DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Forced Marriage:
The risk factors and the effect of raising the minimum
age for a sponsor, and of leave to enter the UK as a
spouse or fiancé(e)
Draft Final Report to Home Office
15 February 2007
Professor Marianne Hester, Dr Khatidja Chantler, Dr Geetanjali Gangoli
Dr Bipasha Ahmed, Professor Erica Burman, Jasvinder Devgon,
Sandhya Sharma, Ann Singleton1
1
Marianne Hester is Project Manager for the research, Khatidja Chantler and Geetanjali Gangoli are coordinators of the Manchester and Bristol teams respectively and are listed alphabetically. The other
researchers and advisers are listed alphabetically. Dr Melanie McCarry and Dr Nicole Westmarland
contributed to the first phase of the research.
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Forced Marriage:
The risk factors and the effect of raising the minimum
age for a sponsor, and of leave to enter the UK as a
spouse or fiancé(e)
1.
Introduction
This report provides the findings of a study commissioned by the Home Office into
forced marriage, in particular the risk factors and potential effects of raising the minimum
age for a sponsor to 21 or 24 and of leave to enter the UK as a spouse or fiancé(e). The
research was carried out between March 2006 and February 2007 in three locations –
Birmingham, Manchester and Tower Hamlets. It set out to examine four main issues:
1.
2.
3.
4.
2.
The impact/outcome of the recent increase the age of sponsorship/entry
from 16 to 18 years;
The benefits and risks of increasing the age of sponsorship or entry to
18, 21 and 24;
The range of communities in which forced marriage happens; and
The factors which were perceived to increase or decrease the risk of
forced marriages.
Background
The research was carried out in the context of concerns about forced marriage and
discussions about ways of tackling this phenomenon. The Home Office defines forced
marriage as occurring:
Where one or both parties are coerced into a marriage against their will and
under duress. Duress includes either physical and/or emotional pressure. It is
very different from arranged marriage, where both parties give their full and free
consent to the marriage. The tradition of arranged marriages has operated
successfully within many communities and many countries for along time. (Home
Office 2006)
A study by the Home Office locates the prevention of forced marriages as a part of a
wider ‘strategy to ensure that all people can live without fear, whether from racist attacks
or from domestic violence’ (Uddin and Ahmed, 2000: 4), making a connection between
coercion, entry into marriage and domestic violence. Similarly, other documents from the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Health make a direct link between
domestic violence and forced marriage, perceiving forced marriages as a form of
domestic violence in itself, and as contributing to domestic violence after marriage (FCO
and DoH, 2003). State responses to forced marriage have also included the provision of
2
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
guidelines to social workers (FCO 2003), the police (Stabbard 2002) and the education
sector (FCO 2005) about good practice in cases of forced marriage involving young
people.
The research was carried out against a backdrop of wider discussions regarding the
raising of the minimum age of a sponsor or spouse entering the UK to 21 or 24 as part of
the government’s measures to tackle forced marriage. Some European countries have 18
as the minimum age, including the UK where the minimum age was raised from 16 to 18
in December 2004 to provide extra time for young people and resist family pressure to
marry2. Countries such as the Netherlands and Germany have recently raised the age to
21, and Denmark has the highest minimum age for a sponsor of 24. There is, however,
little or no research regarding the impact of these age limits on the incidence of forced
marriage. In the Netherlands, the specific impact on forced marriage cases of this change
is not clear. Since the law was implemented in November 2004, there was a drop of 23%
per cent in the first 8 months of 2005 in the general number of applications requesting a
temporary stay authorisation for family formation or family reunification compared to the
same period for 2004. However, enlargement of the European Union also impacted on
these figures as individuals from the ten new member states are no longer required to
apply for such authorisation. In Denmark the raising of the age was implemented in 2002
within a general tightening up of immigration and asylum laws, and increasing emphasis
on integration. The containment of forced marriage was also argued as one of the factors
behind the change. While there appears to have been no direct impact on forced
marriages, there has been an increase in the numbers of young immigrants pursuing
further education, from 10% of 20-24 year olds in 2000/2001 to 17% in 2003/2004, and
the age of marriage to someone residing outside the EU has increased from 20 to 25 years
(Hvilshøj 2006). It should be noted, however, that the increase in age of entry has taken
place alongside a major investment in the levels of support for young people in Denmark
who may face forced marriage, including dedicated refuges, hotlines and targeted funding
from the Danish government for a variety of support including housing (Hvilshøj 2006;
Ny i Danmark 20073).
There have also been debates in the UK and elsewhere on whether or not to criminalise
forced marriage (FCO and HO, 2005), and as this report was being written a proposed
civil law that would offer protection in cases of forced marriage was under consideration
(Forced Marriage Bill 2006). Internationally, for the first time in legal history, forced
marriage is being prosecuted as a ‘crime against humanity’ in Sierra Leone’s post conflict
Special Court (Park 2006), and in Pakistan, there were, at the time of writing, discussions
on pushing forward legislation aiming to outlaw forced marriage (news24 2006).
2
Belgium, Sweden and Latvia also have 18 as the minimum age of a sponsor or spouse entering the
country.
3
www.nyidanmark.dk/da-dk/integration/puljer/puljebeskrivelser/ofre_for_tvangsaegteskaber.htm accessed
15.02.2007
3
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The UK proposal to create a specific criminal offence of forced marriage included a
national consultation on the issue, which concluded that a specific criminal offence
should not be adopted. While there is no specific offence in the UK of ‘forcing someone
to marry’ (FCO and HO, 2005: 8) it was felt that existing provisions within criminal and
civil law would be able to deal with the range of offences committed during forced
marriage. These include kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, sexual offences,
harassment, child cruelty and failing to ensure school attendance. The consultation
document suggested that a specific criminal offence may have disadvantages such as
having a disproportionate effect on the BME population, which could be interpreted as an
attack on specific communities, potentially increasing the alienation of victims from their
families. However, it could also be beneficial in preventing forced marriage by having a
deterrent effect and empowering young people.
3.
Literature
The general literature relating to forced marriage reveals that the issue is of both national
and international interest and focus (FCO, DoH et al. 2003; Schmidt and Jakobsen 2004).
It highlights how interventions and approaches may have contradictory or confusing
implications, and tend to be steeped in issues of immigration and/or cultural assumptions
about different communities. There is an emerging literature that situates forced marriage
within the context of domestic violence or child abuse. The literature also indicates the
importance of taking into account the possibly intersecting issues of age, gender and
religion with ethnicity and race.
Within the UK, scholars have pointed out that public debates on forced marriage are
mostly addressed in terms of immigration (Hossain nd.), and the ‘overseas dimensions’ of
forced marriage, suggesting that there is sometimes a confusion within policy and
practice on ‘false marriage’ and ‘forced marriage’ (Phillips and Dustin 2004: 535).
Debates also examine the specific gendered and racialised nature of immigration law,
based on images of the passive and dependent Asian women, and notions of South Asian
families following patrilocality, that disadvantage both women migrating from abroad
and women of South Asian origin who sponsor a spouse from abroad (Hall 2000). Some
scholars address the ways in which some related immigration laws can encourage forced
marriage such as the dual nationality provision in some cases (Hall 2000; An- Na’im nd.).
It is suggested that some UK initiatives on forced marriages have a ‘civilising tone’ in the
way that immigrants are expected to be ‘British’ (Razack 2004, 154), and that UK
policies on forced marriage have created fears in some members of the ‘ethnic
community’ that the government is using its campaign against forced marriage to tighten
immigration rules (Skalbergs and Gulicova 2004).
Forced marriage both in the UK and in Europe has at times been constructed as pathology
of some cultures, specifically of South Asian and/or Muslim communities (Samad and
Eade 2002; Razack 2004) and Romani communties (Oprea 2005). Other literature
suggests that forced marriage and child marriage are ‘harmful cultural’ practices
(Interights 2000: 21) and therefore, there needs to be an assessment of ‘traditional laws’
4
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
that involves ‘women and girls who are affected by these laws’ (Outtarra 1998). Some
literature grapples with the issue of how to avoid feeding into a celebration of European
superiority or national identity while confronting and naming violent practices within
minoritised communities, and notes the ways in which ‘culture clash’ works into
strengthening racial stereotypes (Volpp 2000; Razack 2004: 154; Madsen 2003), while
multicultural acceptance of cultural practices is identified as encouraging forced marriage
(Razack 2004). It has also been suggested that forced marriage is a product of
immigration rather than a ‘tradition’ from another context (Phillips and Dustin 2004,
543). There is also literature addressing how forced marriage is against the tenets of
different religions (Caroll 1998) and a misinterpretation of culture (Gangoli et al. 2006).
Other literature has specifically examined forced marriage as forms of woman or child
abuse. Home Office studies on forced marriage see a link with domestic violence; indeed
forced marriage is conceptualised as a form of domestic violence (Uddin and Ahmed
2000). Feminist activists and scholars working on the issue have addressed forced
marriage as an abuse of women’s human rights, and therefore as gender based violence
(Siddiqui, 2002, Hossain nd., Gangoli et. al. 2006), and in the context of child marriage
as a form of child abuse (Forum on Marriage, 2000; Ooto-Oyertey and Pobi, 2003) that
has serious consequences for young girls including sexual assault and health risks
associated with early pregnancy, high maternal and child mortality and increased risk of
sexually transmitted diseases (Outtara et. al. 1998). In this sense child marriage is treated
as forced marriage, due to the absence of free and full consent. Child marriage has also
been conceptualised as a development issue, linked to poverty and practices such as bride
price in Ethiopia (Ooto-Oyertey and Pobi, 2003) It has also been suggested that rights
discourses on marriage can include in some cases the rights of parents, and rights of
communities to preserve their identity, therefore there can be a conflict between rights of
young persons and rights of families (Stobarrt 2002). In addition studies have pointed to
migration increasing the vulnerability of women to experiencing the detrimental
expressions of patriarchy, due to the barriers that immigrants encounter in accessing
support and services. Migration may challenge gender roles in newly immigrant families,
therefore creating stress that could culminate in domestic violence (Ahmed et. al. 2004).
Existing literature also shows the ways in which racism, gender and culture can intersect
in relation to forced marriage. It is suggested that the intersectionality of gender,
ethnicity, culture and immigration can increase women’s risks of experiencing patriarchal
control (Ahmed 2004), especially in the context of forced marriage (Gangoli et. al. 2006).
Some studies look at the ways in which communities have constructed arranged marriage
as an integral part of their culture (Bhopal 1997). However, while there is a difference
between arranged and forced marriage, there can also be slippage between the two in
terms of experience (Shan 1991; Caroll 1998), and cultural notions such as izzat (honour)
and sharam (shame) are used to silence young people in cases of forced marriage (Akbar
2005, Gangoli et. al. 2006). The concept of intersectionality therefore allows an
examination of the power dynamics between and within communities and groups, thus
helping to highlight the impact of different aspects of culture (Anthias 2002). The failure
to work with intersectionality at a policy and practice level is reflected in the difficulties
5
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
encountered by victims/survivors facing forced marriage and other forms of domestic
violence (Batsleer et al 2002; Burman et al, 1998, Chantler et al, 2001)
While forced marriage has in recent years been considered mainly in the context of South
Asian communities, analysis of case law in the UK between 1950 to the present reveals
the much wider range of ethnic and religious communities that may be affected by forced
marriage. Until the 1990s, forced marriage cases included women and men of many
different ethnic and religious communities including Hungarian (H v. H 1953); Polish
(Scechter v Scechter1971); ‘majority white’ (McLarnon v. McLarnon1968; Harper v
Harper 1981) and South Asian (Singh v. Singh1971). However, more recent cases have
been focused on issues of forced marriage primarily among South Asian communities
(for example: Sohrab v. Khan 2002; P v. R 2003; KR 1999), and while judges have
supported victims of forced marriage in the main, they have sometimes conceptualised
forced marriage as a form of clash between eastern and western cultures (M Minors 2003;
Sohrab v. Khan 2002; KR 1999). In some cases judges have commented on the issue of
‘consent’ as essentially contested and the legitimacy of parental pressure in some
contexts and cases (Mahmood v. Mahmood 1993). Forced marriage has also been
successfully used as one of the grounds for appeal in asylum cases for leave to remain in
the UK (Afganistan CG 2004 UKIAT 00328).
4.
Methodology
The very nature of forced marriage means that individuals experiencing such marriages
are a ‘hard to reach group’. This makes it extremely difficult to develop accurate
measures of the prevalence of forced marriages or to obtain reliable quantitative
information. Instead, it was decided that the study should use a largely qualitative,
approach employing a variety of methods that would enable exploration of the nature of
forced marriages, the communities where it might be an issue, as well as any possible
impacts of raising the minimum age of age for a sponsor, and of leave to enter the UK as
a spouse or fiancé(e) from 16 to 18, or further to 21 or 24. Ethical approval was received
from the Universities of Bristol and Manchester.
The research was carried out as two separate phases. Phase one acted as a scoping study,
was located in Manchester and Tower Hamlets, and had the purpose of testing the
methodology and developing the networks required for the larger study. The
methodology used in phase one proved successful and was built upon in phase two of the
research, where the research was extended to include three locations: Manchester and
Tower Hamlets as in phase one, with the addition of Birmingham.
Tower Hamlets, Birmingham and Manchester were selected as the three case study areas
as they have a high density of communities that have been identified as having the
propensity for forced marriage. Whilst forced marriage is not restricted to particular
religions or nationalities, the majority of reported cases have been from Pakistani and
Bangladeshi communities. Twenty-four percent of the UK Bangladeshi diaspora live in
Tower Hamlets and 13% of the UK Pakistani diaspora live in Birmingham. Manchester
6
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
has one of the largest Black and minority ethnic communities outside of London.
Manchester’s minority ethnic community makes up some 19% of the total population of
the city. An informal study conducted by Sandhya Sharma in 2005 suggested there were
105 reported cases of forced marriages over the previous year just within the six central
Manchester women’s refuges and outreach services.
Phase one of the research involved familiarization interviews, interviews with
stakeholders and survivors, and database exploration. Twelve initial familiarization
interviews were carried with a range of government officials, statutory sector
organisations and NGOs identified by the Home Office and research team as significant
on a national level. (see Appendix One for list of organisations interviewed).
Alongside these, semi-structured interviews were initially conducted with 23 stakeholders
from a wide range of statutory and voluntary organisations in Manchester and in Tower
Hamlets asking about their perception of forced marriage and involvement in such cases,
the impacts of the recent change in the age of entry to 18, the potential benefits or risks of
raising the age of entry to 21 or 24, and any data existing on forced marriage cases.
Detailed notes were compiled from the interviews and where requested these were sent to
participants for verification and amendments. (see Appendix One for list of organisations
interviewed).
Eight female survivors of forced marriage were interviewed in phase one, who either
identified themselves as being forced into marriage or testified to some degree of
coercion at the point of entry into marriage. The women were identified through the
stakeholder interviews, other networks and snowballing approaches. Interviews asked
questions about experiences of marriage, views about the proposed legislation and
potential benefits and risks. Survivors were sent a letter asking them if they would like to
take part in the research, and explaining the terms of the research study with a copy of the
interview schedule included. Interviews were conducted in the participant’s preferred
language (a range of languages were available from the research team, and interpreters
used in the few instances where other languages were needed). Where permission was
given, interviews were taped and transcribed, and participants offered a copy of the
transcript and/or tape to delete any material they did not wish to include for analysis. It
was confirmed with the participants that taking the tape/transcript would not compromise
their safety. (Appendix Two provides details of the survivor sample)
In familiarization visits and stakeholder interviews basic questions were asked about the
databases of the organizations/ agencies concerned. Twelve departments/projects were
identified by the project team in phase one as possible sources of systematic data on
forced marriages. These included government departments, and statutory and voluntary
sector agencies. Eight database managers or other relevant staff from these organizations
were interviewed in depth at this stage about the content and structure of their databases.
