This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/01/councils-girls-forced-marriage-child-protection
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| When will councils start saving girls from forced marriage ‘holidays’? | When will councils start saving girls from forced marriage ‘holidays’? |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The 3,500 reports of forced marriage over a three-year period, revealed by the Guardian this week, translates to 22 unwilling brides (sometimes bridegrooms) every single week. That sounds bad enough, but what’s even less palatable is that every such “marriage” means someone is being raped. Typically, repeatedly raped. And it’s the people who are loved and trusted most – mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles and siblings – who are facilitating those rapes. When it’s a minor who is married off against their will, the plain truth is that these relatives are planning, assisting and encouraging child rape. | The 3,500 reports of forced marriage over a three-year period, revealed by the Guardian this week, translates to 22 unwilling brides (sometimes bridegrooms) every single week. That sounds bad enough, but what’s even less palatable is that every such “marriage” means someone is being raped. Typically, repeatedly raped. And it’s the people who are loved and trusted most – mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles and siblings – who are facilitating those rapes. When it’s a minor who is married off against their will, the plain truth is that these relatives are planning, assisting and encouraging child rape. |
| Extraordinary numbers of young women – and sometimes young men – are living in fear of this crime: last year alone the charity Karma Nirvana, which campaigns against “honour”-based violence, took nearly 9,000 calls on its Forced Marriage helpline. Last year, almost 200 of those calls were made either by terrified children aged 15 or under or on their behalf. Their fears are not inflated: it turns out that the majority of applications for forced marriage protection orders are for children aged 17 or under. | Extraordinary numbers of young women – and sometimes young men – are living in fear of this crime: last year alone the charity Karma Nirvana, which campaigns against “honour”-based violence, took nearly 9,000 calls on its Forced Marriage helpline. Last year, almost 200 of those calls were made either by terrified children aged 15 or under or on their behalf. Their fears are not inflated: it turns out that the majority of applications for forced marriage protection orders are for children aged 17 or under. |
| According to charities that support victims of forced marriage, “honour”-based crimes are most prevalent in diaspora communities from South Asia, the Middle East and north and east Africa practising Muslim, Sikh and Hindu religions, as well as Orthodox Jewish and occasionally Traveller communities. | According to charities that support victims of forced marriage, “honour”-based crimes are most prevalent in diaspora communities from South Asia, the Middle East and north and east Africa practising Muslim, Sikh and Hindu religions, as well as Orthodox Jewish and occasionally Traveller communities. |
| Uncomfortable though it may feel, teachers, police, medical professionals and child protection workers can no longer dance delicately around this, fearful of potential damage to community relations. It’s hard to imagine that anyone might facilitate the repeated rape of their own child, but the numbers tell a different story. And in the past two weeks, a mother in Birmingham and a couple in Leeds have been found guilty of tricking their teenage daughters oversees – to Pakistan in the first case and Bangladesh in the second – to marry against their will. When it’s a minor, the state has enhanced statutory duties under the Forced Marriage Act of 2007 to protect these children – so who was looking after them? | Uncomfortable though it may feel, teachers, police, medical professionals and child protection workers can no longer dance delicately around this, fearful of potential damage to community relations. It’s hard to imagine that anyone might facilitate the repeated rape of their own child, but the numbers tell a different story. And in the past two weeks, a mother in Birmingham and a couple in Leeds have been found guilty of tricking their teenage daughters oversees – to Pakistan in the first case and Bangladesh in the second – to marry against their will. When it’s a minor, the state has enhanced statutory duties under the Forced Marriage Act of 2007 to protect these children – so who was looking after them? |
| In Birmingham, whose children’s services have been in dire straits for years, it appears the answer is, nobody much. When the jury at Birmingham crown court last week returned a guilty verdict, the girl’s mother was jailed, but the city’s children’s services needs to do some serious soulsearching. | In Birmingham, whose children’s services have been in dire straits for years, it appears the answer is, nobody much. When the jury at Birmingham crown court last week returned a guilty verdict, the girl’s mother was jailed, but the city’s children’s services needs to do some serious soulsearching. |
| As the trial unfolded, it became apparent that this young girl had first been raped in Pakistan when she was 13, after which she returned pregnant and had an abortion. Aged 17, she was duped by her mother into going back, and was then married off to the man she’d been promised to previously. | As the trial unfolded, it became apparent that this young girl had first been raped in Pakistan when she was 13, after which she returned pregnant and had an abortion. Aged 17, she was duped by her mother into going back, and was then married off to the man she’d been promised to previously. |
