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Thursday, December 19, 2024  
16 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

UK parents to be jailed for forcing children into marriage abroad

According to a British newspaper, UK's Prime Minister, David Cameroon has laid out plans to rescue women who are forced into marriages abroad.

Ministers have reportedly injected half a million pounds to start the process of making forced marriages a criminal offence by law, for the very first time.

Expressing his strict policy regarding the matter, the British PM said that Parents who force their children to marry against their will face jail. He said that it was a 'clear and strong message' and that there will be zero tolerance on this matter.

Reports suggest that more than 1,000 cases are handled by UK's Forced Marriage Unit among which majority are of Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.  The UK government plans to inject more money in the project so that they are able to conduct rescue missions for women who are already reported to be forced into marrying someone in their native country or outside of UK.

Recent statistics released by the UK government show that the Forced Marriage Unit has received more than 600 cases since January this year.  45% of the cases had victims under the age of 18, 87%  were females, while 45%  of those cases involved victims from Pakistan. Whereas, 9 % cases were from Bangladesh, 7% from India and 3% from Afghanistan.

It should be noted that this practice is fairly common in the sub-continent where parents are usually the ones deciding a criteria and making all the decisions when it comes to marriage proposals of their children, specially girls.

Sources speculate this move ‘could well’ involve victims being  ‘smuggled out’ from under the noses of relatives in countries including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Mr Cameron said: ‘Forced marriage is abhorrent and is little more than slavery. To force anyone into marriage against their will is simply wrong and that is why we have taken decisive action to make it illegal.