(see Appendix Three)
7
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Phase two of the research involved a further familiarization interview, another 22
stakeholder interviews, interviews with a further 30 survivors of forced marriage and
exploration of the datasets held by another 20 departments/projects (see Appendixes One,
Two and Three for details). In addition, two further aspects were included: a mapping
survey, and focus groups.
It was decided to carry out a mapping survey of organizations in the three locations to
ascertain the extent to which different organizations/agencies were working with
individuals experiencing forced marriage, and to obtain wider views regarding the
research questions. The survey of organisations was preferred over and above further
interviews with members of the community because it was considered less intrusive to
participants, safer for both interviewee and interviewer as the interviews were not at the
individual level and avoided individualisation of forced marriages by engaging at a
community level. Altogether 143 agencies were contacted, and interviews conducted with
80 (55.9%). The agencies that did not respond included some with wrong addresses,
refusal to participate because the study did not appear to fall within their remit, lack of
time or the relevant person not being available to speak. Of the agencies taking part the
vast majority were from the voluntary sector (n=56, 71.8%), with significant
representation from the statutory sector (n=13, 16.7%) (see Appendix Five, table 1). The
mapping survey was also used to identify further key stakeholders, who were then
included in the stakeholder interview sample.
In addition, so that information regarding the practice and perceptions of forced marriage
from a wider range of communities might be obtained, 15 focus groups were carried out
with 97 individuals (82 women and 15 men) from South Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern,
African, Irish and lesbian friendly communities, and including a range of religious
communities: Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Muslim, with a minority of respondents
identifying themselves as atheists or non believers. Ages ranged from 15 to 60 and
participants were also from different social classes. Where respondents were not British,
they had a variety of immigration statuses, including indefinite leave to remain, refugee,
work permit, dependent visa and student visa. To enable comparison across the groups a
set of vignettes based on the victim and mapping survey interviews were used as a focus
for discussion. Altogether twelve vignettes were developed using material from survivor
and mapping survey interviews, all on the same theme but varied to reflect specific
community experiences (Appendix Four provides details of each focus group and the
vignettes).
To summarise, the research involved:



Familiarisation interviews with 13 individuals from a range of government
departments, statutory sector organisations and NGOs.
Stakeholder interviews with 45 individuals across Birmingham, Manchester, and
Tower Hamlets
In-depth interviews with 38 survivors of forced marriage (33 women and 5 men).
8
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION



A mapping survey of 80 organisations providing advice on forced marriage to a
range of communities across Birmingham (n=25), Manchester (n=25), and Tower
Hamlets (n=30).
Twenty-eight departments/projects interviewed in depth about the content and
structure of their databases.
Fifteen focus groups with a wide range of communities involving 97 individuals
(82 women and 15 men) with ages ranging from 15 to 60.
This approach generated rich data on issues related to forced marriage, and also examined
the research questions from different angles and in relation to different communities. The
variety of methods used provided a degree of triangulation, and also enough breadth to
allow general patterns to emerge.
4.1
Analysis
The interview and survey data were analysed using a thematic approach and using
framework grids to aid the analysis (Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). Summaries were written for
interviews, either from detailed notes or from transcriptions, and used to identify key
themes (Banister et al., 1994). As interview data was analysed, themes emerging were
compared to those for others in their group and similarities and differences identified.
Each cluster of interviews were then analysed in relation to other clusters, drawing out
parallels and contrasts. The analysis is in this sense both interpretative and also presents
verbatim examples from participants to illustrate salient points.
With regard to the exploration of existing data-sets, ‘pen pictures’ of organisations’
databases were developed to allow comparative analysis. Included in the ‘pen pictures’
was information about the scope of the database (e.g. what are the criteria for inclusion in
the database? How many records and fields are included?); properties (e.g. What format
is the database in? How frequently is it updated?); context (e.g. When was the database
created? What is the purpose of the database?); and previous analysis (e.g. Has the
database been analysed for other purposes?). (See Appendix Three)
5.
Definitional issues – what is ‘forced marriage’?
As can be seen from the definition of forced marriage, outlined in the introductory
section above, the Home Office considers there to be a clear distinction between forced
and arranged marriages with the difference relating to whether or not the individuals
concerned consented to the marriage. We have found that in practice the definition is
much more complex, and throughout the research questions have arisen regarding the
definition of ‘forced marriage’ and how the issue is located within specific communities.
Definitional issues related to calling marriages ‘forced’ was raised in the familiarisation
visits, in interviews conducted with stakeholders and with survivors, and were also
discussed in the focus groups. The term ‘force’ was not thought to adequately cover
issues of subtle pressure where a young person may not realise what was taking place
until it is too late. This questions what counts as a forced marriage. Normally this is taken
9
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
to mean a lack of consent at the point of entry into a marriage, but if the marriage
arrangements are very rushed and the young person does not really understand what is
happening, or does not have time to respond, or has been given inadequate information,
then the notion of consent is questionable (and this also emerged in some of the survivor
interviews – see section 7.1.2 below). In particular, there can be a ‘slippage’ between
arranged and forced marriage, as the following focus group members pointed out:
P4: I would like to ask, how do you identify arranged marriage...sometimes
forced marriage is based on arranged marriage (Chinese young women FG)
P3: They will arrange the marriage and if you reject the person they will forced
you to marry the person. (South Asian Girls 6th Form College FG).
This also poses questions of exit options (particularly where consent has not been given
or is questionable) and the pressure (emotional, physical, financial, cultural, immigration
status etc) that is put upon women to stay in a forced marriage. How services
conceptualise forced marriage partly determines the types of responses offered (where
services are offered at all). As will be seen below, these issues are reflected to different
degrees throughout the findings.
5.1
Implications for methodology
This has also led to the methodological problem (especially pertinent for the stakeholder
interviews, and survivor interviews) of how to maximise responses from a range of
communities, and individuals. As a way through this, instead of using the term ‘forced
marriage’ the research team used the following phrase: “We are studying different
‘arrangements’ of marriages in different communities, and examining how they might
intersect with immigration policies and practices”.
FINDINGS FROM THE RESEARCH
6.
Exploration of existing datasets
6.1
Overview of current statistical data quality and availability
The impacts of policy changes may be measurable and quantifiable when policy-relevant
statistics are available and of sufficiently good quality to allow analysis of patterns and
trends over time. As outlined above, twenty-eight examples of official and unofficial
datasets were explored to discover whether the statistical data exist to enable policymakers to monitor the incidence of forced marriages and to identify the impact of the
implementation of legislation aimed at reducing forced marriage and protecting victims.
As far as it was possible to determine, no single existing source currently provided such
statistical data of sufficient quality and coverage. Furthermore, combining data from
different sources would not produce statistics or indicators of the necessary quality and
coverage.
10
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
6.1.1 Official and unofficial sources: relative strengths and weaknesses
At a general level, the data collected and produced by different types of official and
unofficial sources present various strengths and weaknesses. Official sources may be
expected to provide greater statistical coverage, whilst unofficial sources generally suffer
from partial coverage, but collect qualitative data of greater richness.
Official sources generally record ‘events’, which take place in administrative procedures.
An obvious source for the purposes of this research might have been the marriage records
of the General Register Office. This source, however, lacked the crucial piece of
information of whether the marriage is in fact a ‘forced marriage’. Under UK law, a
marriage cannot be legal if it is not freely entered into, so by definition the GRO does not
collect data on forced marriages. Information is collected on the age and citizenship of
the spouses, which may allow the identification of changes in patterns such as the mean
age at marriage, according to citizenship. This would not overcome the problem of
identifying groups within the total population of UK citizens. Mid-year statistical
estimates on marriages in England and Wales are published in the autumn of the year
following the reference year and include a breakdown by age. The time delay in the
production of these statistics means that it was too soon to use them for meaningful
analysis of the impact of the raising of the age limit for sponsors in relation to the current
research.
In relation to marriages involving international migration, in the statistical information
available for the period 2003-2005 from the Home Office on numbers of persons given
leave to enter the United Kingdom as husbands, wives or for marriage from ‘key’
countries of the Indian sub-continent, numbers are so low that meaningful statistical
analysis is scarcely possible4.
Records of deregistration from schools might indicate patterns in pupils being removed
for the purposes of marriage, however formal de-registration often does not happen and
the reason for leaving is undeclared in the case of forced marriage.
Unofficial sources, such as the datasets of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), often
contain detail on individual cases of forced marriage, but generally do not provide
sufficient coverage, the data are not managed for the purposes of producing statistics and
data quality is not monitored.
Quality and coverage are further compromised by the fact that few statisticians are
involved at any stage in either official or unofficial sources, in processing any of the data
relating to forced marriages.
6.2
Potential future exploitation of sources
4
See Appendix 4, Table 1. Passengers given leave to enter the United Kingdom as husbands (1), wives (1)
or for marriage, Indian sub-continent, 2003-2005, Source: Home Office.
11
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
For several reasons, most importantly those of data quality and coverage, useful statistics
are only likely to be produced in the future from the official databases, not from those of
the NGOs. The ‘pen portraits’ provided in Appendix Three, identify potential
improvements in future data quality and availability in several official sources. Many of
the organisations interviewed reported plans to improve their data collection systems and
several were introducing new or improved computerised systems. In several cases freetext retrieval search tools would improve data ‘capture’. Systematic ‘flagging’ of the data
entered and the redesign of report forms would possibly allow for new cross-tabulations
of variables. It was thought highly desirable that this happens in the case of the
COMPASS database used by the FCO/HO Forced Marriage Unit, although this contains
information only on ‘cases handled’. The UKVisas Central Reference System, containing
a record of every sponsor and applicant for a visa, is to be redeveloped in the near future
and should be reprogrammed to allow queries using a ‘forced marriage’ flag (although
this in itself would not guarantee reliable and consistent collection of data). An improved
knowledge and understanding of the quality and coverage of information collected by
entry clearance officers and Consular offices could indicate the potential of official
sources outside the UK.
6.3
Conclusions regarding databases
None of the available, existing data sources on forced marriage met all (or even most) of
the criteria for data quality and coverage of the whole of the target population. Most
sources had partial coverage and the databases that existed at the time of the research had
been established only recently, so no time series data was available that would allow
statistical analysis of the effect of raising the age limit of a sponsor. Some sources (using
a victim-led approach) can contain a wealth of detail and historical background on the
experience of victims and of incidents and contacts between them, the witnesses and the
police or advice/support voluntary organisation. The strength of these databases lies in
their richness of detail, which results from the degree of confidence that the victim has in
the person taking the records. The problem with attempting to use them for policy
monitoring purposes is there is no independent check on data quality and that any data
quality that exists would be compromised if there might be any possibility that the
databases might be:
i)
ii)
accessed by anyone other than the trusted responsible case officer or equivalent in
the organisation
used for any reason other than ensuring the protection and safety of the victim.
Given all the problems outlined above, it was not possible to use available statistical data
to draw conclusions about the effect of raising the age-limit of sponsors. There was some
potential for improvement but this was unlikely to significantly improve data quality and
coverage.
7.
Experiences and views of survivors
12
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
As outlined earlier, a total of 38 survivors from a range of communities were interviewed,
of which 33 were women, and five were men. It should be noted that most of the
survivors interviewed (33/38, 86.8%) identified as South Asian (British Asian: 9, Indian:
2, Pakistani: 12, Bangladeshi: 10), with a small number from Middle Eastern or African
origins (5/38). Most were Muslim (28/38, 73.7%). The findings primarily reflect these
experiences. The majority were married between the ages of 16 and 24 years, although
most were at least 18 years when they were married. (See Table One below, and
Appendix Two, tables 1-3 for overview of ethnicity, religion, gender, age at marriage and
marital status of the women and men interviewed.)
13
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table One – ethnicity and gender of survivors
Ethnicity
Female
Male
British/
British
7
1
(MW1,
MW3,
MW9,
MW16,
(MM14)
Asian
Frequency
8
THW5, THW7, BRW8)5
Indian
2
2
(THW6, THW8)
Pakistani
12
(MW4, MW5, MW7, MW8,
MW10, MW11, MW12, MW13,
THW1, THW3, THW4, BRW7)
Bangladeshi
7
(TW2, BRW1, BRW2, BRW3,
BRW4, BRW5, BRW6)
Iranian
1
1
13
(BRM4)
3
10
(BRM1, BRM2,
BRM3)
1
(MW2)
Mozambique
Sierra Leone
Somali
1
(MW20)
1
(MW19)
1
1
1
1
(MW17)
Afro Caribbean
1
1
(MW18)
Total
38
In this section the experiences of survivors of entering a forced marriage, experiences
during and when exiting such marriages are discussed. Later sections include the views
of survivors regarding the raising of the minimum age of sponsorship of entry and access
to support.
7.1
Routes into and experiences of entry into a forced marriage
It was evident that there are a number of different routes and experiences of entry into
forced marriage. These include: overt coercion, slippage from arranged to forced
marriage; age related issues; asylum and immigration; sexuality issues; poverty; mental
ill-health; and death of a parent as a precursor to forced marriage. For some participants
more than one route was applicable. In total 19 participants described their marriages as
forced; 4 resisted and did not marry; 15 described their marriages or betrothals as
arranged, but had little or no choice.
We have chosen to ‘name’ the survivors interviewed by identifiers that indicate the location of the
interview and gender of the individual. Thus MW1 = woman interviewed in Manchester; THW1= woman
interviewed in Tower Hamlets; THM1 = man interviewed in Tower Hamlets; BRW1 = woman interviewed
in Birmingham; BRM1 = man interviewed in Birmingham.
5
14
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Much policy and practice in the UK around forced marriages has been geared toward
South Asian communities. The interviews with survivors highlighted the need to a)
understand forced marriage much more broadly, both in relation to the communities it
occurs in and b) to pay attention to the structural inequalities (nationally and
internationally) which generate the conditions in which forced marriage flourish.
7.1.1 Violence: Physical, Emotional and/or Sexual Coercion
Extreme physical and/or sexual violence or a highly controlling family environment was
reported by eight survivors (MW1, MW3, MW4, MW17, MW19, MW20 THW8,
BRM1)6. Coercive violence included wrongful confinement (THW8, BRM1, MW1,
MW3); being subjected to physical violence (MW3, MW17, MW20) and sexual violence
in the form of threatened circumcision at age 19 (MW19).
I was scared, really scared erm, petrified, erm I felt like a prisoner I felt like I
couldn’t make any choices about what I was going to do in terms of my kind of
post sixteen, my future in terms of wanting a career. (MW4)
Sheer, erm fright. I didn’t know what was going to happen, it was just sheer fright
I didn’t want to go with this stranger, but I was abused as a child anyway
physically by my mother, so you know erm I just went along with it really (MW3)
When her auntie was erm talking about forcing her to get married she was really
scared to be murdered by her auntie as she was threatening her (MW17 –via an
interpreter)
I just kept thinking well he [husband to be] would kill me he would do this to
me… he had made me so insecure that I thought there’s no way I could not get
married, I’ve got to get married (MW18)
7.1.2 Slippage from arranged to forced marriage
The term ‘forced marriage’ is often perceived as involving overt (physical) violence
despite emotional pressure being part of the Home Office definition on forced marriage.
Arranged marriages are conceptualised as involving full and free consent for both parties.
However, the slippage between the two, especially in relation to emotional pressure was
common in the survivor accounts. This more subtle coercion was discernible in 14 other
accounts whereby women and men claimed they had limited or no choice. Whilst
survivors accepted arranged marriage as a cultural practice, these accounts illustrate the
slippage from arranged to forced marriage as it was hard to distinguish precisely where
‘arrangements’ turned to force (THW1, THW2, THW3, THW7, BRM2, BRW3, BRW4,
BRW5, BRW6, MW2, MW9, MW10, MW11, and MW12).
6
See footnote 4 for key to identifiers.
15
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
One survivor (MW2) knew that an arranged marriage was part of her cultural context, but
appeared to be forced into marriage to some extent in that she did not actively consent.
Having said that her mother had already agreed to the marriage, her response to being
asked if she had any choice in the matter:
Err, not really, no, no, I had the choice to say, erm I wasn’t forced into saying
yes. But I think my mum, my parents didn’t give me enough time, or didn’t, they
didn’t, even though I was about fourteen, fifteen, that’s no age to ask a girl does
she want to get engaged to someone. (MW2)
Here the force was not overt, but was at the broader level of cultural expectations. This
illustrates the grey area or slippage between arranged and forced marriages. Further on in
the interview, she stated:
And even so you don’t actually know it’s wrong what you’re feeling until it’s [the
marriage] done. You know I knew that I was feeling that this [marriage] odd
about the whole thing, but I, you don’t actually box it as something wrong
because it’s the traditional thing to do, it must be right…it must be right, I’m the
odd one, why am I feeling odd about this, everybody else does it [have marriages
arranged]…(MW2)
Another respondent had freely agreed to get engaged to a man from her country of origin,
but was not allowed to break the engagement when she returned to the UK, and had
doubts about the forthcoming marriage. She highlighted the degree to which the
‘arranged’ aspect of the marriage rapidly changed to ‘force’ when she expressed her
opinion about the man:
In our culture, parents arrange marriages, and that was fine and it was arranged
at the time, then turned into forced… (BRW8)
Similarly two respondents, both engaged at the time of the interview alluded to the lack
of options available to them within their religion and community in terms of marriage
options:
…personally in Islam it is not really ok to mix with boys, I don’t really talk to
guys that much. And what they (family) do is, they obviously find a partner
first…(BRW4).
When asked by the interviewee whether she had a chance to meet her potential spouse
alone, she demurred on the grounds that it would be against her religion, and attributed
this to control over chastity, primarily of women:
…it is not really permissible in Islam to speak to the person much before the
marriage. Because say for example, well they do it more for chastity, so should
anything happen from meeting at first…and they don’t want to get married
16
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
afterwards, then that’s the problem, that’s a blot on the person’s image, like
honour and respect (BRW4).
In another case, the respondent was unhappy at the time of the marriage, and articulated
her concerns to her parents but they ignored her views. She went ahead with the
marriage, only recognising later that she had experienced a forced marriage:
Actually when it happened, I was quite oblivious to what was happening, I was
just like, I felt like I was in a different world, you know, you get so much attention,
everybody’s like talking to you and things are happening, all eyes are on you, do
you know what I mean…when I left them, when I left my parents, I was so upset,
very, very negative, crying…That’s when it hit us, and then when I got back to
England it hit me more, I thought God, what have I done? (THW4).7
7.1.3 Age related issues
The interviews with survivors indicated that the age for entry into marriage may have a
much wider range, than tends to be conceptualised in official and policy discourses
around forced marriage. Seven of the interviewees talked about this aspect. This included
an ‘older’ woman being forced into marriage at age 31 because of concerns about
reduced chances for marriage (THW3) and the pressure to marry regardless of age where
a man was gay (MM14). For younger women, one survivor was married at 13 even
though the age for marriage/sponsorship was 16 in the UK at the time (MW3) and early
engagements occurring at an age below the age limit (either between UK citizens - MW2,
MW16 - or involving one or both partners outside the EU - MW1 and MW3).
One of the women (MW1) was 16 (not a UK national) at the time of her cultural marriage
ceremony, but the official, legal marriage did not take place till she was 18 in her country
of origin. From the initial stage and thereafter she objected to the marriage, by talking to
her mother in the first place, and telling her prospective husband she did not want to
marry him – despite the cultural shame this would bring to her and her family. In
desperation she attempted to take her own life, but her refusal to the marriage was still
not heeded. On marriage she refused to consummate the marriage and was forced to have
sex three weeks later. She tried to divorce her husband, but he did not accept this. All
these points can be seen as resistance on her part until eventually she fled from her
country of origin to the UK successfully claiming asylum for gender persecution8.
Another participant (MW3, UK national) was taken to Pakistan at 13 and:
Before I knew it, my mum said “that boy over there wants to marry you, we don’t
know when we are going to come to Pakistan again so I might as well get you
married. (MW3)
7
This experience is of course consistent with that of women survivors of domestic violence who are not
always able to articulate their experiences as abuse at the point when they are experiencing it.
8
Fleeing within the country of origin would not have been possible as women are not allowed to work, or
to obtain a flat without signed permission from either the husband or father.
17
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The marriage took place after which she was taken to her husband’s house and against
her will:
…he consummated the marriage which I thought was wrong, I call it rape.
(MW3)
Pregnant at 14, she came back to England, had the baby and remained in her natal family
home until she was 17, when she realised that her family were planning to get her
husband (Pakistani national) to live in the UK:
My brother went into the solicitors office and filled in all the forms before I even
knew anything. (MW3)
She consequently left with her son, and lived in a variety of homelessness
accommodation until she met her current husband.
7.1.4 Sexuality
Sexuality played an important role in some participants’ experience of forced marriage.
In some cases, parents and extended family pressurised women and men to marry
because they were seen as having sexual or potentially sexual experiences that were not
acceptable. Pressure was put upon survivors to marry the appropriate person. Forced
marriages or engagements were precipitated by fears that survivors (women and men)
were in ‘unsuitable relationships’, (or that their siblings were) and as a way of containing
their sexuality (THW3, THW4, THW6, THW8, BRW1, BRW4, BRM3 MW2, MW5,
MW14, MW19). Three participants were pressurised to marry because they were gay
(THW8, MM14, MW19); and two women from abroad married men whom they later
discovered were gay (MW8, MW12).
In one case, a man who was Bangladeshi at the time of marriage was forced to marry a
British Bangladeshi because he was in love with a woman who was seen as ‘unsuitable’
and because his parents believed that immigrating to the UK would improve his chances
of happiness. However, he had experienced severe depression since his marriage
(BRM3).
In two other instances women and men outside the UK were forced to marry when they
were discovered to be in relationships with members of the opposite sex (THW6, BRM3)
and in these cases the relationships were deemed ‘unsuitable’ not for reasons of caste or
class differences but because of fears associated with sexual activity.
My relationship with [name of boyfriend] was innocent, we held hands but never
did anything…I never even took my clothes off, and we were punished like
this….they [aunt and uncle] never asked for my side of the story, and when I tried
to explain, my aunt covered her ears and said that she didn’t want to hear the dirt
(THW6).
18
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
In UK based relationships:
When I went to college I actually met someone [who was considered unsuitable]
that’s probably part of the reason why I was forced in to the marriage. (MW5)
In one instance a young woman from India was forced to marry a man living in the UK,
when her parents discovered that she was lesbian (THW8). A lesbian woman from Sierra
Leone was forced to marry her aunt’s son:
I never thought about getting married to a man, I just wanted to fall in love with a
woman…They said I should get married to the son to get help with money…I told
my mum I can’t (MW19).
Having disclosed her sexuality, she experienced physical violence and ostracism:
I told my mum I can’t do that …my aunty started slapping me, punching me…you
want to be a prostitute and go out with women. (MW19).
A gay man (UK national) was pressurised to marry despite his parents knowing that he
was gay. His account demonstrates the pressure to conform and to meet parental and
community expectations. The pressure continued throughout his 20s and 30s despite
being in a relationship with his current (male) partner. A chance meeting with an Indian
lesbian on a trip to India presented an opportunity for both of them.
We concocted this plan where by we would talk to each other and see how it
would progress, I told her that if I would go back to my village in India I would
get the pressure, the pressure of being single and not married and the pressure of
the family expectation of my parents… but again it was by me trying to reconcile
those aspects of my life which was how do you fulfil your parent’s expectations.
(MM14)
They decided to get engaged and settle for a marriage of convenience:
I felt that actually I will do them a service that actually having this sham, a sham
marriage because sham in the way we weren’t attracted to each other, but she
happened to be a woman and I happened to be a man and we both could see the,
how to help each other in this arrangement (MM14).
However, the marriage did not take place as they both found it too difficult and painful.
7.1.5 Asylum and Immigration
Forced marriage experiences linked to asylum and immigration can be broadly divided in
two categories. The first were foreign nationals who were forced to marry either to
improve their own career and life chances (BRM3); or alternatively where UK nationals
19
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
were under obligation to improve the life chances of relatives from outside the EU
(THW5, BRM4). Also one woman (BRW7), a UK national, was forced to marry and live
abroad. The second category concerned women who were forced into marriage in their
countries of origin (outside the EU) and who had claimed or were claiming asylum in the
UK on the basis of gender persecution (MW1, MW19, MW20).
7.1.6 Poverty
Improving life chances as highlighted above may also be linked to poverty, and poverty
and hardship were explicitly mentioned by two African women as a route into forced
marriage. Both instances were linked to bride price (MW19 and MW20) (see also OotoOyertey and Pobi, 2003). Choice and consent were therefore not available in these
situations and crucially women were used as commodities to alleviate poverty:
For one of the women (MW19), the extreme poverty of her family (exacerbated by her
father’s death) was a key factor (together with issues of sexuality) initiating her forced
marriage:
Poverty is the major thing…if she [prospective in-laws] gives money, the family
won’t ask [for the young woman’s consent]…the money will buy rice for them.
…. Because of money, they will send their kids [for marriage] (MW19).
In the other participant’s account (MW20), bride price was also a central feature of
reducing family poverty and locked the woman further into the marriage:
the majority of the marriage you have to do…your father cannot afford to look
after you…you have to get married because you are forced you have to please
your family, to please society…your father is charging such substantial amounts
for you to get married… I can’t afford to pay the money [back] to them [in-laws]
so you have to stay there [in the marriage]. (MW20)
Women are thus structurally located as the conduit to family survival and women’s own
aspirations are subordinated within patriarchal structures:
Your father possesses you then your husband possesses you there is nowhere to
go…Women are money…. they say the more girls you have the more you will get
richer… (MW20)
7.1.7 Death of a Parent as a pre-cursor to forced marriage
In a surprising number of accounts, the death of a parent/guardian acted as a trigger for
forced marriage (MW7, MW8, MW9, MW19, THW6). This was linked directly to
poverty in one instance (MW19); in the remaining accounts women claimed they were
under greater pressure to marry to make their mothers happy and to ward off their
anxieties. As one survivor reported, her mother used to constantly say
what if something happens to me – you have to get married. (MW7)
20
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
MW7 was studying at university at the time. She did complete her course but was
married immediately afterwards, illustrating that in this instance being older and a
graduate did not prevent a forced marriage.
Following her guardian’s death, another participant (MW8, Pakistani national)
categorised her marriage as forced as she was made to marry a man (UK national) whom
she otherwise regarded as her brother.
7.1.8 Mental Distress
Attempts were made to force one man in marriage because he had mental health
problems (BRM1). In this case the man, who was a UK citizen, was taken to his country
of origin (Bangladesh) twice to be married, but he managed to escape before the marriage
was solemnised in either case. He believed that his mental health problems were
worsened due to this experience:
I was locked up, and ran out of medication…it was like torture. If I had a rope I
would have hanged myself (BRM1).
In other cases, women (MW4) commented that committing suicide was the only way to
prevent the forced marriage where other options had failed (MW1, MW4, MW16)
I couldn’t see any other options so taking tablets and ending my life was the only
option. (MW4)
7.2
Experiences During Marriage
Having discussed routes into forced marriage and related experiences as reported by
survivors, this section explores experiences during the marriage. These are particularly
important as they were central in survivors’ accounts and indicate that a forced marriage
does not stop being forced at the point of entry into a marriage but may influence the
experience of being in the marriage. During-marriage experiences and possible exit
strategies need to be legitimately conceptualised as part of policy and practice around
forced marriage. This also links with the definitional issues discussed above (section 5).
Out of the 18 survivors interviewed in Manchester, two did not get married. Of the
remainder, six were still married at the time of the interview, and ten were either
separated or divorced. Of the 20 interviewed in Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, three
were never married; 12 were still married at the time of the interview, and five were
separated or divorced.
7.2.1 Domestic Violence
As other research has revealed (Gangoli et al. 2006), there can be links between forced
marriage and further domestic violence during the relationship. Twelve of the female
respondents gave accounts of domestic violence during marriage (THW1, MW1, MW2,
MW3, MW11, MW12, MW13, MW16, MW17, MW18, MW19, MW20), and in some
21
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
cases, were abandoned once they immigrated to the UK after the marriage had been
entered into. Examples of domestic violence in the survivor accounts, reflecting a range
of ethnicities, include physical and sexual violence, emotional violence and using
immigration status as a way of controlling women
He [husband] threw me down the stairs and I landed on top of my baby, and my
baby was about six months old, less than that and I just thought I’ve got to get out
now, because if I don’t get out I’m going to die (MW18)
they[sisters-in-law] used to check for my bruises and my bust lip and you know
and basically heal me. And in the same context when I was explaining what was
happening, I was made out to be the wrong person, so straight away I would take
it inward, well you shouldn’t have said that to him (MW2)
when we got to our new home the violence just escalated, it did, it went off the
chart, it actually went off the chart… and I was beaten beyond repair sometimes.
(MW2)
For one survivor (MW20), the first time she called the police they suggested that she
should go into a refuge. However as her husband had paid a substantial bride-price for
her, she commented that this meant that she had to stay in the marriage as she could not
afford to pay him back. As he had ‘bought’ her, she believed that she had to stay with
him.
.. one day I asked him to take me to town with the kids…I had two babies…to
make it easier hoping you know and he said I am busy….I was begging but it was
bad to do that and he hold me head and battered me…I was bleeding everywhere
in the nose and the mouth…so that day I get from his hands and grabbed the
phone and I dialled 999 and I just said help …and he heard me say “ help” and
grabbed the phone off me and I didn’t manage to say anything at all and I don’t
know how they track the address and they came, the police came…they banged
the door and found me I was bleeding everywhere…they said what’s happening
and he said oh nothing…they came in and starting talking…I explained to them,
they said when did you come to England and I said I came I am his wife…the say
you have to go to refuge house and I said no I am his wife. (MW20)
This survivor’s husband also used immigration status to silence her:
I got married, soon after I came here [to the UK]to join him and it [domestic
violence] didn’t stop…I remember him saying that if you cry loudly or you scream
loudly I am going to the police and they will deport you because I am the one who
brought you here and poor me who didn’t know anything and my English at the
time was so poor…he is the one that knows everything…I knew absolutely
nothing…I couldn’t do anything, I kept quiet. (MW20)
22
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Using immigration status as a feature of domestic violence is also documented in other
literature (Batsleer et al. 2002; Gupta 2003; Hague et al. 2006).
There were also numerous instances of women being forced to have sex, that is raped,
once they were married:
I was a virgin about twenty days in this house[in-laws house] which… you know
shocking for both families, I didn’t want to establish any physical relationship
with him… after twenty days I was forced to do that. (MW1)
he was also forcing her to have sexual relationship with him even when she was
ill or when she had a period he was, he always wanted to have sex with her.
(MW17 via interpreter)
I tried to fight but he fight me, he punch me, kick me…He did it…you know…rape
me several times. (MW19)
7.2.2 Attempted Suicide and Self-harm
Abuse has been recognised as linked to mental distress, reflected in the Government’s strategy on
improving mental health services for women (DH, 2002), and in relation to South Asian women
(Chantler et al. 2001; Yazdani 1998). In the current study both male and female survivors
interviewed testified to the negative emotional impact of the forced marriage, in some
cases several years after the marriage had ended. This included an overwhelming feeling
of loss (THW6); depression (BRM3) and attempted suicide or self harm (THW8, MW1,
MW2, MW3, MW16, MW17, MW19).
I was depressed, I was in the risk of being suicidal again, because of my son [who
she had to leave behind] and you know, I became really crazy in that time, I
couldn’t even understand my feeling I was lost you know (MW1).
I tried to kill myself in this first week [after marriage], because… it’s just such a
major transition, it was just … such a different world to me… couldn’t cope with
it all I really couldn’t. It was a culture shock. (MW2)
…but as I say that [suicide] was the only alternative at the time so I didn’t really
know what would happen then, even if I survived it, but I remember taking [the
tablets] and not telling anybody and er, and then that night just erm very
traumatic (laying awake) waiting for death to come and take me (laughs). (MW16)
7.3
Exiting Forced Marriage: Immigration Status, Asylum and No Recourse to
Public Funds
Leaving a forced marriage can be particularly difficult as it involves all the problems
associated with leaving a consenting marriage with additional pressures arising from the
coercion (subtle or overt) which led to the marriage taking place in the first instance.
These are further complicated where there is an overseas dimension as this intersects with
23
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
immigration status. Some women who left their forced marriages were UK based and
married to UK nationals. Whilst not minimising the difficulties they encountered on
leaving their marriages, we focus here on women entering the UK from outside the EU,
and on women who were forced to sponsor a spouse from abroad.
Immigration and asylum issues featured in 14 survivor accounts. Twelve women and 2
men had or had had immigration or asylum issues. They came from the following Middle
Eastern, South Asian and African countries: Iran (1), Pakistan (7), Bangladesh (2), India
(2), Sierra Leone (1) and Mozambique (1).
7.3.1 Asylum
Three women had claimed or were in the process of claiming asylum (MW1, MW19,
MW20). Of these, one woman’s asylum claim had been accepted on the grounds of
gender persecution. She had been forced into a marriage and had subsequently met
another man whom she wanted to marry. This placed her in further danger:
Any relationship with a man, out of the rules in the decision of the family, because
this is really important also…, can bring you a big problem of the government,
because by the law when a woman and man are together without signing any
paper official papers, you can be stoned to death… before reaching the prison,
being there and being charged and after being stoned to death, you got two others
problems like, being killed by your own family or the in laws. (MW1).
Another survivor who had claimed asylum was unsuccessful and claimed that the
authorities did not believe that she was a lesbian who was forced into a marriage. She
commented that this caused her great distress, to the point of taking her own life,
Even if this country reject me I don’t know where I will go…it will be my dead
body going back [to Africa] (MW19)
I tried to commit suicide twice…I keep a diary in case and leave it where someone
can find in case I die…“I will kill myself before I go back to Africa…I am ready
for that…It’s really too much…at any time they can call me and say we are going
to deport you…I live life by the day. (MW19).
A third woman was in the process of claiming asylum (MW20), but at the time of the
interview had no recourse to public funds.
7.3.2 No Recourse to Public Funds
All the women above at some stage had no recourse to public funds and a further three
women who had left their forced marriages also had no recourse to public funds (MW11,
MW12, MW13). These three participants had applied for the domestic violence
concession and were awaiting decisions for ILR (indefinite leave to remain) at the time of
the interview. The last woman (MW8) with immigration issues was still in the
probationary period. Having no recourse to public funds compounds the impact of forced
24
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
marriage. Deportation is frequently unthinkable as the woman would be subject to the
same pressures (including violence) as she was subjected to prior to the marriage. Incountry flight may also be impossible due to gender inequalities and economic structures
(Siddiqui et al, forthcoming). No recourse to public funds therefore extends the forced
marriage and has a serious, detrimental impact on women’s ability to access support
services. Obtaining a place in a refuge is dependent on individual refuges’ capacity to
independently financially support women with no recourse as well as local partnerships
particularly with social services departments. This theme is also widely reflected in other
research (Batsleer et al. 2002; Chantler et al. 2001) and from BME policy and
campaigning groups (SBS and Imkaan – and see the stakeholder and familiarisation visit
interview findings, below).
7.3.3 Sponsoring a spouse
While a number of marriages involved the movement of immigrants from different
countries, for one respondent (THW5), the experience of sponsoring her spouse was
extremely traumatic. Following the forced marriage in her country of origin, she returned
to the UK, and her husband joined her subsequently. When he was due to regularise his
visa, she unsuccessfully attempted to resist pressure from her mother and her husband to
support his application, and after he got his resident status, they were divorced. She
subsequently wrote to the immigration authorities about her experience, but had not heard
back from them. The experience left her feeling extremely traumatised.
8.
Marriage practices across a range of communities – findings from the focus
groups
As outlined earlier, 15 focus groups were conducted with 97 individuals from South
Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Irish and lesbian friendly communities, and covering a
range of religious communities. (Appendix Four provides more detail). In this section we
outline the marriage practices and related use of forced marriage in different communities
as discussed by the focus group participants. The focus groups revealed that there was a
range of marriage practices within different communities, and as with the survivor
interviews elucidated different routes into forced marriage including: poverty and bride
price primarily in African communities; control over sexuality in South Asian, Middle
Eastern, and Chinese communities; immigration in South Asian, Middle Eastern, Chinese
and African communities.
8.1
Chinese community
Two focus groups were conducted with Chinese women of different ages. In both groups,
a distinction was initially made between ‘ancient’ marriage practices, where arranged
marriages and forced marriages were the norm, and the present day where they did not
think there was forced marriage and where young people had the right to choose their
partners, whether living in China or the UK. During discussion, however, respondents
also felt that there might be financial pressures on young people to marry, that this could
be interpreted as force, and that they were aware of present day examples involving
women from rural areas of China forced to marry men within China and possibly abroad.
25
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
8.2
South Asian communities
Four focus groups were conducted with a mixture of individuals from South Asian
communities, including Pakistani, Punjabi Indian, mixed race, Indian and Bengali. While
the marriage practices of some of these communities will be discussed in more detail
below, this section will briefly look at general South Asian attitudes to forced marriage.
Pakistani, Sikh and Bengali respondents emphasised the role of arranged marriages, and
the centrality of familial role in such marriages. In general there was an emphasis on the
importance of marriage ’as a milestone’ (P1, South Asian young men FG). Some Muslim
South Asian respondents stated categorically that in their religion, forced marriage was
not allowed, even though it was practiced at a societal level (Girls 6th Form College FG).
There was also a large measure of agreement that issues around ability to refuse marriage
were gendered, exemplified by the following extract from the South Asian Young men’s
focus group:
Int: Well do you think it would be different for him than it is for her?
R3: He might carry more weight, cause he’s a boy, if he says I don’t want to
marry her, he might then, it might be easier to call it off.
R1: Yeh, it shows a, sort of status, sort of thing, that women in this background,
err, are a lot less higher than men. …. so if you’re saying that a man’s choice will
carry more weight, it shows that a woman is not equal to a man. (South Asian
Young men’s FG)
Some respondents noted the shifts in societal attitudes suggesting that
… as time’s gone on everyone’s become more, modern and more susceptible to
relationships, where love is involved’ (P1, South Asian young men FG).
However this respondent then went on to highlight the difficulties he was himself facing
as he was in love with a young South Asian woman from a different religious group.
8.3
Bangladeshi community
Three focus groups were conducted specifically with members of the Bangladeshi
community, and a further two groups with mixed South Asian and other communities
where some respondents were Bangladeshi in origin. There was a difference in
perception between these different groups, largely based on age and gender. Younger
Bangladeshi women under the age of 20 were most likely to suggest that forced marriage
was common in their community, while young men of the same age group, and older
married women felt that arranged marriage, not forced, was the practice within the
Bengali community in the UK.
26
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The young Bangladeshi women understood forced marriage as happening primarily in the
context of young women and men being taken to Bangladesh to be married:
R1: Well, they say they’re taking you for a holiday, and then they take you back
there and then they get you married.
R2: Or when a daughter of the family is misbehaving, or gets caught on doing
something wrong, like with a boyfriend or smoking or doing
R3: Drugs.
R2: yeah drugs or alcohol, anything wrong, that’s it.
R4: Yeah they use that as an excuse to take you back you home and thingy. And
when you’re young, they will, for some reason they kind of arrange this for you.
You don’t know this. And they
R2: professionally
R1: They’d say you’re going on holiday but actually, you actually realise that
you’re married off or what not.
Group: Yeah. Yeah.
R1: Within weeks
(Bangladeshi girls FG).
In contrast, the young men conceptualised these marriages as taking place where it was
difficult to find partners within the UK, thereby believing that these were, in the main
consensual:
R1: Maybe they think like their kids can’t get like, find her one here i’n it?
Int: Mm. Why is that?
R1: Yeah. Um if they’re not like good enough for anyone in this country they, like
you know, if you go to a different country, it doesn’t matter what you look like,
you can get married.
R3: It’s more based on like looks.
Group: (laugh)
(Bangladeshi boys FG).
While both young women and young men acknowledged the role that emotional pressure
could play in forcing young people to marry, the boys were less sympathetic to the
vignette that described the dilemma of a young Bangladeshi Muslim woman in a
27
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
relationship with a non Muslim. One of the boys felt that the woman in the vignette was
merely ‘pressurising herself’. However it was suggested by Bengali respondents of both
genders and all ages that the woman could only marry her boyfriend if he ‘reverted’ to
Islam, otherwise she was likely to lose the parental support vital for a successful
marriage:
R1: If she falls in love with non-Muslim man, her mother cannot give her
permission. Because it is against her religion. Unless he reverts. You should
always take your parent’s view into consideration.
R2: She can marry him, but has to leave her own family and if it does not work
out, then she will lose the support of her family.
R3: I know a girl who went off with a Jamaican boy. Had children. Then he left
her. The girl came back to the family but her family did not accept her (Bengali
older women’s FG).
Bengali young women again pointed out that there was a gendered difference, or double
standard, in that expectations for women and men were different:
R4: For girls it’s really difficult.
Int: So if a Muslim man marries a non-Muslim girl, then she doesn’t have to
convert to Islam?
Group: She does. She does.
R6: She can take her time.
R3: She has to have the intention.
R2: Yeah. Because in our religion it says that the children are supposed to follow
the father’s religion anyway. So whether the mother is Muslim or not it doesn’t
matter as long as the children follow the father’s religion, which has to be Islam.
The reason being that men were seen as dominant in the family:
R3: …a Muslim can marry a Jewish, or Christian other woman ‘cos like he has to
bring up the kids as Muslim.
R1: Yeah. He has to lead the family (Bangladeshi girls FG).
8.4
Sikh community (Indian)
28
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
One focus group was conducted with Sikh women. Respondents from this group
emphasised that parents play a central role in arranging marriages between young people,
and talked about the role of the ’vacholie’, that is ‘introducers’ who act as a go-betweens
in marriage arrangements. The group also discussed Sikh wedding practices, which were
seen as ostentatious, and could be linked to dowry demands (Jhutti 1998). They felt that
there was consequently a need to tone down weddings.
In the main, within arranged marriages, young people were not allowed to date and they
were generally expected to make a decision to go ahead with the marriage after one or
two meetings. Respondents however believed that both boys and girls had the right to
break off the engagement:
R3: Generally, either the boy or girl can back out at any time and most families
will prefer this to the marriage breaking down afterwards. This might bring
disrespect on the family, but the level of disrespect will be far worse if the couple
divorced (Sikh women FG).
As in the case of Bengali respondents, there was a general feeling that marriages outside
the religion would be unacceptable, but some respondents asserted that there could be
differences regarding this within generations, based on whether the older generation was
British born or settled in the UK for a long time. There was an implication that such
parents would be less ‘traditional’ and more likely to accept intercommunity marriages
for the sake of their children’s happiness.
Respondents did not think that force was an issue in marriages where a woman had to
marry a man because she was pregnant, believing that this would be a marriage arranged
to save face. However, respondents believed that pressurising a gay or a mentally or
physically disabled person to marry would lead to a forced marriage.
8.5
Middle Eastern communities
One focus group was conducted with a mixed Middle Eastern population including Arab,
Moroccan and Jordanian respondents. A further focus group was conducted with Iraqi
Kurds and another with Iranians.
Among Syrian, Iranian and Moroccan respondents there was a perception that there was
no forced marriage, and also that these communities permitted young people to marry
outside the community. Arranged and introduction marriages were seen as common, and
these were often arranged through familial and community networks. Some marriages
were arranged with partners from ‘back home’, but often at the ages of 23 or 24 in the
case of women. By contrast, Kurdish women reported a range of marriage practices
including early marriages of girls before the age of 16 and an increase in polygamous
marriages in Iraq in the last few years.
The mixed Middle Eastern group accepted that there could be emotional pressure in
relation to some arranged marriages, and that such marriages were thus forced. This was
29
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
less clear in instances where a woman who was pregnant outside of marriage and was
pressurised into marriage. Some thought this was forced, others disagreed, seeing this as
merely rational or normal practice.
R1: She has to, she has no choice, the baby needs to have a father.
Int: But that then is forced?
R2: No, no.
R3: Its not forced marriage, she has to marry him, how can she have a baby from
him, if she didn’t love him?
R2: … in Muslim culture, the baby must be within marriage and for the baby to be
legitimate and legal, it has to be within marriage, there is no child outside the
marriage institution. Outside marriage, another name will be given to the baby
(Middle Eastern women FG).
Within the Iranian focus group, there was less concern about women’s sexual purity
before marriage, and it was suggested that immigrant and diasporic Iranians were less
likely to be concerned with such notions.
With regard to pressure on gay people to marry, Arab, Syrian, Iranian and Moroccan
respondents agreed that this could be seen as a forced marriage, but also pointed out that
homosexuality was not allowed within Islam. Iranian respondents were more critical of
such attitudes, and suggested that they would accept their children’s sexuality even if
they were not personally comfortable with it:
While Iranian respondents believed that in their community based in the UK, women
often enjoyed a dominant role within the family, the focus group conducted with
members of the Kurdish community revealed the perception that women in their
community experienced gender discrimination, manifested through sexual control, early
marriages, polygamy, forced marriage and domestic violence.
R1: …They (girls) are under so much pressure from their family. And some of
them they accept it easily because they say obeying a father, brother means
everything. Because it is a culture. But most of them, the others, they are kind of
liberated and they, their wives, they do not accept it and they kill themselves or
they live with this depression for ever. And that is why the issue of domestic
violence was very very high in UK, especially in the Kurdish community because
of that, forced marriage (Kurdish women FG).
It was also suggested that more girls than boys were forced into marriage and that forced
marriage came about due to fears of sexual promiscuity by girls, and was therefore linked
30
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
to ideas of familial honour. One of the respondents also made a connection between
forced marriage and honour killing, with the common theme being control over sexuality:
R1: You hear sometimes that boys living here and girls living back in Iraq, and
their family says that you have to marry this girl and the boy does not it. They
force the boy to go back marry bringing her to London and then you know later
the boy start to beat the girl. But this is very very rare. It is generally women who
are forced.
R2: Excuse me; I see they force the boy to marry his cousin.
Int: Here or at home?
R3: Both. The only difference is that here is less than there. That is the only
difference… Only suspicious is enough for a woman to get killed within Kurdish
community, especially in Iraq. That is why there are so many honour killings
(Kurdish women FG).
