FORCED MARRIAGES/HONOUR KILLINGS

"Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intended spouses."
                               Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 16 (2)

Forced Marriage

Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights. It is not an issue confined to any particular culture or ethnic group but transcends race, religion, nationality, ages and gender. It should not be confused with an arranged marriage. An arranged marriage is one in which family and friends bring together parties to a marriage and have a greater or lesser degree of involvement. Both partners freely and willing consent to the marriage and such marriages have a long-standing and very successful tradition.

 

 

Government launches Forced Marriage consultation (12 December 2011)

Over the next 12 weeks the Home Office is seeking views on whether making forcing someone to marry should be a criminal offence in England and Wales, or whether current arrangements provide adequate protection. They are also interested in views on what more could be done to prevent forced marriage from happening. There are clear arguments both for and against making forced marriage a criminal offence.

The consultation period ends on 30 March 2012.

For more information please visit the relevant page on this website.

 

New Bill comes into Force in Scotland (28 November 2011)

A new law protecting people from being married against their will has come into effect in Scotland. The legislation gives courts the power to issue protection orders to those at risk, which if breached could carry a two-year prison sentence.Greater help will also be made available for victims of forced marriages, and existing powers to annul such unions have been strengthened.

Scotland is the first part of the UK to make breaching an order a crime.

The Forced Marriage (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011 was passed by the Scottish Parliament in March. Courts can issue protection orders specifically tailored to a victim's needs, for example by ensuring they are taken to a place of safety or by helping those in danger of being taken abroad for marriage.Breaching such an order is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine, a two-year prison sentence or both.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said people living in Scotland should have the right to enter into marriage or a civil partnership "freely without coercion". She said: "We know people who refuse are often subjected to threats, assault, captivity or worse at the hands of their own family. The introduction of this legislation will help us ensure that forced marriage has no place in 21st Century Scotland, by providing flexible legal support to allow victims to get their lives back on track."

Smina Akhtar, director of Amina, the Muslim Women's Resource Centre in Glasgow, said forced marriage was not acceptable within any major religion."This law will mean that victims of forced marriage will no longer be alone and have to suffer in silence, By passing this law the Scottish government has given a voice to a silent minority and a lifeline to many young people who until now have had nowhere to turn for help and support."

Lords' Debate

On 13 January 2011 the House of Lords debated Violence Against Women. Baroness Prosser said:

"Women in many areas of the world look to countries such as the United Kingdom to come to their aid to help to save them from what can be appalling atrocities. Rape and mutilation are a daily occurrence in the Democratic Republic of Congo-a misnomer if ever there was one. There are so-called cultural practices that leave women with no rights to leave a violent partner or to reject forced marriages and female genital mutilation. If we are to consider ourselves as civilised and sympathetic to the plight of those women, words must be turned into action and must be backed up by the strategic allocation of appropriate resources. UN Resolution 1325 gives us the mechanism to deliver a better life for many women and girls who are currently suffering so badly, who feel abandoned and who are indeed victims of rape and violence as a weapon of war."

A transcript of the full debate can be read at the link.

 

The difference between forced and arranged marriages

A forced marriage is a marriage that takes place without the full and free consent of both parties. In a forced marriage, you are coerced into marrying someone against your will. You may be physically threatened or emotionally blackmailed to do so, or you may be a victim of psychological abuse. Forced marriage cannot be justified on any religious or cultural basis.

Forced marriages are not the same as arranged marriages, where you can choose whether to accept the arrangement or not. In an arranged marriage, families take the lead in selecting a marriage partner but the couple have the free will and choice to accept or decline the arrangement. The tradition of arranged marriages has operated successfully within many communities and countries for a very long time.
 

Honour Killing

Honour Killing is a punitive murder, committed by members of a family against a female member of their family whom the family and/or wider community believes to have brought dishonour upon the family.

A woman is usually targeted for: refusing a forced marriage, seeking a divorce (even from an abusive husband), or committing adultery or fornication. Bizarrely, a woman who is even the victim of a sexual assault is also deemed to have brought dishonour to her family!

These killings result from the perception that any behaviour of a woman that 'dishonours' her family is justification for a killing that would otherwise be deemed murder.

UNICEF has reported that in India, more than 5,000 brides are killed annually because their marriage dowries are considered insufficient. Honour killings have occurred within parts of various countries, such as Albania, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.

