The New Nation - Internet Edition

The fight against forced marriage

David Miliband

Last week, British diplomats sped to a village near Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The Foreign Office in the UK had been tipped off that a young British girl was being held prisoner by her father. He was beating her to get her to agree to a marriage she did not want, to a man she had never met. She was just fifteen years old.

The team from the British High Commission in Islamabad were able to help her get out of the situation she was in and get back to the UK - She was one of the lucky ones. So far this year, the British government's Forced Marriage Unit, set up in 2005, has handled over 1500 reports of forced marriage, supporting an individual, advising the police, or intervening directly by locating and, on occasion, rescuing the victims in the UK or overseas. Our diplomats across the world have helped over 400 people facing possible forced marriage or being forced to sponsor a visa after the marriage has taken place.

But there are others we don't get to hear about, who we can't help. Every year hundreds of young British men and women undergo this sort of abuse, without ever coming to the attention of the authorities.

Some will find it hard to believe forced marriage can still take place. What makes a family choose to ignore the wishes of their child or to value, for example, tradition or their own social standing above the happiness, welfare, safety and human rights of their child? It happens in a number of cultures and communities. But whatever the reason and whatever the community, " cultural sensitivity " must never be used as an excuse for moral blindness.

Next Tuesday, the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 enters into force in the UK. This is an important step forward. It gives the courts a new weapon, in the form of Forced Marriage Protection Orders, to protect the vulnerable. These will ensure potential victims are not forced to marry, and those already married are not forced to carry on with the relationship. If the Orders are breached the person responsible may be arrested. They will be in contempt of court, and may be imprisoned.

The government has also introduced guidance for public service workers to make clear the help they must give to victims. We've moved a long way from the early days where young people were turned away by hospitals or police stations unfamiliar with the problem, and even sent back to the very families from whom they sought protection. But there is still much more to do.

The new law is only part of our wider effort to tackle forced marriage. This includes a national awareness-raising campaign; a programme of continuous training for front-line staff; the commissioning of further academic research and a renewed effort at community outreach through partnerships with schools, police forces, local authorities, community leaders and - the real champions of this work - the charities and NGOs that have been struggling for years to help victims.

We are not trying to tell families how to raise their children. And we are certainly not confusing forced marriage with arranged marriage, the rich tradition in some communities of families match-making with the individuals still having the ultimate say. What we are doing is taking a clear stand against a practice that sees hundreds, maybe thousands, of young women and men in the UK taken from the life that they want to live, imprisoned, abused, and - in the words of one survivor - sold to be raped.

However, action by governments can only get us so far. For this abuse to stop, we need communities to speak out clearly as well - to say that this will no longer be tolerated. Across the UK families that themselves would never consider subjecting their children to a forced marriage are turning a blind eye to others that are.

And although it's a difficult thing to fly in the face of a culture of acceptance, that acceptance is being increasingly challenged. The Forced Marriage Unit is getting more and more calls that are helping to save lives and protect people's fundamental human rights.

And while diplomats mounting rescue missions is a part of the answer, it is only a part. The practice of forced marriage is a stain on those who carry it out, those that condone and those that ignore it as well. Stopping it is an aim around which everyone can and must unite.

Next month sees the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which changed the nature of governments' responsibilities to their people. But human rights cannot exist solely as an abstract legal concept, or even as a set of obligations for governments alone. They need to be cherished in the hearts of people and we must be prepared to act to defend them.

(David Miliband MP, is the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The op-ed was published in The Telegraph [UK] on 23 November 2008)

Some real life scenarios in Bangladesh…

British diplomats were alerted about a 15-year-old British girl who was promised a holiday but on arrival in Sylhet, Bangladesh hidden with relatives pending a forced marriage. When officials from the British High Commission in Dhaka traced her she denied that her family were keeping her against her will. However, further investigations highlighted that her family was beating and threatening her. She was rescued from a choice that was not her own and is now studying to be an Accountant in the UK.

A British girl had been sent to study at a boarding school in Madrassa in Bangladesh against her will. She had no contact from her family or friends for over two years but had recently been told by her father that if she married her cousin she would be allowed home. She was 16 years old. When officials from the British High Commission in Dhaka found her she made a decision to leave and was assisted to return to the UK immediately.

A British girl had been caught with a boyfriend in the UK and had been bought to Bangladesh to be forcefully married. When concerned friends got in touch with officials at the British High Commission in Dhaka, the team were able rescue her from a village in the Sylhet region and get her back to the UK.

Factors driving women and children into the sex work

Md Kamruzzaman Ferose

The United Nations estimates that some 80% of persons trafficked are trafficked for sexual exploitation. They are mostly women and children. (UN, 2003). An estimated 120,000 women and children are trafficked into Western Europe each year. (European Commission, 2001). The US Department of State considers that globally some 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked within and across borders annually, of whom some 80% are women and girls and some 50% are minors. (US Dept of State, 2005). Some European estimates suggest that, in 1990-1998, more than 253,000 women and girls were trafficked into the sex industry of the then 12 EU countries. The overall number of women in prostitution in these countries has grown to more than half a million.

Male demand for a supply of women and children is the root cause of prostitution and trafficking. Gender inequality, globalization, poverty, racism, migration and the collapse of women's economic stability are global factors, which create the conditions in which women are driven into the sex industry (Grainne HEALY and Monica O'connor, 2006). The majority of trafficked persons are women and girls, in particular from developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Multiple forms of discrimination and conditions of disadvantage contribute to the vulnerability of women and girls driven into prostitution. Studies consistently indicate that women and children who are exploited in the local sex industry (i.e. not trafficked) have experienced similar economic deprivation, alongside a history of sexual abuse. Homelessness, institutionalization and drug addiction are some of the additional factors making them vulnerable to entry into prostitution (Grainne HEALY and Monica O'connor, 2006).