8.6
African communities
Two focus groups were conducted with members from African communities, one with
Ugandan professionals, and the other with women from Kenya, Ghana and Cameroon.
The Ugandan focus group focused on the centrality of tribe and caste categories in
marriage arrangements. They also reported on international marriages involving very
young brides from Uganda married to much older men living in the UK, defining this as a
form of child abuse.
R2: A man who is forty-five, marrying a sixteen year or seventeen year old, is not
marrying a wife. He’s marrying a…
R1: Slave.
R2: A slave. Someone he can control. Someone he can tell to do what he wants to
do when. Somebody who doesn’t know where to find help. Someone who is locked
in the house as he goes to work. You know it’s just a way of, child abuse.
R4: Getting somebody he can abuse yeah
(Ugandan group FG).
Gender, social class and access to education were all seen as common determining factors
in forced marriages among Ugandan people, both in Uganda and in the UK. Therefore
education was often a way to defer marriage, especially among middle class people, who
believed that women’s role was to marry. As with other communities the gendered
differences between expectations for women and men were noted, and in this instance a
financial reason was attributed for this.
31
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
R4: When you go lower, across all the culture of the different cultural identities
that we have, the single aspiration, across all the cultures, is marriage. So girls
are born for marriage.
Int: What about the boys?
R4: The boys are free. Their inheritance is assured.
Group: Mm. Mm.
R3: To place a property wife.
R4: Inherit, inherit, place a good wife, get…
Group: Dowry
(Ugandan FG).
In addition the issue of poverty and bride price was seen as linked to forced marriage:
R3: Yes. Because if a father thinks, believes that he can get so many manner of
cattle or dowry, out of this one girl, and he can use that for three of his sons, to
marry, to get them wives, then he’s going to get that girl out of school at thirteen
R2: And that income is used for the sons to get married. So again it’s still using
you know, exploiting the girl child (Ugandan FG).
Similarly respondents from Ghana and Kenya believed that issues of class, poverty and
gender were vital in marriage practices, especially in cases of forced marriage
8.7
Lesbian-friendly Group
This focus group was ethnically diverse. It has been included as a ‘community’ to
highlight that it is not only ethnicity, but a range of other factors that make a group a
community. This was a common thread within the discussion and is also discussed later
in relation to culture and sexuality. Interestingly women from all the ethnic groups
represented spoke of the pressure to marry in line with hetero-normative structures within
dominant and minoritised communities:
P5: just thinking from erm professional experience and knowing friends people
perhaps in situations where communities where marriage practices are so
ingrained and are so important so it’s not a question of ok well not this one
another one, or ok, well you don’t need to get married, you know where marriage
is such an important practice and rites of passage…not just…the two people
involved but the family the community… I think it’s extremely difficult to extricate
yourself…its not just the parents you’re saying no… it’s a mark to a lot of other
people. (Lesbian-friendly FG)
32
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
A key related theme was how marriage is frequently seen as a ‘cure’ for being lesbian or
gay and that this a contributory factor in forced marriages:
P6: I guess for me I wouldn’t necessarily see that as just peculiar to this [South
Asian] community …I think that that’s happened in white communities and
majoritised communities as well…if you get married then that will iron out all the,
the bumps of your sexuality so to speak and frankly that saying isn’t it, all she
needs is a good fuck… (Lesbian-friendly FG)
Another central theme was the issue of shame and how a lesbian or gay person may be
wary of being perceived as letting their family or community down:
P2: This whole thing about the community isn’t it and like you know it that whole
thing with like you have let us down and all that kind of stuff… blame themselves
so I think it’s also that thing about wanting to you know protect your parents if
you’re close to them you don’t want them to be you know giving themselves a
hard time. (Lesbian-friendly FG)
In relation to gender, the group’s view was that gay men would have different pressures
to marry than lesbian women and that the coercion strategies would largely be around
cultural and emotional pressure rather than physical violence. Overall, the view was
expressed that it would be easier for a gay man to resist the pressure to marry compared
to a lesbian.
P4: do you know my feeling and response to this one [vignette] is different it does
feel like he’s got some power and control, you know I don’t feel terrified for him
you know and … I’m not saying that that’s right but my instincts are that.
(Lesbian-friendly FG)
9.
Communities in Which Forced Marriage Occurs
One aim of the research was to ascertain the range of communities in which forced
marriage happens. The focus group data outlined in the previous section indicated that the
marriage practices from a wide range of communities might involve forced marriage, for
reasons of poverty and economics, control of sexuality, and immigration. This section
examines the issue by examining wider aspects of the research.
The mapping survey asked whether forced marriage happened in the communities
covered by the work of the respondents. While the number of respondents working with
any particular community were small, especially where the Chinese and Latin American
communities were concerned, the findings none the less suggest that forced marriage is
an issue across a wide range of communities. At least two-thirds of respondents thought
33
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
that forced marriage took place in their particular community. The affirmative responses
(by community) were as follows:






South Asian 81.1% (43/53)
Somali 66.7% (20/30)
Other African 76.0% (19/25)
Chinese 81.8% (9/11)
Middle Eastern 77.3% (17/22)
Latin American 77.8% (7/9)
Most mapping survey respondents (34/79, 43%) thought that forced marriage cases
involved marriage to someone abroad who would settle in the UK after marriage. Being
forced to marry within the UK, or being forced to marry someone abroad with the
intention of settlement there, were considered the smallest categories (both 7/79, 8.8%)
(see Appendix Five).
Forced marriage was seen by stakeholders as an issue in a wide range of communities
outside the South Asian Diaspora. This included Irish traveller women,
orthodox/fundamental religious communities, Armenian, Turkish, some mainland
Chinese communities, possibly Eastern European communities (linked to trafficking and
prostitution and some African countries, in particular Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.
The focus group participants mentioned a number of ethnic and religious communities
where forced marriage was seen as taking place both within and outside the EU. This
included Irish Catholic, Jewish and travelling communities.
While some South Asian respondents from Sikh (Indian), Bangladeshi and Pakistani
communities accepted that forced marriage did take place in their community, others
believed that the problem was not as extreme as was depicted within popular culture and
the media. Several Muslim respondents did not think forced marraige was a problem
specific to their religion and pointed out that Islamic marriage was ‘based on consent’
(R5, Bangladeshi boys group).
Some participants from Middle Eastern communities thought that forced marriage was a
common occurrence in their communities, and Kurdish women stated that this was a
major issue among Kurdish communities but was very common among the Kurds, where:
90% of girls aged between 15-35 were forced to marry’ (R3, Kurdish women
FG).
However Iranian respondents stated that while forced marriage was historically a
problem within their community, it was no longer practiced, especially within the Iranian
diaspora in the UK.
34
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
There was a perception among Sikh and some African Christian respondents that Muslim
women were more likely to be forced into marriage than any other community, and this
was due to their religion, and due to customs such as arranged marriages between
cousins. African respondents also considered that forced marriage often took place in
some tribes in Uganda, where there were restrictions about marrying outside the tribe,
and ideas about cultural superiority:
Well I’ll give you an example. This young man I know who’s done very well who’s
a medic, he’s a doctor. And he’s had his girlfriend for about, maybe all six years.
…. He’s a Jopadhola and she’s Ankole. Two different tribes, two different, one is
a Luyia, one is a Bantu. I mean her father won’t have it. And I think he’s also
from the Royal Family. And he won’t have that marriage. He’s refused to meet
her… It’s not the education. Because the man hasn’t come from the same tribe.
(R3, Ugandan FG).
There was agreement within the Lesbian-friendly focus group that forced marriage was
most frequently perceived as occurring in South Asian communities only, although in
practice it took place in other communities as well, including among travellers:
… I have recently worked with two young women from the travellers community
who erm presented [as] homeless saying that they had disputes with their
parents…And then their story was more than a dispute with their parents, it was
about they had been sleeping together and they had been courting and carrying
on together and, and one of them was supposed to be getting married to some
other fella and just and it’s that thing about even short lines of case studies, when
you start unravelling them, the mass of things that are behind those stories. (P3,
Lesbian-friendly FG)
The majority of survivors interviewed were South Asian and so unsurprisingly most
survivors cited South Asian communities as communities in which forced marriage takes
place. However, many participants also cited a range of other religious communities:
Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Jewish people. For instance, in relation to African and
African Caribbean communities:
It has always been the case in Somalia; the mother has always chosen erm who
the daughters were going to marry (MW17).
The few African and African Caribbean female survivors interviewed implied that the
focus on South Asian communities regarding to forced marriages obscured what was
happening in their own communities:
…everyone says Forced Marriage is the Asian way… they know just one side of
the Forced Marriage, for example you could not believe that I didn’t want to get
married, that people are forced in different countries, different tribes, different
35
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
traditions, where you don’t want to marry ….you can feel what’s the
consequences of telling people what’s happening…there not much information
about that…we hear more about the Asian side but there are so many people are
forced to get married for different reasons a simple reason your father is poor
and he wants money[bride price] …you have to please your family can’t just do it
for yourself (MW20, African woman)
I think a lot of other people out there think, they think forced they think oh, that
happens to Asian women, it doesn’t happen to us not in our community (MW18,
African-Caribbean woman)
A minority of participants expressed the view that forced marriages happens in all
societies. For one participant this was structured around gendered norms of compulsory
heterosexuality:
I will take that one step further and say in what community do we not see the
pressure of marriage, yeah, I would say that we as a society are trained, from a
very young age to believe that there are particular roles we need to fulfil and the
other aspect of our life is that we want to fulfil those roles. (MW14)
Contrary to perceptions that forced marriage is confined to ‘under-developed’
communities, this participant also asked:
10.
I mean you know does somebody want to ask Prince Charles, did he feel he had a
choice (laughs) and then we’ll move on from there (MW16)
Perceived Risks and Benefits of Raising the Age of Sponsorship or Entry of a
Spouse
One of the questions the research set out to explore related to the impact of the recent
increase in the age of sponsorship or entry from 16 to 18 years, and any benefits and risks
that might be associated with increasing the age of sponsorship or entry further to 21 or
24. As outlined in the methodology section above, these issues were explored from a
number of angles including interviews with survivors, with stakeholders, use of focus
groups and via a mapping survey of organisations.
10.1 Raising the age from 16 to 18
With regard to the raising of the age from 16 to 18, there was a general perception that
this had not made a noticeable difference. For instance, most respondents to the mapping
survey indicated that they did not think that the raising of the age of sponsorship or entry
of a spouse from 16 to 18 had made a difference to the number of forced marriages in the
communities they worked with (40/79, 51%) or they were not aware that it had had any
impact (30/79, 38%). Only a few individuals thought that there had been a noticeable
impact (5/79, 6.3%). This was even starker in relation to the stakeholder interviews,
where none of the stakeholder agencies interviewed reported noticing any difference in
their work around forced marriages since the increase in age for sponsorship or entry
36
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
from 16 to 18. Some stakeholders did not know that the age had been raised and others
did not in any case work with under-18s.
With regard to survivors, just over a quarter (9/38, 26.5%) of the individuals interviewed
wholeheartedly agreed with the increase in age to 18, and felt that the increase was
beneficial in giving some young people more choices for education and marriage. (See
also Appendix Two, table?) .
Among the focus groups there was some disagreement as to whether raising the age of
sponsorship and entry to 18, 21 or 24 would be beneficial in preventing forced marriage,
and in many of the groups there was no internal agreement. Of those responding to this
question, almost a quarter (21/88, 23.9%) believed that 18 was the right age for
sponsorship and entry, while about one in five (19/88, 19.3%) saw no benefit to any
increase in age, whether to 18, 21 or 24. In general, most respondents from different
communities felt that increasing the age beyond 18 carried with it many risks.
(See also Appendix Four, table 16)
10.2 Benefits and Risks Associated with Raising the Age to 21 or 24
Three main views regarding the raising of the age of sponsorship or entry to 21 or 24
were discernable across the research:



that raising the age might be beneficial in allowing the individuals concerned to
attain education and maturity;
that age is not the main issue and is largely irrelevant and that forced marriages
may take place at a wide range of ages. Raising the age would therefore have no
impact on numbers but would mainly be perceived as discriminatory in a variety
of ways; and
that raising the age would increase the risk of the individuals concerned being
taken abroad or in other ways being hidden.
These different views are reflected by the following stakeholder comments:
It’s [increase in age] amazing, it’s a good idea. (Government Office North West).
A possible benefit would be that young people would have the chance of
completing their education, university could be an acceptable escape route and
would lead to financial independence, so making it potentially easier to counter
family pressures. (University Counselling Service)
Age is an irrelevant variable and unfairly targets specific groups (NAWP)
A forced marriage is a forced marriage and age will not make a difference. ….It’s
not about maturity only what’s available [in terms of services] and what
information is out there (Central Manchester Women’s Aid).
37
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Generally, respondents from the different aspects of the research tended to see a rise in
age to 21 or 24 as a potentially negative step. None of the organisations interviewed for
the familiarisation visits wholeheartedly endorsed an increase to either 21 or even
partially to 24 years. Only four out of 45 (8.9%) stakeholder organisations interviewed
wholeheartedly endorsed an age increase to 21 and only three (6.7%) wholeheartedly
supported an increase to 24 years. (See Appendix One for totals and percentages).
Benefits associated with greater maturity and access to education and potential financial
independence were most frequently cited, but these were perceived as largely outweighed
by the risks. Risks included young people being taken abroad to marry, the
discriminatory nature of the proposals as largely to do with immigration, breaching of
human rights, and not actually tackling domestic/EU forced marriages.
Where survivors were concerned, the largest group (12/349, 35.3%) did not agree with
any age increase at all because it was seen as discriminatory on racial and ethnic grounds,
and in relation to arranged and love marriages. It was also suggested that increasing the
age further could increase risks of forced marriage and could increase, rather than
decrease, violence against women. Any further increase to 21 was seen as potentially
useful in preventing forced marriage by 7 of the 34 respondents, but 6 of these also cited
substantial risks. (See Appendix Two for totals and percentages).
Among the focus groups only 3.4% wholeheartedly endorsed the increase to 21, with a
further 29.5% seeing some benefits although alongside substantial risks. More endorsed
the increase to 24 (23.9% (See Appendix Four, table 16). There was little support in most
of the focus groups for raising the age to 21 or 24, except among young Bangladeshi girls
and older Chinese women. There was strong opposition to a further rise in in the age
from several other focus groups, and there was a perception that the step would be
counterproductive and discriminatory to some communities and individuals.
10.3 Perceived benefits of raising the age
Generally, benefits of increasing the age of sponsorship to 18 and beyond were seen as
related to increased maturity, an opportunity to complete education and be financially
independent. These were the issues focused on to varying degrees by stakeholders, focus
group participants, and survivors.
Some stakeholder organisations reported that if the age was raised women in their
twenties were less likely to be considered as potential wives as they would be ‘too old’
within some cultural contexts (e.g. Mifumi, Sudanese Women’s Alliance Manchester,
CSIP West Midlands, Irish Welfare Birmingham 10). All these factors were considered to
promote resilience and might prevent forced marriages - however alongside these most of
these organisations also cited substantial and serious risks associated with an increase in
age (see section on risks below).
9
34 of the 38 survivors interviewed answered this question.
It should be noted that in some case this was seen as both a benefit and a risk
10
38
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The main perceived benefit cited by survivors interviewed was increased maturity. Nine
(26.5%) participants agreed with the increase in age to 18, with most of these
commenting that raising the age from 16 to 18 was beneficial in giving some young
people more choices, although it had not specifically impacted on any of them. One
believed that older women and men were more likely to be
…mature, and that will make their marriage work better… (BRM1).
Another woman felt that the increase might allow some women more time to pursue their
education or career, but felt that this would only be valid in the context of young people
who performed well in their education or careers. A Pakistani born woman (MW12)
commented:
I have worked in the factory as well and there were some girls there who were
working with me who were British born and they were told to work immediately
because they had to work in order to bring their husbands over from Pakistan. If
the age is increased from eighteen to twenty one they can gain a chance to study
further rather than pull them out of education and make them work in order to
call their husband’s over (MW12)
Despite this, she later commented that increasing the age to 21 was too late for girls.
Some focus group respondents supported an increase to 21 also based on ideas of
increased maturity, access to education and professional training:
I think the benefits er that you might have, might have been able to go through er
some sort of training, some sort of higher education, so you might have that under
your belt which might give you more options (R6, Lesbian friendly FG).
Only two focus groups unanimously supported the increase in age to 24 – the
Bangladeshi girls and older Chinese women. Both groups argued that raising the age it
would provide time for girls to complete their education, and to become more
independent, which would give them the ability to resist being forced into marriage:
Int: Do you have, believe there are any more benefits of increasing the (someone
coughs loudly) further from eighteen to twenty one or, what is better, twenty one,
twenty-four?
Group: TWENTY FOUR (loudly, many voices in unison)
R2: You know what you’re doing at that age and you kind of listen
R3: In control and independent. You’re much more confident your Mom and Dad
if you disagree with it because you’re like, I’m old like I said I’m older now. If
you’re sixteen you wouldn’t disagree with your Mom and Dad… take them for the
39
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
best. But if you’re older you might have…more confidence.
FG).
(Bangladeshi girls
There was also a belief that increasing the age to 24 would discourage men from
Bangladesh to enter into marriages primarily for immigration purposes:
R2:
But which man wait, are you talking, you know like, that long or
something. Over there they’re going to think, ‘Hang on man. You know I can’t go
to London that quickly so I might as well look for another bird that’s you know
R6: Older.
Group: Yeah.
R2: See that’s going to make the different, ‘cos it’s someone mind at sixteen, and
they come here at like
Group: Twenty one, twenty-four
(Bangladeshi girls FG).
10.4 Age as immaterial
A significant minority of organisations who took part in stakeholder and familiarisation
interviews (37.8% of stakeholders and 50% of familiarisation visit participants) opposed
any increase as they considered age to be an irrelevant variable in forced marriage. These
were all organisations with substantial face-to-face experience of working with victims of
forced marriage e.g. NAWP, SBS, Central Manchester Women’s Aid, Birmingham
Women’s Aid, Bradford Police).
Some focus group respondents believed that the age at marriage was irrelevant because
parents and communities would force women and in some cases men from marrying no
matter what the age.
I do not think it would make any difference. Those who want to do it they will do
it (R1, Iranian FG).
This was echoed by the survivor interviews:
it [age] doesn’t really matter because they’ll do it anyway, it will happen (MW4)
I think if some parents are going to do it they can force you at twenty one as well
though can’t they don’t care how old you are, my dad didn’t care how old I was
(MW5)
Focus group participants from the Sikh and Bangladeshi communities talked about the
general trend in their communities towards marriage taking place at a later age, and that
40
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
the increase in age of entry might therefore not affect cases of forced marriage for that
reason.
10.5 Risks of increasing the age of sponsorship or entry
Three common themes could be identified across the research regarding the risks
associated with increasing the age of sponsorship or entry:
i.
ii.
iii.
increased risks to potential victims, including potential psychological
and physical impacts;
the discriminatory nature of the proposed increase in age; and
human rights implications.
10.5.1 Increased risks to potential victims
Many participants were concerned that parents could keep young people out of the
country for up to 8 years if the age of sponsorship or entry increased to 21 or 24 years:
If parents are going to emotionally blackmail their child, then they will do it
anyway, they will take their children abroad and keep them until they are 21 or
24. (Birmingham Central Mosque)
Some stakeholder organisations (e.g. Jewish Women’s organisation, FWA Birmingham)
pointed out that the (legal) marriage age would be lower in some countries, so raising the
age in the UK would not prevent a forced marriage abroad involving a British national.
During this time the victim may have borne children (possibly under pressure) as children
often have a positive impact for immigration purposes (SBS, Doli Project (Birmingham).
Increased personal costs to the person and exacerbating the trauma were also cited (e.g.
MPS, University Counselling Service, Manchester) as the victim may have been subject
to regular abuse during this period without access to support services (Jewish Women’s
organisation). Furthermore, the young person could be kept in a monitored environment
overseas for a longer period than if they were in the UK (e.g. FCO).
Survivors who were interviewed also felt that the policy would increase, rather than
decrease, violence against women as young women would potentially be kept under
surveillance for a longer period by families. Moreover, increasing the age to 21 or 24
would lead to later marriages, which would contribute to ‘immorality’ as sexuality would
not be contained within marriage (THW3).
The counselling service interviewed in Manchester reported that increasing the age could
lead to an increase in self-harming amongst potential victims as they would have to spend
a longer time being in a controlling environment even within the UK (see also section
7.2.2. above). In Chantler et al, (2001), forced marriage alongside other forms of
domestic violence was a major precursor to attempted suicide and self-harm. Other
stakeholders also commented on the detrimental features of mental ill-health linked to
age. Suicide attempts were also a feature in the survivor narratives.
41
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
10.5.2 Concerns about the discriminatory nature of the proposals
Stakeholders expressed concerns that raising the age of sponsorship or entry was not
about tackling forced marriage and protecting women, but about the underpinning subtext
of immigration control. Thus the:
agenda of the governments is not to protect women but to keep people out [of the
UK]’ (ADVANCE Tower Hamlets)
This view was expressed by many others (e.g. NAWP, BWAIC, Birmingham, CMWA,
Manchester; Irish Welfare Birmingham, GO Midlands):
Communities will view it as the Government only looking at it as an immigration
issue particularly when there is little other work/funding and will see this as the
government killing two birds with one stone and stopping certain groups from
entering the UK (South Asian women’s domestic violence service, Manchester)
Immigration is at the root rather than preventing forced marriage. It does not
prevent marriage, just prevents the couple being in the UK if one party is from
overseas (Jewish Women’s organisation)
The age question does not address the issue of forced marriage but it does allow
for unfair immigration controls to be imposed on specific groups within the
population (NAWP)
…making immigration procedure more restrictive and less transparent is nothing
else than racist and discriminatory (Imkaan)
This supports evidence from Denmark which suggests that increasing the age has had a
disproportionate effect on minoritised communities and has increased racial tension
(SBS; Phillips and Dustin 2004; Madsen 2003).
Over a third of the survivors interviewed (n=12, 35.3%) did not agree with any age
increase at all, seeing it as discriminatory:
…are you saying that as an Asian woman or if I choose to marry abroad that
therefore I don’t know what I am doing? So why not accept that we will put all
young women to say actually marriage you know it’s a life choice and therefore
maybe you should be a choice that you make later on in life - or don’t raise the
age at all, don’t make the distinction… the issue is about the distinction. (MW16)
…after GCSE people are allowed to work and study, why not marry? (BRM2)
“I just think it’s completely outrageous, that actually you know of state enforced
ideas of when is an acceptable age to get married, you know. I mean it’s the same
law that applied to when, when they had the criminalisation for homosexuality,
42
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
you know we had an age, an age limit for sexuality for between heterosexuals and
homosexuals, twenty one and eighteen, sixteen and we reversed that, so why now
saying in terms of, in terms of marriage why, I mean it’s ridiculous, so we’re ok to
have sexual relationships with anyone we like at sixteen and yet by marriage in
terms of cultural terms your saying we should get married because the state says
so that it would be better for us. Sorry it’s completely discriminatory and it’s
completely going to back fire, in a big way” (MW14)
Three respondents thought that young people would feel that not only was a distinction
being made between different communities, but that the state was trying to control them
as ‘parents’:
yeah you’re [British state] imposing rules on people and that’s exactly what the
parents are doing. …‘They’ve [minoritised communities] been told this is the law,
but that law doesn’t go, it doesn’t match the law of the land, it doesn’t match the
law of their beliefs and cultures, so they’re going to weigh up which one they
would rather adhere to. Their own law which they’ve eaten and drank and lived
on for their whole lives and in generation after generation, or this new fancy law
that’s come along saying that we have to wait till they’re 21, how dare you’
(MW2)
Several survivors also believed that different BME communities would see any increase
in age as being discriminatory, and therefore that the general response to such a change
would be negative.
10.5.3 Human rights implications
Three themes were identified by stakeholders. First, participants were concerned about
the disparity in age of marriage between those who married a UK/EU national compared
to UK nationals marrying a foreign national (e.g. IND Croydon and Sheffield, Jewish
Community Organisation, FWA Birmingham). Second, as increasing the age of
sponsorship or entry would also affect arranged and love marriages, this was seen as
‘stamping out cultures and customs’ and as a ‘sledgehammer’ approach. Third, some
agencies commented that it was contradictory for people to be regarded as adults at 18,
but not to be able to marry till 21 or 24.
In terms of protecting young people: 18 is reasonable, 21 is difficult [to justify]
and 24 is impossible [to justify]. (IND, Sheffield)
It will also discriminate against arranged marriages (as opposed to forced
marriages) (Jewish Women’s organisation).
Such a policy would be contentious in relation to race equality, social cohesion
and civil rights (Headteacher, Girls School, Tower Hamlets)
43
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The issue of human rights, and the right to a family life was raised across different focus
groups; including South Asian, Chinese, Iranian and African. Generally any increase
beyond 18 was perceived as discriminatory, as it would only appear to only some
communities, and some nationalities.
R1: Are they just raising it to, because they want to stop Bangladeshi people
coming into this country?
Int: You think that most of the cases for forced marriage are Bangladeshi. Is that
it?
R2: The government does.
R1: It looks like they’re trying to stop Bangladeshis coming into England, and
taking over (Bangladeshi boys FG).
… if the EU was included I would feel absolutely differently, then I would struggle
to justify my saying I think it’s racist, but because the EU is excluded…(R4,
African women FG).
10.5.4 Negative effect on ‘genuine’ marriages
Several survivors interviewed believed that raising the age to 21 or 24 would also
discriminate against genuine marriages, as young people who wanted to live together
would be forced to stay apart for financial and immigration reasons. One Indian woman,
who had been forced in marriage to a British man when it was discovered that she was in
a same sex relationship, and had since escaped her marriage to live with her partner,
spoke about the effect the separation from her partner had on her:
(Name of partner) and I were kept apart for 5 years, which we could have enjoyed
together. Two people who love each other should not be kept apart for any
reason, whether by family or law or immigration (THW8).
Similarly another Bangladeshi British woman who had sponsored her husband from
Bangladesh was concerned about the effect that the increase would have on international
marriages:
The wait to sponsor (a spouse) is already traumatic. It took me a year before
(name of husband) could come here, and I had to go to Bangladesh thrice to see
him that year, I got into debt and had problems in my work…there is (also) the
likelihood that the relationship will break down if they are apart at the start of the
marriage (THW7)
It was also seen as discriminating against marriages based on consent, and this view was
held by some focus group respondents who otherwise believed that increasing the age
might prevent forced marriage:
44
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
R1: although it is true that persuading for example a 24 years old person to get
married would be more difficult than an 18 years old, but this is not the way to do
it.
R4: And also some boys or girls might genuinely fall in love and want to get
married. What happens to those? (Iranian FG).
There may be genuine cases of people that want to get married and then they will
have to wait until they are 21 or 24 (R3, Sikh women’s FG).
What about those girls who don’t want to study or work, and want to get
married? (R4, Bangladeshi women’s group).
10.5.5 Counterproductive effects
Some survivors felt that the increase in age would not prevent forced marriages, as
women would be taken abroad earlier (MW3, MW16, THW4, THW6, THW7, THW8,
BRM2, BRW5, BRW6). One of the respondents who had come into the UK at the age of
17 felt that it would have been more difficult to assimilate into the country if she had had
to stay away till she was older. Another who had been taken abroad to be married at 18
also believed that the change to 21 or 24 would have had a negative effect, as she would
have been kept abroad for a longer time, and would have been totally dependent on her
husband and parents in law.
Focus group respondents echoed these views with some respondents suggesting that
rather than preventing forced marriage, increasing the age of sponsorship or entry would
lead to increased pressure on British Asian young people to marry. They would then be
taken abroad, and kept there for a longer period, where the victim would have fewer
resources:
Even if you are sixteen could you not just be taken out of the country and the
marriage conducted? (R2, Lesbian friendly FG).
Say the girl is in England and the person is abroad and they want them to get
married, even by raising the age they might then take her abroad, she might not
want to go abroad and it might be worse for her (R6, 6th Form College FG).
Among the Kurdish respondents, there were concerns that the woman would be forced to
marry and not be brought back at all, if she was unable to bring her husband back to the
UK for a long time.
45
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
But you know we have another issue. You know, forcing their daughter to go back
to their country and never come back. And they told them to marry there. That is
another issue. How they prevent it (R3, Kurdish women FG).
10.6 Further risks
10.6.1 False documents
In addition a number of agencies expressed a concern that raising the minimum age
would lead to an increase in falsification of documents to circumvent any legislative
changes, and that this would also have wider implications for the survivor of forced
marriage who might not even know that the basis on which they were in the UK was
illegal.
The issue of age is not going to stop families intent on forcing their children to
marry, it will only mean that documents are falsified which is incredibly easy in
many countries (South Asian women’s domestic violence service).
Focus group participants from the Sikh and Bangladeshi communities argued that it
would be easy to get falsified age certificates in different non western countries,
including South Asia, Middle Eastern and African countries, and therefore a change in
the law would not be effective.
Several survivors interviewed pointed out that the increase in age would easily be
circumvented by South Asians, as:
..it is easy to get false age certificates there… (THW4, and MW11).
Indeed one of the respondents originally from Bangladesh had got his real age increased
in his passport, as his wife was older than him because:
…there is a cultural expectation …that the man should be older than the wife.
(BRM3).
10.6.2 Reducing Child Protection
Organisations working specifically with young people (Young People’s Mental Health
Agency Manchester; Headteacher, Girls School Tower Hamlets) were concerned about
the potential impact on child protection of raising the age of sponsorship or entry. In the
context of social services, in theory 16 year olds would (or should) be offered protections
under child protection legislation. Increasing the age to 18, removed young people from
this safety net. Several participants also mentioned the increase in age as excluding young
people from support via educational establishments as they would probably be out of
education by 21 or 24.
10.6.3 Domestic/EU Forced Marriages
46
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Many organisations were concerned that increasing the age of sponsorship or entry would
not tackle the issue of domestic or EU-based forced marriages (e.g. NAWP, UCE
Counselling Service, Birmingham Women’s Aid) and were thus not convinced that the
increase in age was intended to prevent forced marriage.
Women will still be forced to marry here in the UK, but not abroad. The option of
being married abroad has been reduced, but not in the UK, so [this has] not taken
the issue of forced marriage away. They [government] are not looking at forced
marriages here [in the UK], the assumption is that forced marriages only happen
abroad. The emphasis of the whole issue of forced marriage is on immigration
and an attack on cultural practices of marriage. (Birmingham Women’s Aid)
This was echoed by survivors who also made the point that increasing the age would not
prevent forced marriages, where both partners were British or EU citizens (MW16):
because they are linking forced marriage to immigration, which is a nonsense,
what forced marriage is about is about choice and I wasn’t forced married from
abroad I was force married here to a person with British citizenship (M16)
11.
Factors that are Perceived to Increase or Decrease the Risk of Forced
Marriage
11.1 Increasing the risk of forced marriage
Three key issues were identified by stakeholders as increasing the risk of forced
marriages: lack of appropriate services; no recourse to public funds; and wider sociopolitical processes issues impacting on more traditional Muslim identities being adopted.
Lack of strategic planning owing to time, resource and lack of quantifiable data were
highlighted as risk factors alongside the lack of appropriate services that potential victims
could access. The location of where responsibility for forced marriage should lie
strategically and operationally was analysed along the tensions between gender and
culture. These tensions were echoed in operational work as reflected in practitioners
being unsure of how and when to intervene in cases of forced marriage. The key
challenge was how to work with culture and gender simultaneously, and to take notice of
the wider social processes in the adoption of cultural identities. The severe problem of
under-funding and lack of sustained funding for services dealing with forced marriage
compounded the problems faced by organisations. The short-term funding and historic
under-funding of BME organisations was identified as especially problematic, as these
are often the organisations where expertise on forced marriage is seen to reside.
[we]don’t get any local or central government support. We get referrals form
social services, police the community so we are doing the job of 10 organisations.
We rely on grants from charities. (Doli Project, Birmingham)
47
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Voluntary agencies don’t always have funding and can’t use services like
language line, which the police use, because the costs are phenomenal. (West
Midlands Police)
No recourse to public funds emerged as an equally major issue and challenged traditional
constructions of forced marriage as only involving consent to enter a marriage. Exit out
of such relationships were seen to be crucial as systems (state practices and their
intersections with cultural practices) which keep women in forced marriages is
problematic. Whilst it is right that the focus should be on ‘consent’, what was clear from
the stakeholder interviews (and from some of the survivor interviews) was that consent is
sometimes hard to establish. In addition, there may well be cases where despite refusal, a
marriage will take place. All these factors make it important to focus not only on ‘entry in
to’, but also ‘exit out of’ such relationships. In relation to the domestic violence
concession, it is important for agencies (including government departments) to recognise
that if a person has been forced into a marriage, this should automatically count as
evidence of domestic violence. No recourse to public funds (NRPF) was cited as a major
obstacle in work around forced marriages and domestic violence more by a wide range of
organsisations (e.g. ADVANCE Tower Hamlets; BWAIC Birmingham; W’ai Yin
Chinese Women’s Organisation Manchester; University Counselling Service Manchester;
Women’s Aid Birmingham and Central Manchester; Greater Manchester Immigration
Aid Unit, Law Centres Manchester and Tower Hamlets, NAWP, Imkaan, SBS, MPS).
If the government had a policy on forced marriage, then they would also be
looking at women with no recourse (Birmingham Women’s Aid).
No recourse, massive issue for small groups like [name of organisation] where
the financial commitment does not come from the statutory sector and refuges
have to fundraise to support such women (South Asian domestic violence service,
Manchester).
The last set of risks were to do with family dynamics and identities: being too
‘westernised’; a pattern of controlling family dynamics including childhood abuse; the
behaviour and marriage outcomes of other siblings in a family were all mentioned. These
issues were also, for some respondents, linked to wider global politics and issues of
identity. The development of a strengthened cultural identity in the face of a hostile
environment particularly for Muslims was seen as a risk factor as parents and young
people were perceived as holding onto cultural practices ever more rigidly (e.g. FWA
Birmingham; Birmingham Women’s Aid; GO W. Midlands; University of Central
England, Girls School Manchester).
When there are hostile conditions in society then people will cling more and more
to their identity (University of Central England Student Counselling Service).
48
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
It’s not about religion, but needing to stick together, the need for a strengthened
Muslim identity’ (University Counselling Service, Manchester).
11.2 Decreasing the risk of forced marriage
Decreasing the risk of forced marriage was largely the reverse of factors that were
thought to increase the risks: an understanding of forced marriage; better strategic
planning; increasing the capacity of existing services; increasing and improving funding
and resources; ensuring that the current guidelines on forced marriage were implemented
(particularly for police and social services); improved education for all sectors of society;
improved understanding of individual human rights and entitlements in the UK; and
dealing with no recourse to public funds were the most frequently cited.
Education was seen as central by many of the stakeholder participants. In the main this
included:



staff development for practitioners;
community awareness for both parents/elders and young people - informing
young people of their rights and providing independent advice (rather than
through families) was thought to be essential;
traditional academic education was seen as an empowering process and also as a
way of possibly delaying marriage.
Community development including preventative work was also cited as important
although it was noted that this was difficult in funding contexts which prioritise casework over longer term development work. Some grass roots stakeholders (e.g. South
Asian women’s provider organisations) reported that the government should be working
much more closely with them and currently they did not see this happening.
Suggestions for reducing forced marriage, from survivors who were interviewed,
included interventions that had a national and an international dimension. At an
international level, the dearth of services available to victims (British nationals taken
abroad or overseas nationals) was of concern and survivors suggested a range of
measures for overseas countries: women’s groups, telephone helplines, better information
about agencies to contact, campaigning for improved rights for women (legally and
culturally) and community education both about forced marriage and the realities of life
in the UK. One survivor (MW11) commented on how men coming from the UK usually
painted a (false) picture of ‘England as paradise’ with ‘money on trees’. The reality was
very different and this when combined with very orthodox views about the role of women
made a life a misery for incoming spouses. She also argued that incoming spouses should
be better supported once they were in the UK, through help with English, information
about emergency services and other women’s organisations, help with immigration
49
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
applications in instances of domestic violence and help with no recourse to public
funds11.
Other UK based suggestions widely mentioned were community work and education, a
positive media campaign, and appropriate support services12. These were considered to
be more effective in preventing cases of forced marriage rather than legal change:
what they need to deal with is education and awareness of those communities and
say these are the choices… this is what is better for you in the long run and
instead of having a penalty driven erm change they need to look at a more
accepting empowering engagement of those communities to influence change,
rather than to force change because if you try and force change all you do is you
make that practice happen in a different way, because change doesn’t occur, you
just change the practice you don’t change the end outcome and so they’re being
silly. (M16)
Some of the respondents felt that communities needed to think about the risks of forced
marriage:
(it is important for) communities to think about the consequences of a FM. Some
people see it as a duty to get their child married off (BH3).
One respondent also believed that work with BME communities needed to be
accompanied by campaigns to combat racism and Islamophobia in society, fearing that
campaigns against forced marriage were associated only with certain communities and
religions (BRM2).
12.
Access to support and services
The previous section identified the availability of certain support and services that may
be crucial to decreasing, or even increasing, the risk of forced marriages taking place. In
this section we look at the experiences of survivors regarding access to support, the view
of focus group participants and the level of services available as identified through the
mapping survey. There is some evidence from another recent study that accessing
services in cases of forced marriage may be fraught with difficulties and the current
research found many of the same, as well as further, issues (Gangoli 2006).
12.1
Access to services – mapping survey
11
The Danish Government has recently implemented a similar set of resource intensive measures, with the
commitment of DKr 5 million per annum (equivalent to £5 million per annum in the UK when exchange
rates and relative population size are taken into account).
12
This included a suggestion of access to airport staff who may be able to prevent a journey from taking
place at the last minute.
50
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
The organisations that took part in the mapping survey were not only working with a
wide range of communities across Manchester, Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, but
were also those most likely to provide support in instances of forced marriage. Most of
the organisations that were dealing with such cases said they saw between ten to fifty
cases of forced marriage per year. This applied to organisations working with the Somali,
Other African, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Latin American, or other communities (see
Appendix Five, Table 2). Those organisations working with South Asian communities
each saw up to ten cases of forced marriage per year.
Between a third and a half of the organisations surveyed provided support to victims of
forced marriage, with less providing help to both victims and their families (see
Appendix Five, Table 4). Of those organisations that did provide a service, this was
mostly advice (n=34, 43%), referral to other agencies (n=28, 35.4%) or counselling
(n=25, 31.6%). A smaller number provided emergency accommodation (n=10, 12.7%),
befriending (n=12, 15.2%) or mediation (n=9, 11.4%).
The mapping survey thus indicated that organisations from the three locations were
working with a considerable number of forced marriage cases, and were providing a
range of support to victims and/or their families. None the less, it was apparent that the
survivors and the focus group members interviewed might not have managed to access
any of these organisations.
12.2 Accessing support – the experience of survivors
Survivors interviewed reported a range of both positive and negative experiences where
support services were concerned. Positive experiences were mentioned particularly in
relation to women’s groups.
I can say the only people, after my mum in all of my life I find was woman group
in United Kingdom, honestly…A big help I can say. You know the pain of the
situation you are sometimes a very small help, can be very big for you. (MW1 in
relation to Women’s Aid – post marriage).
I stayed there for about a year and it was an absolute Godsend and I will always,
always look back on that place and just to be nothing but admiration and
fondness and heart-warming feeling that that building and those people and those
memories and the chance that it gave me to appreciate what I could make of the
life that I had…I loved those memories I cherish them. (MW16 in relation to a
South Asian Women’s refuge – post marriage)
A woman from India (THW8) who had been forced to marry because she was lesbian,
was not able to access any support at the time of the marriage. However, she managed to
escape her marriage due to the efforts of a gay rights and support network in India that
her partner was a member of, and they continued to support her. THW8 especially valued
the support because she had had to end contact with her natal and marital family after her
escape.
51
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
12.2.1 Difficulties Associated with Accessing Support
Key issues cited as difficulties by survivors included: problems with accessing support
abroad, immigration/asylum and no recourse to public funds in the UK, lack of
understanding of staff about forced marriage, and lack of appropriate services. This also
echoed the stakeholder accounts (see below).
12.2.2 Accessing support abroad
Young women (THW5; BRW1, BRW8, MW3) and men (BRM2), who were taken
abroad at the time of marriage felt especially vulnerable, as they were unaware of
services in the countries they were taken to and in the UK, or there were no services to
access:
I was in a village in the middle of nowhere as far as I was concerned (MW3,
British national taken abroad for a forced marriage).
The lack of services abroad was also mentioned by participants who were foreign
nationals marrying a UK national, or foreign nationals who were forced to marry within
their country of origin (MW1, MW11, MW19, MW20) and later arrived in the UK. For
example, a man from Bangladesh who had been forced into marriage at the age of 17 a
decade ago, was not aware of any services at the time, and was unsure that any existed
now.
Some participants who had tried to access support in their countries of origin had
generally found this to be a negative experience:
I went to the police twice, they said it’s a family matter why don’t you have
respect?... They said I have to be respectable, don’t shame your family (MW19,
African woman)
12.2.3 Difficulties in accessing support in the UK
One survivor (MW3) who was married abroad at 13 and returned to the UK at 14 and
pregnant, reported that nobody (neither health nor social services) asked her about the
circumstances of her pregnancy:
the social didn’t even ask want was going on, the hospitals didn’t ask what was
going on and why this fourteen year old is pregnant, you know none of the
authorities erm checked none of the authorities were concerned” (MW3).
A lack of cultural understanding was mentioned by several participants as creating
difficulties with accessing services:
well [when] I came to University I accessed a young people’s counselling service
erm, which stopped me from killing myself but apart from that really didn’t
52
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
massively help me because the counsellor I was placed with really didn’t
understand my kind of culture background (MW4)
Another woman who had tried to speak to various housing providers commented that:
They didn’t understand anything about my culture, they didn’t understand what a
Forced marriage was (MW3)
Wider political processes were also mentioned as barriers to accessing services:
it’s like your choices have suddenly over the last couple of years been diminished
as a Muslim woman, diminished over time diminished with the politics and so the
community feels like it’s under siege and women are part of that community and
therefore they feel as though they are under siege and therefore they’re not going
to go and take the risks and have that trusting relationship with the mainstream”
(MW16)
One woman talked about how her GP in the UK had discussed her case with her parents,
thereby violating ethics of doctor patient confidentiality:
He (doctor) knew my mum and dad. And he knew my mum and dad for years, not
years but just as a family doctor, and he even actually discussed me with my
mum… That was a really bad week because I couldn’t speak to my mum at the
time so I confided in the doctor and he went and, well, my mum came home one
day and says ‘what have you been saying to the doctor about me? (THW5).
In relation to contacting the police, one woman reported that:
I remember the first policeman who knocked on me door and he said oh it’s just a
domestic…it took me three occasions before I got a copper who was absolutely
fantastic and said right ok this is domestic violence, you’ve got to report (MW18,
post-marriage)
Another respondent who was a British national, and was engaged in her country of origin,
but married in a civil ceremony in the UK, spoke about the lack of information about her
options at the time of the marriage:
When I think back now at the sequence of events, I was just doing what people
told me. It would have been helpful if I had been given information at the civil
wedding, they can identify from the paperwork that this man had come from
Pakistan. Or information when I went to the solicitor, I could have chewed it
over, thought about it and perhaps get support (BRW8).
53
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
12.2.4 Asylum, immigration and no recourse to public funds
Asylum, immigration and the related issues were also important, and in the survivor
accounts where this was an issue, severe hardship was caused by having no recourse to
public funds. One of the women (MW12) tried to access housing via the city council
homelessness accommodation:
I went to them for accommodation because I didn’t have anywhere to live. They
said that (they only) provided accommodation to people who have residence or
visa here. I told them that my passport was at the Home Office, so they rang the
Home Office and they came back and told me that my application is still pending.
That’s why then they said they couldn’t help me, then they gave me a telephone
number for Social Services. They told me to ring Social Services from a telephone
booth, when I came out I couldn’t see a telephone booth, there was a police
station so I went to the police station and then they rang Social Services for me
from there. (MW12)
The local Women’s Aid supported her from then on. This highlights a) the crucial role of
Women’s Aids organisations, although frequently they are unable to help, and b) the
importance of building relationships with social services who are able to assist in certain
circumstances. Much of this support is discretionary and therefore organisations
supporting women in this situation need to have or build good links with their local social
services departments.
12.3 Accessing support – the perceptions of focus groups
The members of the focus group interviewed were asked to evaluate the existing services
with regard to FM.
12.3.1 Positive access to services
The members of the Kurdish focus group thought that many of the services on offer in the
UK were good, and one member, who was also a service provider for immigrant Kurdish
women, cited two cases where responses to forced marriage from the education sector,
the police and immigration services were timely and effective:
R3: We had one case last year. And we helped a teacher who was concerned
about one of her student because she mentioned to the teacher that the family had
a plan to take her back and marry her and she gave our phone to her and we gave
information to police as well. They put a kind of, what is the word in English, they
put something in her passport, and she couldn’t travel until she was 18.
R2: Restriction?
R1: restriction order?
R3: Yes and whatever, another case, actually, Iranian woman one. She came to
this country with two children and the husband had a plan to come and take the
54
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
children back to Iran, they age 14 and 15. Again we called the police to protect
her and told them about the case and they stopped him to come here. That was
something that we did actually. They stopped the man. They didn’t give him visa.
The British embassy didn’t give him visa (Kurdish women FG).
Other agencies that were praised for being culturally sensitive were social services,
especially where South Asian women and men were employed to deal with such cases
(South Asian young men FG) and some women’s refuges, where survivors could share
their experiences and gain support. As one Sikh woman pointed out:
She (victim) will get mutual support and be able to laugh with other women too.
The heart feels lighter and happier… (R2, Sikh women FG)
12.3.1 Lack of services and barriers to access
Some of the groups discussed the lack of services available at the international level, that
is, in the country of origin, where some of the forced marriages took place. It was
suggested that there were few or no services for victims of forced marriage in Uganda or
in rural parts of China, where forced marriage was likely to occur. Members of the
Ugandan focus group pointed out that while there were services in the UK, such as social
services, the police and refuges, notions of shame would prevent Ugandan women from
approaching them:
R1: But we also mustn’t forget that because of the element of shame attached to it,
you’ll find that people will not actually bring out their
R4: Their cases, yeah.
