furthermore we believe that criminalization of FM will only be
affective if it is accompanied by having measures in place to support victims / applicants throughout
the process, for example, by ensuring their safety, protecting them from threats from extended
families, providing essential, practical and emotional support, safe accommodation and financial
support.
KMEWO believes that the Government has a duty to fully protect it is citizens from abuse and
exploitation and that forced marriage should be made unacceptable as much as trafficking and other
sexual exploitation of women and young girls, the only difference in the same way as trafficking
and sexual exploitation. The only difference is that forced marriages are usually initiated by family
members, whilst the other are often perpetrated by strangers and/or organised gangs. These are
however both criminal acts and should be treated as such. KMEWO believe that FM is a form of
human right’s abuse, which is also child abuse when the victim is a minor. By criminalising this act
a clear message will be sent out to potential perpetrators and the communities that forcing someone
to marry another person is wrong and that such behaviour will not be tolerated in a civilised society.
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We further believe that in making forced a marriage a criminal offence the young person will be
empowered to resist such arrangement and refused to go along with it, knowing that they have the
protection of the law and that their safety is protected. We fully appreciate the difficulty a young
person will have in standing to their parents and close family members and to report them to police
knowing that they could face imprisonment. But this will be a lot easier than the existing situation
where the young person may be required to seek civil protection, in the first instance, and secondly
to report any subsequent breach of the protection order. In any case the existing law is not effective.
We fully agree with this section of the Home Office consultation paper, which reads; “Our first duty
must always be to protect those at risk of forced marriage. Creating a specific offence of forced
marriage could not only act as a deterrent to families who might otherwise resort to this form of
abuse, but it could also give victims a stronger sense that what is happening to them is wrong
because it is something that is against the law. This could make it easier for victims to challenge
their parents and wider family”.
20/03/2012
KMEWO