Forced marriage_A Crime By Another Name.._Zofeen T. Ebrahim
She calls it a “life term” — her marriage. Though divorced now, 31-year-old Shazia (name changed), a British woman born to Pakistani parents, endured nine years of being in a relationship of marital discord that included continuous physical abuse and rape. “There was no compatibility, not even a common language to communicate with,” she says.
Shazia’s story is a typical one. One summer, 14 years ago, she was visiting her ancestral village in Chakwal in the Punjab. “It just happened so suddenly. I had the shock of my life when a week after I arrived I was married off to my first cousin. I think my father was under pressure by his family to marry me off,” she states, completely absolving her father, a taxi driver in London, of the act.
Why couldn’t she have said no?
“I was only a child, just 17, in a completely alien environment. I was scared that if I refused, I’d be beaten up,” says Shazia.
Six months later Shazia returned to the UK as a young bride, yet another victim of forced marriage, accompanied by her husband who is now a British citizen.
This may have happened over a decade ago, but similar episodes are happening even today because forced marriage is not illegal in the UK. So much so that the UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in collaboration with the Home Office has set up a Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) to provide support and advice to those at risk.
The concern also led to enactment of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007, which provides a specific civil remedy called a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO) to victims threatened or forced into marriage from their families. But breaches to the order often take place.
In 2011 the unit recorded 1,468 instances of forced marriage, 78 per cent of which were females. Of these, over 70 per cent cases involve families from Pakistani, Indian and Bengali background. Experts, however, say the FMU’s figures are just the tip of the iceberg and do not reflect the full scale of the abuse as most cases go unreported. The UK government estimates that 5,000-8,000 cases of forced marriage take place in the UK every year.
“Most victims continue to want a relationship with their oppressors and do not wish them any harm or want them prosecuted. If criminal charges are slapped on parents and they are put behind bars, victims worry about the fate of younger siblings,” said Barrister Ayesha Hasan, who does not support criminalisation.
It asked 20 residents their views about criminalising the offence. Seven said it will help raise awareness within the affected communities and deter families from engaging in the practice. But 19 said if forced marriage was a criminal offence they would not have gone to the authorities because they would not want to see their parents being prosecuted in a criminal court or imprisoned.
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Topic: Forced marriage_A Crime By Another Name..