Britain introduced a new law Tuesday bolstering rules against forced marriages, after Foreign Secretary David Miliband highlighted a case in Pakistan ahead of a visit to the south Asian country. The new law allows courts to stop forced marriages and provide protection to those who have been married against their will.
It also gives judges the power to require individuals to reveal the whereabouts of people thought to be at risk of being forced into marriage, stop potential victims from being taken abroad, and seize passports. According to Britain's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), 65 percent of known cases of the practice involve Pakistan, where Miliband is set to visit on Wednesday.
The FMU also says that a quarter of forced marriage instances involve Bangladesh, with 85 percent of all victims being women and a third of victims under the age of 18. Distinct from mutually-accepted arranged marriages, forced marriages have led to suicides and "honour killing" murders in Britain, shocking a nation widely deemed to have successfully absorbed immigrant cultures.
In a newspaper article Sunday, Miliband said Britain was taking a tougher stand against forced marriage, describing the practice as "a stain on those who carry it out, those who condone it and also those who ignore it."
He recounted the tale of British diplomats rescuing a 15-year-old girl last week from a village near Mirpur in northern Pakistan, where she was being held prisoner and beaten by her father to get her to agree to marriage. So far this year, the FMU has handled more than 1,500 reports of forced marriage and diplomats across the world have helped more than 400 people facing possible forced marriage or being made to sponsor an immigration visa after marriage has taken place, Miliband said.
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