| Unsurprisingly, after her horrendous experience aged 13, the girl went off the rails when back in Birmingham. Presumably because of concerns for her safety, the local authority did take her into care. But crucially, they did this with her mother’s consent . | Unsurprisingly, after her horrendous experience aged 13, the girl went off the rails when back in Birmingham. Presumably because of concerns for her safety, the local authority did take her into care. But crucially, they did this with her mother’s consent . |
| Questions are now being asked about why Birmingham children services didn’t grasp the risk of her being taken back to Pakistan and married off after her initial nightmare “engagement” trip. Despite the teenager’s incredibly dangerous behaviours on her return, it appears that social workers never asked a court to make a care order. | Questions are now being asked about why Birmingham children services didn’t grasp the risk of her being taken back to Pakistan and married off after her initial nightmare “engagement” trip. Despite the teenager’s incredibly dangerous behaviours on her return, it appears that social workers never asked a court to make a care order. |
| This would have given the council shared parental responsibility, and meant her safety and wellbeing would have been overseen by an independent family judge and regularly reviewed by a senior social worker. With a care order, the local authority would never have had to hand over her passport when her mother demanded it. But despite her social worker’s misgivings stated in evidence in the trial, Birmingham children’s services had no right to withhold the passport. | This would have given the council shared parental responsibility, and meant her safety and wellbeing would have been overseen by an independent family judge and regularly reviewed by a senior social worker. With a care order, the local authority would never have had to hand over her passport when her mother demanded it. But despite her social worker’s misgivings stated in evidence in the trial, Birmingham children’s services had no right to withhold the passport. |
| In the Leeds case, children’s services had become involved with the family shortly before the girl was taken to Bangladesh, so clearly there were concerns. | In the Leeds case, children’s services had become involved with the family shortly before the girl was taken to Bangladesh, so clearly there were concerns. |
| Sometimes, it’s true, councils prefer to work collaboratively with families, and may choose to take a child into care by consent. But even so, given what the council knew, it beggars belief that no one saw fit in Birmingham’s children’s services to apply to the courts for a forced marriage protection order, which could have stopped this young woman from once again being whisked out of the country by the parent who had so badly abused her in the past. | |
| Jasvinder Sanghera, who founded Karma Nirvana, and Diana Nammi of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, have spent years travelling the length and breadth of the UK to train councillors, MPs, teachers, NHS staff and social workers to recognise the signs that a child is at risk of being taken out of the country and married off. There is a known risk in the West Midlands: the Home Office’s forced marriage unit last year supported more people from the region than anywhere except London. | Jasvinder Sanghera, who founded Karma Nirvana, and Diana Nammi of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, have spent years travelling the length and breadth of the UK to train councillors, MPs, teachers, NHS staff and social workers to recognise the signs that a child is at risk of being taken out of the country and married off. There is a known risk in the West Midlands: the Home Office’s forced marriage unit last year supported more people from the region than anywhere except London. |
| When I have sat in front of a young men and women telling of how they fled actual or threatened forced marriages, their emotional anguish was evident: they knew they would lose their families, their communities, often everyone they loved. It is also sometimes extremely dangerous for victims to disclose their fears; the father in the Leeds case threatened his daughter that he could “chop her up” if she refused to marry. There is no doubt that lives can be at stake. | When I have sat in front of a young men and women telling of how they fled actual or threatened forced marriages, their emotional anguish was evident: they knew they would lose their families, their communities, often everyone they loved. It is also sometimes extremely dangerous for victims to disclose their fears; the father in the Leeds case threatened his daughter that he could “chop her up” if she refused to marry. There is no doubt that lives can be at stake. |
| Finally, there is the guilt: it is terribly hard for victims to come forward as they know they will implicate their parents. These young people rely absolutely on professionals to protect and support them. For years, nobody listened hard enough to the words, behaviour or experiences of one vulnerable young girl in Birmingham, and another in Leeds. Now, professionals must be more alert, and much braver, to ensure there are no more victims like them. | Finally, there is the guilt: it is terribly hard for victims to come forward as they know they will implicate their parents. These young people rely absolutely on professionals to protect and support them. For years, nobody listened hard enough to the words, behaviour or experiences of one vulnerable young girl in Birmingham, and another in Leeds. Now, professionals must be more alert, and much braver, to ensure there are no more victims like them. |
| • Louise Tickle writes for the Guardian on education, social affairs and family law | • Louise Tickle writes for the Guardian on education, social affairs and family law |
| Child protection | Child protection |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Social care | Social care |
| Children | Children |
| Religion | Religion |
| Young people | Young people |
| Child marriage | Child marriage |
| comment | comment |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on Google+ | Share on Google+ |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |