David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Thursday 02 July, 2009

Forced Marriage

The Forced Marriage Unit today launched new guidelines for front-line practitioners (including teachers, police, and social and health care professionals) aimed at improving the identification and protection of those at risk of forced marriage.

These guidelines are important. Forced marriage is a serious denigration of human rights. Last year the Unit dealt with 420 individual cases, but no-one knows the real scale - it is likely that many instances remain unreported.
 
The Forced Marriage Unit - a joint unit of the FCO and the Home Office - runs a public helpline to provide advice and support to practitioners handling cases of forced marriage and to victims themselves.  For advice call 020 7008 0151 between 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, or email fmu@fco.gov.uk.  The FCO Global Response Centre can be reached on 020 7008 1500 for out of hours, emergency advice.


Posted at 12:07 02 July 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

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Ten-fold rise in forced marriages in 4 years. Might this disgraceful state of affairs be mitigated by insisting that an Affidavit under Oath be sworn by any parent wishing to take a young female member of the family abroad states, that they will within a reasonable time, bring that family member back to this country - unmarried. The affidavit should form part of and be inspected by passport officials and duly noted. Upon return to this country it should be produced again by the parents of the female to show that return to this country has occurred as agreed under Oath. This would seem to go some way towards the stigma of 'family shame' being of less consequence than sanctions against such families, which could be invoked by the laws of this country - one of which being that forced marriages are 'illegal'

Posted by spencer on July 02, 2009 at 10:23 PM BST #

"...denigration of human rights." Erm. You mean contravention, sir.

Posted by Francis Osborn on July 03, 2009 at 06:40 PM BST #

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