Why is forced marriage still tolerated by the UK government?

The Guardian reported in July that a Yorkshire school was encouraging female students to hide spoons in their underpants to alert authorities that they were victims of forced marriage. This would set off metal detectors at airports and inform airport authorities that the girls were being transported abroad. Nazreen (not her real name) was born in West Yorkshire and was one of the ladies featured in The Guardian's research. Nazreen, then 13, arrived home from school to find a surprise party arranged in her honour to celebrate her own engagement. Her parents informed her that they were celebrating her engagement to her 19-year-old cousin from Afghanistan, whom she had never met. Nazreen elaborates:

“I had a typical childhood up until about the age of nine, and I was a bit of a tomboy. However, everything changed the moment I hit puberty. My mother was the main culprit, assuring me that I was maturing and becoming a woman. My mother informed me that where I was going, I didn't need an education, so I was removed from my mainstream school and sent to an all-girls faith school.”

Nazreen was saved and placed in care only after two near-fatal overdoses and contacting Childline.

Unfortunately, forced marriage is not a thing of the past. It has long gone unnoticed in the United Kingdom, with advocates estimating thousands of victims. Despite the fact that the practise was made illegal in 2014, there have only been a few charges and two convictions.

When no permission is given or consent is compelled through threats or violence, a forced marriage occurs. Although it is most common in South Asia, forced marriage occurs all around the world and is not restricted to any specific faith or nationality. Women and girls account for the great majority of victims worldwide.

The way forced marriage is played out and treated, both culturally and legally, reveals a striking disparity between the sexes. Power disparities between men and women (or, in this case, girls) are ignored. Immigration officers turn a blind eye as abuse occurs right in front of their eyes. Caseworkers provide rapists the legal right to continue abusing girls by awarding them UK Spouse Visas, ignoring women's rights to safety, security, and autonomy. The voices of women and girls are muted, and the law fails to protect them.

Often, British teenagers and youngsters are deceived into going on vacation by family members, only to be compelled to marry guys they've never met once they arrive. Victims have no choice but to cooperate when they are taken away from home, away from the intervention of friends or worried school teachers.

In one example, a 15-year-old Welsh girl n

amed Rubie Marie was transferred to Bangladesh and "dressed up like a doll" as her uncle solicited bids from men in the area. She was then coerced into marrying a 30-year-old man she'd never met before. Rubie told The New York Times:

“From the night before, I had been bawling my eyes out. I began to experience anxiety attacks. I just had to get through it because I knew I wouldn't be let back.”

Rubie learned herself to tolerate unwanted sex after the wedding by "disconnecting my head from my body and taking the rape."

Rubie became pregnant at the age of 16 and escaped her husband after giving birth, but her husband tracked her down and accompanied her to the United Kingdom. He attempted to argue that because he had a British child, he had a right to remain in the UK. He was eventually deported, however (most-likely for reasons unrelated to the forced marriage and rape).

Combating forced marriages has been especially difficult because most minors are unaware of their human rights. They lack the means and expertise necessary to speak out when these rights are abused. 

Technically, girls can dispute their exploitation: a victim can prevent her "husband" from travelling to the UK by obstructing his spouse visa application, making her a "reluctant sponsor." According to a representative for the Home Office, “if an individual declines to act as the sponsor for a visa application, then that visa should not be awarded under immigration rules.” However, just 88 of the 175 allegations submitted by reluctant sponsors last year were probed further. This means that 87 potential victims slipped through the gaps, and nearly half of the investigated cases were granted a visa nonetheless. Finally, 129 hesitant sponsors attempted but failed to deny their husbands' visas. This figure could rise to 139 if the remaining 10 cases delayed due to an appeal are granted a visa.

The hypocrisy of the Home Office knows no bounds: while immigration officers are fast to deny visas to genuine, consenting couples, they continue to provide visas to men who buy wives abroad. Many couples fail to meet the strict spouse visa requirements because they fail to adequately "show" their love is long-lasting and sincere. In order to uncover phoney weddings, Home Office inspectors scan through spousal visas looking for tiresome inconsistencies that they can use to discredit the couple's connection. Applicants have been denied for submitting either too much or too little proof. However, adolescent women who are hesitant to sign for a visa, cry in their wedding photos, and carry the burden of pregnancy on their immature bodies after being raped by a man twice their age do not appear to merit suspicion or scepticism from the Home Office. The Home Office consistently fails to challenge visa applicants, awarding spouse visas to individuals who abuse women and girls despite evident warning flags.

To make matters worse, forced marriages are a minor issue inside communities, and Western authorities are ill-equipped and reticent to address the issue right in front of them. Many people are afraid about looking culturally insensitive or racist. Families do not believe what they are doing is wrong, and British police are afraid of meddling because communities and families may label them as racists, compromising their employment and damaging their grip in local communities. 

A forced marriage victim's last opportunity to prevent her abuser from harassing her for the rest of her life is to make a statement. However, after indicting her exploiters and explaining the anguish she has endured at the hands of her oppressors in this declaration, the authorities then reveal the statement to her spouse and family. This is problematic because the victim's own family is to blame, subjecting her to honour-based violence and greater danger.

Honour-based violence is inextricably linked to forced marriage since both are grounded in the traditions of "honour" and "shame." When it is revealed that the victim has gone to the authorities, many families regard this as a disgrace to the family name. Women endure stalking, kidnapping, physical assault, emotional violence, threats, blackmail, and occasionally murder when they are pursued by their own family, her husband's family, and the community. According to the Halo Project, 12 to 15 honour killings occur in the United Kingdom each year. Victims imprisoned in a forced marriage are aware that speaking out may result in death. As a result, relatively few women believe the authorities will protect them - vulnerable women fall through the crevices of justice and intervention time and again.

The Home Affairs Committee examined the burden of public utterances in 2008, but ideas to safeguard potential victims were cut short. Anyone who has had their visa rejected by the UK Border Agency — now the UKVI — has the opportunity to appeal. Despite speaking with immigration lawyers and judges, the Committee determined that they could not protect names “without jeopardising the fairness of the appeals system.” While British wives can obstruct foreign spouse visa applicants' applications, Home Affairs decided that husbands "deserve" to know why their visa was denied.

In a further macabre twist, families who are afraid of being prosecuted for coercing an underage relative into marriage have devised an alternate technique to legalise the marriage: rape. Because both marriage partners must be over the age of 18 in order to qualify for a spouse visa, it is typical in the case of minors for the intended husband to rape the girl in order to get her pregnant. Families ensure that the girl gives birth to her rapist's child in the UK, and the low threshold for a family visa means that the husband can then join the UK on the basis that he has a British citizen child. In other words, impregnating a British girl ensures a UK visa because the victim has no way of blocking it.

These women and girls are abused first by their family, then by their "husbands," and finally by the government and court system.

To safeguard these women and girls, immediate change is required. Destabilizing the patriarchy begins both at home and at the state level. Schools and communities must raise awareness, and the UK government must take action. Legislation and policy must be changed to allow victims to come forward safely and without fear of future harm. Forced marriages will continue to undermine women's human rights and the battle against male violence, harming the futures of girls for centuries to come unless radical changes are made.