Socio-economic / political factors affecting trafficking and prostitution

UNECSE identify a number of factors that create the conditions in Central Europe for vast numbers of women and girls being propelled into prostitution. Factors that impel women to take the risk of illegal immigration are: increased economic insecurity; higher risks of unemployment and poverty; limited opportunities for legal immigration and resurgence of traditional discriminatory practices against women, in particular:

Changes in gender parity: Less political participation and women's political exclusion - women's interests, demands and specific problems are widely ignored because they are marginalized. Women bear the heaviest burden of cuts in social expenditures, including child and family allowances, welfare reform, health care and pensions. Male-based privatization - the privatization of national assets has a strong male bias, with women globally receiving few privatized assets.

Loss of job security: The rise in competition in the labor market, unemployment and the loss of job security have undermined women's incomes and economic position. A widening gender wage gap, an increase in women's part-time and informal sector work, as well as atypical work arrangements have pushed women into poorly-paid jobs and long-term and hidden unemployment.

Overt gender-based discrimination and intensive sexual harassment in the workplace.

Feminization of poverty

Poverty among households headed by working mothers. The proportion of women working in the totally unregulated and illegal informal business sector is considerable. Working in the informal economy is an important factor of women's vulnerability to trafficking.

Changes in gender, political and economic parity inevitably affect social stereotypes, perceptions and attitudes. There is a resurgence of some traditional discriminatory practices.

Informalising of economic activities, criminalization and corruption. Internal migration from declining and / or impoverished regions towards metropolitan areas; cross-border migration between neighboring countries; and emigration - provides criminal groups with an opportunity to generate profits. This is not supported by any kind of humane migrant labor regulation, thus putting migrant workers, including women, at risk of exploitation and abuse.

Immigration regulations in many economically advanced countries generate restrictive measures encouraging a rapid growth of smuggling and trafficking in persons. Wage differentials between countries on the one hand, and tighter immigration controls on the other, have contributed to creating conditions favorable to smuggling and trafficking in people. (UNESCE, 2004).

Internal / personal factors affecting those trafficked and prostituted

In different international studies, the majority of women and girls in prostitution report that they have been victims of male sexual violence in their girlhoods. In a study of 130 prostituted persons in San Francisco, the researchers found that 57% had been sexually abused as children and 49% had been physically assaulted. (Farley & Barkan, 1998) Likewise, the Council on Prostitution Alternatives in Portland, Oregon, reported that 85% of the women interviewed for their Victim Survivor Survey were victims of incest as girls and 90% had been physically abused. (Hunter, 1993) Researchers agree that internationally the median age for the entrance of girls into prostitution is 14 years of age. (Ekberg, 2002)

For young children under the age of 12, it is invariably a family member who prostitutes the child through giving/selling them into situations in which they will be sexually exploited. For many young people who are drawn into prostitution before the age of 18, and especially before the age of 16, abuse within the family and/or community seem to be significant precursors. James and Myerling highlighted this association as early as 1977: 65% of their sample of adolescents who were engaged in prostitution activities had been sexually abused. They note; "early, traumatic sexual objectification may be one factor influencing some women toward entrance into prostitution." Research in the UK, (Kinnell, 1991) was the first modern study to begin exploring the link between child abuse, institutional care and child prostitution. Based on interviews with 22 young women who had been in institutional care and were subsequently in prostitution, the research discovered that over half had been involved in commercial sexual exploitation before they left care, that is, before they were 16, and four had had experience of prostitution before being taken into care. (Kelly & Regan, 2000).

Domestic violence against woman

Tohmina Akter( Helen)

Domestic violence against woman is a severe setback for them to grow up and lead normal life.

Nowadays domestic violence against woman is a common feature and very frequent in every society.

Even the women in developed countries and women of elite classes are not free from this curse. But the problem emerges as acute social problem mainly in the third world countries, where women often fall victims to domestic violence. The violence continues from childhood to the death. In a least developed country like Bangladesh, different dimensions of the violence are seen. Lack of education and awareness about rights are among the key reasons for the misfortune of women. Early marriage, narrow-minded men and fanaticism over religion make the society more patriarchic.

The common scenario is that women of all ages are falling victim to violence, sometimes even by family members.

In such countries, most of the women are housewives who usually work from dawn to midnight relentlessly for the wellbeing of their families. They have to take care of their family members, but they are treated very badly by those who care for.

Their dedication and sacrifice are not counted mostly, though they are always busy nursing the family members. But when a woman becomes ill, none comes forward to help her.

Aleya Begum, 32, of Comilla district said that one day she noticed her husband began to avoid her and did not like her anymore. Her husband was spending his time on unethical and illegal practices such as making extra-marital relation with other women and hanging out with women over cell phone. Whenever she went to protest her illegal deeds, her husband beat her and asked her to go away from his house leaving her two children here.

At the one stage, Aleya became frustrated thinking of her future. She was thinking what would happen in her life and what she could do. She had shelter neither in her own house (husband's house) nor in her parents' place as she had chosen the man she married herself, that her parents opposed.

Now she regrets the decision and looks for a solution. All she found is that she would not have to face this fate if she was educated and employed.