Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

Forced Marriage
Forced marriage is a form of domestic abuse and, where it affects children, child
abuse. The Forced Marriage Unit – a joint initiative of the FCO and the Home Office
– leads the Government’s work to tackle forced marriage, helping British nationals
who are in difficulty abroad and supporting victims of any nationality in the UK.
In 2010, the unit provided help and support in 1,735 cases of potential or actual
forced marriage. In many of these cases the unit helped people access appropriate
support from other agencies. The unit, working with our embassies and high
commissions, directly helped victims to escape forced marriages in 240 cases.
Often this involved visiting victims overseas and, if requested, helping them make
arrangements to return to the UK. One 17-year-old girl was rescued, with help from
the local authorities, from a remote area in South Asia where she was being held
against her will, abused and forced into marriage. Our consular team in the High
Commission arranged safe accommodation for her and a flight back to the UK,
where she was met by social services and the police. With assistance she has taken
out a Forced Marriage Protection Order and started to rebuild her life. We also
helped 229 people who had been forced into marriage and were subsequently being
coerced into sponsoring a visa for their spouse.
People at risk of forced marriage may only have one chance to ask for help, which
means that all practitioners need to be able to spot the warning signs and know what
to do. We launched an interactive e-learning package in 2010, strengthening the
multi-agency response to forced marriage by enabling a wide range of frontline
practitioners to access training. We also launched guidelines on forced marriage
and learning disabilities, developed in conjunction with leading learning disability
NGOs the Ann Craft Trust and the Judith Trust, to help protect some of the most
vulnerable people in our society.
During 2010 we continued to work closely with NGO partners. We funded six
organisations to deliver projects, including safe places to stay for male victims and
couples escaping the threat of forced marriage; community-based peer education;
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