 

A Message from Talat Pasha, Federation APD for International Goodwill and Understanding

Victims of Honour

Shobha, 20 yrs old had a rebellious nature. She wanted to be a model. She dared to run away with a man of her choice and get married.

Monica, 24, her cousin was more serious. But she too married Kuldeep, a man of her choice. Both were happily married.

On June 20th 2010 Shobha, Monica and Kuldeep were shot twice in the head in Delhi India. The murderers were their brothers. The girls were killed for ‘Honour’.

In the neighboring state of Haryana India, foeticide of girls has led to a ratio of 800 women to every 1000 men. All because men do not want to have sisters and daughters who would dare to choose a life of their own

In rural Pakistan and Bangladesh again the men are challenged and ridiculed if women from their tribe or family dare to move away or revolt against their customs or decide to marry a man of their own choice. The crime multiplies many folds if the marriage ends in a divorce. The woman is then murdered either by her own family or by her husband’s.

On 28th June 2010, Sahib Khatoon in Sukkur Pakistan was shot dead while returning from a court hearing. She had married a man from another tribe and as the marriage turned out to be a disaster she wanted a divorce. It became a matter of ‘honour’ and she was shot dead outside the court by her husband’s brothers.

Another very disturbing trend is to kill for honour when actually the reason is that the men of the family do not want to share the family property. It becomes easy to kill a sister or a cousin saying she was having a relationship with a man from another tribe and hence she was killed. This has become a very common way of getting rid of women who ask for their rights and is very common in Sindh Pakistan. The women are labeled as “Kari” (the word means black, indicating that she has blackened the honour of the men of her tribe).

The despicable custom has filtered down to all the social classes, urban and rural. The heinous crime is committed in the name of honour to cover up property disputes, to avenge an old and festering enmity; or, if a woman asks for divorce from an abusing husband; or, to defend a murderer who has killed a man and tries to cover it up by killing an innocent woman, accusing the victims of being” karo –kari”. The term implies adultery, an extra-marital affair or sex outside of marriage, or obscenity.

A double murder is also committed if a man and a woman decide to marry of their own choice. In many cases the woman victim might be the murderer’s sister, ex-wife or some other relative. Since the murderer also pretends to be the aggrieved party, he can twist the case in his own favour by pleading that his honour was soiled, and that he had no other recourse but to kill the offender! He often manages to get off with a light sentence, if any at all. Close relatives of the slain are also known to forgive the killer. No one goes to the Police. The women of the family also justify the killing and these ‘Kari’ women are buried in unmarked graves with no tombstone and no one is allowed to pray or put a flower on their graves. They die un-mourned and unrecognized

Honour for many conservative men does not stem from personal integrity and ethical behaviour but from how women unknown to them dress and behave. Many dictate their terms by force, using torture, mutilation or even murder.

In any tribal war or clash, the women are raped and mutilated. The idea is to ‘Dishonour’ the men of the rival tribe.

The societal mindset needs to change if crimes against women are to be eliminated. For this to happen our society’s misplaced notions of ‘honour’ must change and the world needs to know of these heinous crimes committed against women in the name of Honour.

I feel that the first step towards fighting against an injustice is to make people aware of the problem. Many of you may not even know about the customs which bind a large majority of women in third world countries and as APD of International Goodwill and Understanding I will endeavor to make you aware of all the problems being faced by women during war and conflict and also work to create a better understanding of the customs and traditions, some of which may be beautiful and fascinating and some may be shocking and horrifying.

More details are available on the following website: www.peacewomen.org. Or you can sign the following petition to say no to violence against women: http://www.saynotoviolence.org/make-women-count-for-peace.

 

British Police fail victim

Honour killing victim Banaz Mahmod (pictured right) was failed by the British police when she turned to them for protection, an investigation has ruled.

The 20-year-old Muslim begged police for help four times before her brutal murder at the hands of her father and her uncle. Her fears were not taken seriously, even after she smashed her way out of her grandmother's house to escape her family's first attempt at killing her. The police officer who took her statement, PC Angela Cornes, dismissed her account as fantasy and wanted to charge her with criminal damage because she broke a window during her escape, her Old Bailey murder trial was told.

A month later Miss Mahmod was raped, tortured and murdered, Three months later her body was found, buried in a suitcase in a garden in Birmingham (2005).

Her father Mahmod Mahmod, 51, his brother, Ari Mahmod, 54, both from Mitcham, and Mohamad Hama, 30, of West Norwood, were all jailed for life for her murder.