- Conference
- 2011 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2010
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes with alarm that each summer hundreds of girls and boys, largely from South Asian communities in Derby, Nottingham, Huddersfield, Leicester, Oldham, Hounslow in London, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Bradford and Leeds travel with their families to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where they are forced into marriages.
A marriage where they are coerced into marrying someone against their will. Many are physically threatened or emotionally blackmailed into the marriage. This is an abuse of human rights and cannot be justified on any religious or cultural basis. A forced marriage is not the same as an arranged marriage where you have a choice as to whether to accept the arrangement or not. The tradition of arranged marriages has operated successfully within many communities and countries for a long time.
Conference also notes that those working to stop the practice of Forced Marriages say the period just before the summer holiday is always their busiest time of the year and they are concerned that not enough people are aware of the Forced Marriage Act, which came into effect in November 2008. The Act allows local authorities and members of the public to apply for an injunction if they think a child is at risk of being taken out of the country.
Since November 2008, one hundred and seventeen injunctions have been used to save children from forced marriages; the youngest of these was eight years old. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but in 2006 it was reported that two hundred and fifty girls in Bradford alone were taken off the school roll and not returned to education the following autumn, thirty three of those girls have still not been accounted for. The Government’s Forced Marriage Unit, which repatriates around three hundred victims of forced marriages each year, says forty two per cent of those it saves are under sixteen.
Karma Nirvana’s “Honour Network”, the first national helpline for victims of forced marriages and so called honour violence, regularly sees a spike in calls in the run up to the summer holidays. In Just last year, for instance, it received seven hundred and sixty nine calls, double that year’s monthly average of around three hundred and fifty calls.
The majority of these calls are just before the summer holidays; some are from girls saying that fear they will be married off abroad. Others are from family members, friends or teachers, police officers and social workers. Each one of those calls is vital.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Women’s Committee to work with the NEC and other bodies to:
1)Raise the awareness of the difference between a forced marriage and an arranged marriage.
2)Raise the awareness of the Forced Marriages Act.
3)Work with local authorities, teachers, police officers, social workers and any other relevant bodies to produce guidance that will offer support and advice on the signs to look out for in relation to forced marriages.
4)Work with organisations such as Karma Nirvana to tell school children of their rights and what they can do to protect themselves.
5)Persuade more people to speak out in order to stop this abhorrent practice.