God bless you for your efforts. Your email address will not be published. Despite progress in our nation, this is not always the case for some young girls. But why do we allow our future generation of women to marry at such a young age? If there are two things I have learned from all of this, it is this: If I, as a future mother, do not take full responsibility in training my sons how to treat and respect future generations of girls and people, they will learn it elsewhere.
Gormley is an opinion writer. One comment Mike Murphy February 19, pm. What a wonderful article! Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Unchained was the first organization in the U. A survey by the Tahirih Justice Center found 3, known or suspected cases in the previous two years alone of girls in the U.
Based on that study, and based on the size of the various communities in the U. Typically, she is stymied by religious laws and social customs that make divorce difficult, especially for women. Often, she is shunned by her family and friends, who view divorce as shameful.
The FMU undertakes an extensive training and awareness programme targeting both professionals and potential victims, and carries out a range of work to raise awareness. The FMU privacy notice describes how we process data to provide support to victims and potential victims of forced marriage. The notice explains how we will use your personal data, and what your rights are in relation to our use of your personal data.
It is a criminal offence in Northern Ireland under separate legislation. As a civil law measure, an application for a FMPO would be made in the family court. Failure to comply with the requirements or terms set out in a FMPO granted by the Family Court, is a criminal offence and can result in a sentence of up to 5 years in prison. In the government introduced lifelong anonymity for victims of forced marriage to encourage more victims of this hidden crime to come forward.
The government is committed to ensuring that professionals who are made aware of a forced marriage victim have the training and guidance they need to provide effective advice and support.
This includes police officers, social workers, teachers, and safeguarding professionals. The FMU has also developed free forced marriage e-learning for professionals. The modules aim to enable professionals to recognise the warning signs and ensure that appropriate action is taken to help protect and support all those at risk.
Please email fmu fcdo. The FMU runs an ongoing outreach programme across the UK, to raise awareness of forced marriage and delivers training to statutory agencies and voluntary and community organisations including local authority safeguarding teams, police forces, and the judiciary. If you would like us to attend your event, please fill out a speaker request form and email it to us. If a child is taken abroad to be forced into a marriage or has been forced into a marriage and is overseas, the High Court can make an order which gives the High Court parental responsibility for a child.
This means that important decisions concerning a child can be made by the court and can ensure a child is protected when they are returned to the UK. Social services applications for forced marriage protection orders. If you are a child under the age of 18, or the local authority consider you to be vulnerable and you are over 18, the local authority have the power to apply for a FMPO for your protection.
The application would be made by the legal department of the local authority. The local authority do not need permission from the court but they are required to ascertain your wishes and feelings. What if the FMPO is ignored or not followed by my perpetrators?
The person who is making the application, for example, you, your solicitor, social services or someone supporting a victim, is responsible for serving the FMPO on the perpetrator. This means giving the respondent a copy and it should be done using a process server or the court bailiff.
A copy should also be sent to the Forced Marriage Unit and the police. The respondent must know there was a FMPO in place to be responsible for breaching any part of it. It is a criminal offence to breach any part of a FMPO and you can call the police if any part of the order is ignored or not complied with.
For example, if the order states that the perpetrator is not allowed to text you and you receive a text from them, this is a criminal offence. If your perpetrator is found guilty of breaching the FMPO then there are a range of sentences that they could receive. The maximum sentence is 5 years imprisonment. For information about criminal proceedings see Reporting an offence to the police: A guide to criminal investigations.
The criminal offence of forced marriage. Even if there is no FMPO, forced marriage is a criminal office. It is also a criminal offence for someone to mislead you so that you go abroad and force you into a marriage. The law states that:.
It is also a criminal offence to deceive a victim with the intention of causing the victim to leave the United Kingdom; and intends the other person to be subject to coercion force for the purpose of making her enter into a marriage without consent consent must be free and full. For people who are found guilty of these offences there are a range of sentences available to the courts including a fine, a suspended sentence, time in prison and community sentences, for example carrying out unpaid work.
The courts also have the ability to make a restraining order on the defendants even if they are not found guilty. If the court believes you are being harassed or put in fear of violence it can make a restraining order against the person s responsible. There are also a range of other criminal offences covering acts which often occur when someone is forced into a marriage, for example rape, assault, theft, kidnapping, blackmail and harassment.
The police may choose to charge the perpetrator with one or more of these offences as well as, or instead of, the offence of forced marriage. For more information on the criminal justice process see Reporting an offence to the police: A guide to criminal investigations and From charge to trial: A guide to criminal proceedings. If you have experienced a violent crime you may be able to get criminal injuries compensation for more details see A guide to criminal injuries compensation.
You can also contact our legal advice line. How can I end my marriage? If you had a religious ceremony only then you may not need to take legal action to end your marriage, however, you may need legal advice on a range of other issues see below. If the marriage took place abroad then you may need to take legal action depending upon whether the marriage is legally recognised in that country and in the UK.
If you had a civil marriage in the UK then you will need to take legal action to end the marriage. For further information on the status of your marriage see A guide to marriage and contact our advice lines. The most common way of ending a forced marriage that is legally recognised is annulment.
Annulment is different to divorce and if your marriage is annulled it will put you back to the position you were in before the marriage took place. This can be important if for religious or cultural reasons you do not want to get divorced. For more information about annulment speak to our legal advice line or a solicitor.
If your marriage is annulled you will have the same rights to matrimonial finances and property as if you were getting divorced. You can also get divorced if you would like to end your marriage, see A guide to divorce for more details. You can apply for financial provision from your husband if you start annulment or divorce proceedings.
For example, if your husband owns a property you can ask for a portion of that property and if your husband earns more money than you he may be required to pay you maintenance, which would usually be monthly payments of money. For more details see A guide to financial arrangements on marriage breakdown.
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