R1: Yeah.
Group: They won’t.
R1: They’ll suffer in silence. They might endure it for the sake of the wider family
(Ugandan FG)
Representatives of the Bangladeshi community similarly believed that approaching the
police or social services created mistrust and could lead to young people feeling isolated
from the wider community:
… You see, and within Asian communities, they tend to keep things in house, in
the community, where they try to sort things out themselves. As soon as you get
the Police involved, as soon as you get outside agencies involved, then you’ve
been, you’ve sort of left the cultural way and gone about yourself. And then
people will disrespect you and look down upon you and stuff like that and say you
know, ‘How could you…’ and stuff like that (R5, Bangladeshi boys group).
While there was a feeling among some respondents that there was a lack of ‘culturally
sensitive, support…’ (R4, African women FG) due to a deep rooted Eurocentrism with
55
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
both generic and some specialist agencies, members of the Kurdish women’s focus group
strongly believed that existing interpretations of multiculturalism, which she believed
were encouraging BME communities to continue some negative practices:
…For example Kurdish community is driven by nationalism culture and Muslim
culture. Especially in the Middle East…it is about control. That’s the main
problem. And by encouraging multiculturalism, you know, what kind of culture is
it? Is it harm? Is it good? How is it going to intervene with children? For example
beating children is normal. Most of the people even Kurdish people who live in
this country they feel if you want to make your child to respect you, you have to
beat her or him. That is something normal, you know… But it is bad. It’s bad, you
know (R3, Kurdish women FG).
There was also a perception that BME lesbian women were not given enough support in
cases of forced marriage due to fears of aggravating community relations, and it was
compared to previous responses to domestic violence within Black and minority ethnic
communities, where it was seen as a personal matter within the family:
R2: Yeah yeah, yeah the same thing that used to happen with domestic violence.
R5: I think, I think what probably could happen I can see happening is exactly
what you said it’s a cultural thing so what it will refer you to perhaps race
relations or community relations project and the lesbianity either that it will not
be heard or if it is heard…
R2: …Get passed on
R5: Referred to a lesbian gay project.
R2: who then go ‘oh cultural’
R5: ‘cultural’ and then you get sent back there again
R4: So she will be dashing between at least two agencies (Lesbian friendly FG)
Young South Asians were not optimistic about approaching schools in cases of forced
marriage, and in general approaching community and religious leaders was seen in
negative terms, especially with regard to issues of confidentiality.
13.
Conclusions
The research set out to examine the following issues:
56
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
1.
2.
3.
4.
The impact/outcome of the recent increase the age of sponsorship/entry
from 16 to 18 years;
The benefits and risks of increasing the age of sponsorship or entry to
18, 21 and 24;
The range of communities in which forced marriage happens; and
The factors which were perceived to increase or decrease the risk of
forced marriages.
In this conclusion we briefly summarise the responses to these issues before going on to
list our recommendations.
13.1 Raising the age of sponsorship or entry
Little or no impact had been found with regard to the raising of the age of sponsorship or
entry fro 16 to 18, although some thought it was positive. By contrast, the predominant
view across all aspects of the research was that a further increase in the age of
sponsorship/entry, to 21 or 24, would be detrimental.
In relation to increasing the age of sponsorship/entry to 18, 21 or 24, the majority of
familiarisation visit participants and the majority of Birmingham, Manchester and Tower
Hamlets stakeholders interviewed did not see any overall benefits. Benefits associated
with greater maturity and access to education and potential financial independence were
most frequently cited, but these were perceived as largely outweighed by the risks.
There was little support in most of the focus groups for raising the age to 21 or 24, other
than with young Bangladeshi girls and older Chinese women, and while young
Bangladeshi girls believed that increasing the age would prevent FM, older Chinese
women believed that later marriages were more likely to be successful. There was strong
opposition from several other groups, and there was a perception that the step would be
counterproductive and discriminatory to some communities, and people.
While a quarter of the survivors interviewed wholeheartedly agreed with the increase in
age from16 to 18, seeing this as beneficial in giving some young people more choices,
most opposed any further age increase on the grounds that it would be discriminatory on
racial and ethnic grounds and with regard to arranged and love marriages.
13.2 Communities where forced marriage takes place
Forced marriage was seen as an issue in a wide range of communities outside the South
Asian Diaspora. This included Irish traveller women, orthodox/fundamental religious
communities, Armenian, Turkish, some mainland Chinese communities, possibly Eastern
European communities (linked to trafficking and prostitution), and some African
countries including Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.
The focus groups and survivor interviews highlighted the different routes into forced
marriage. These included: poverty and bride price primarily in African communities;
control over sexuality in South Asian; Middle Eastern, Chinese communities;
57
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
immigration in South Asian; Middle Eastern, Chinese communities and African
communities. Slippage between arranged and forced marriage was highlighted in relation
to most of these contexts, while the differences between them were also acknowledged.
13.3 Increasing and decreasing the risk of forced marriage
Lack of appropriate services; no recourse to public funds; and wider socio-political
processes issues impacting on more traditional Muslim identities being adopted were
identified as increasing the risk of forced marriages. No recourse to public funds emerged
as an equally major issue and challenges traditional constructions of forced marriage as
only involving consent to enter a marriage. Exit out of such relationships were seen to be
crucial. Increase in the age of sponsorship/entry to 21 or 24 was also identified across all
aspects of the research as a potential risk factor.
Decreasing the risk of forced marriage was largely the reverse of factors that were
thought to increase the risks. In large part, better support to victims as well as preventive
work was thought to be crucial. Particular mention was made of education: for
practitioners, young people, communities as well as academic/ vocational education.
While some saw the increase in the age of sponsorship/entry to 21 as potentially useful in
preventing forced marriage, most of these respondents also cited substantial risks.
14
Recommendations
1.
The age of sponsorship/entry should not be raised either to 21 or 24.
2.
Where a forced marriage has taken place, victims should not have to prove
subsequent domestic violence to qualify for the domestic violence concession.
3.
Increased funding and capacity is needed at a strategic, management and
practitioner level for organisations charged with responsibilities for supporting
victims of forced marriage.
4.
Community awareness and education initiatives regarding forced marriage as
well as community development with parents and young people are vital.
5.
Anti discriminatory practice is needed in generic and specialist agencies to
improve access to services for survivors of forced marriage.
6.
There is need for increased protection for first generation immigrant women
from immigration services, social services and the police.
7.
Improved services are needed internationally in cases of forced marriages,
including establishment of women’s groups, helplines and campaigns for
women’s rights.
58
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
8.
Interventions at an international level to alleviate poverty and gender
discrimination would help to combat forced marriage.
9.
Further research on marriage practices in relation to different communities and
contexts is required to understand the issue better.
59
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
References
Aitken, G. (1996) ‘the present absence/pathologized presence of black women in mental
health services’, in E. Burman, G. Aitken, P. Alldred, R. Allwood, T. Billington,
B.Goldberg, A.J. Gordo Lopez, C. Heenan, D. Marks, and S. Warner Psychology
Discourse practice: From Regulation to resistance, London: Taylor & Francis, pp. 75-95
Batsleer, J., Burman, E., Chantler, K., McIntosh, S.H., Pantling, K., Smailes, S. and
Warner, S. (2002) Domestic Violence and Minoritisation: Supporting women to
Independence. Women’s Studies Research Centre: the Manchester Metropolitan
University.
Burman, E., Gowrisunkur, J, & Sangha, K. (1998) ‘Conceptualising cultural and
gendered identities in psychological therapies,’ The European Journal of Psychotherapy,
Counselling and Health, 1, 2: 231 – 256.
Chantler, K., Burman, E., Batsleer, J. and Bashir, C. (2001) Attempted Suicide
and Self-harm – South Asian Women. Women’s Studies Research Centre: the
Manchester Metropolitan University.
Chantler, K., Aslam, H., Bashir, C., Darrell, J., Patel, K. and Steele, C. (1998) An
Analysis of Present Drug Service Delivery to Black Communities in Greater Manchester,
Manchester: Greater Manchester Drug Action Partnership and the Black Drug Workers
Forum
Gangoli, G., Razak, A. and McCarry, M. (2006) Forced Marriage and Domestic
Violence Among South Asian Communities in North East England Bristol:
University of Bristol and Northern Rock Foundation.
Gupta R. (ed) (2003) From homebreakers to jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters. London:
Zed books
60
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
APPENDIX ONE
Familiarisation and Stakeholder details
Participating Organisations
Familiarisation Interviews ( N=13):
1) Metropolitan Police, 2 & 3) IND Croydon (2), 4) IND Sheffield, 5) Imkaan, 6)
Women’s Aid Federation England (WAFE), 7) Academic working on travellers, 8) FCO,
9) Southall Black Sisters (SBS), 10) Jewish Women’s organisation, 11) Jewish
Community organisation), 12) Mifumi (African Organisation), 13) Bradford Police.
Stakeholder interviews (N=45):
Manchester (n=12):
1 & 2) 2 Refugee and Immigration projects, 3) Central Manchester Women’s Aid, 4) Law
centre, 5) Head of sixth form teacher (girls school), 6) South Asian women’s domestic
violence service, 7) Government Office NW, 8) Young People’s mental health agency, 9)
Chinese Women’s organisation, 10) Greater Manchester Police, 11) University based
Student Counselling Services, 12) Sudanese Women’s Alliance.
Tower Hamlets (n=13):
Support Service For BME Women, East London Somali Youth and Welfare Group,
Domestic Violence Forum, Tower Hamlet Law Centre, Support Service for Domestic
Violence, ADVANCE Advocacy Project, Refuge For BME Women In London,
Metropolitan Police Service, Tower Hamlets Wedding Registrar
TH Parents Advice Centre, NAWP, Counsellor at Counselling and Migration service at a
London University, Head Teacher, Mulberry School for Girls, Tower Hamlets
Birmingham (n=20): 1)
Jyoti Ashram, 2) Irish Welfare, 3) Immaan Somaili Group, 4) Health Gay Life, 5) FWA,
6) Doli Project, 7) Chinese Community Centre, 8) BWAIC, 9) Birmingham Women’s
Aid, 10) Birmingham Central Mosque, 11) Barosa, 12) Bangladeshi Welfare Association,
13) Asylum Seekers Team, 14) CSIP, 15 West Midlands Police, 16) Women’s Help
Centre, 17) Govt. Office (W. Midlands), 18) University of Central England*, 19)
University of Central England – Counselling Service*, 20) Black Women’s Network
* The UCE interview was counted as 2 interviews as the participants in this interview
were often saying different things
61
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Perceptions of Benefits and Risks and Age Increase
Familiarisation Visits
No benefits to increase in age to 18, 21 or 24:
Bradford Police
Academic working on gypsies/
travellers
Southall Black Sisters
Imkaan
IND Croydon 2
Jewish Women’s Organisation
Total: 6 organisations (50%)
Benefit only to 18:
IND Croydon 1 (but with risks)
Jewish Community Organisation
Total: 2 organisations (16.7%)
None
Wholehearted endorsement to 21:
Some benefits to 21 (but with substantial risks):
Some benefits to 24 (but with substantial risk) :
Forced Marriage Unit, FCO
Mifumi
IND Sheffield
MPS
Total: 4 organisations (33.3%)
None
Whole hearted endorsement to 24:
None
Increase age for all UK population
None
13 familiarisation visits conducted in total and one organisation did not respond to the
question on risks and benefits (n=12).
Stakeholder Interviews
Stakeholders - Totals and Percentages across 3 case-study area (n=45)
No benefits to increase in age to 18, 21 or 24:
Benefit only to 18:
Wholehearted endorsement to 21:
Some benefits to 21 (but with substantial risks):
Some benefits to 24 (but with substantial risk) :
Whole hearted endorsement to 24:
37.8% (17 organisations)
13.3% (6 organisations)
8.9% (4 organisations)
22.2% (10 organisations)
11.1% (5 organisations)
6.7% (3 organisations)
62
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
APPENDIX TWO
Survivors interviewed (N=38)
Table 1.1 – Survivor Demographics – religion
Religion
Muslim
Sikh
Zoroastrian
(converted
from Islam)
Hindu
Catholic
Methodist
Atheist
Number
28
2
1
2
2
1
1
37
Note: One respondent did not divulge their religion
Table 1.2 – Survivor Demographics – ethnicity
Ethnicity
British Asian
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Iranian
Sierra Leone
Somali
Afro
Carribbean
Mozambique
Number
9
2
12
10
1
1
1
1
1
63
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 2 – Survivor Gender, ethnicity and age at marriage
Engaged
before
16
M F
British
Asian
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Iranian
Sierra
Leone
Somali
Total
1
Married
before
16
M
F
Married
between
16-17
M F
1
2
1
1
1
3
2
Married
between
18-20
M F
1
1
3
2
1
1
Married Married
between after 24
21-24
M F
M F
1
4
3
1
8
1
1
1
1
3
2
8
9
1
Note: Two respondents did not divulge their age at marriage, and four respondents are
never married.
Table 3.1 – Survivor nationality at time of marriage and place
Married
Married
in Married
in the UK country
of Elsewhere
origin
Nationality at time of
Marriage
No.
Indian
2
2
Pakistani
7
7
Bangladeshi
3
3
Sierra Leone
1
1
Somalian
1
1
Mozambique
1
1
Iran
1
1
British
22
7
10
1
Note: Four respondents are never married.
64
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 3.2 – Survivor current immigration status
Survivors - Current immigration status
Nationality at Probation
time
of ary
marriage
period
(NRPF)
Indian
Pakistani
1
Bangladeshi
Sierra Leone
Somalian
Mozambique
Iran
British
DV
Concess
ion
3
ILR
ILR
pending
Asylum
seeker/ref
ugee
status
1
2
British
Other
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
22
Table 4 - SURVIVORS VIEWS ON RISKS AND BENFITS OF INCREASING AGE
OF SPONSORSHIP/ENTRY
No benefits to increase in age to 18, 21 or 24:
12 (35.3%)
Benefit only to 18:
9 (26.5%)
Wholehearted endorsement to 21:
1 (2.9%)
Some benefits to 21 (but with substantial risks):
6 (17.6%)
Some benefits to 24 (but with substantial risk) :
2 (5.8%)
Whole hearted endorsement to 24:
2 (5.8%)
Increase age for all UK population
1 (2.9%)
38 survivors in total, four did not respond, 1 said increased maturity was a benefit but did
not states a specific age (n=34)
65
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
APPENDIX THREE
Data Set Exploration and ‘pen portraits’
All organisations contacted were invited to provide information on the data they collect
and to comment on their potential use in identifying the impact of the raising of the
minimum age. In many cases, data were not collected systematically or in a suitable form
for the purpose. In those cases where data were collected, a subsequent in-depth
interview was conducted, either by telephone or in person. In all cases, even where data
were collected and suitable for analysis it was too early to identify any impact of the
raising of the age limit. A common questionnaire was used in the telephone and face-toface follow-up (in-depth) interviews. A briefer form of questionnaire was used for the
interviews with organisations in Birmingham, the majority of which did not collect
useable, non-confidential data.
Note on Police Forces/Services databases
There is lack of comparability between the data of 43 different police forces because no
common system of data collection exists and different IT systems are used in each Force.
The organisations interviewed in–depth were:
1. West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police produce annual tables of the total numbers of forced marriage
incidents by ‘victim ethnicity’ and ‘victim age’. For the period 1st August 2005 – 31st July
2006 a total of 60 victims made contact with the police at the age of under 16 (5 persons)
or 16-18 years of age (55 persons). Ethnicity is self reported or that determined by the
reporting officer. This source has potential if the database information could be analysed
in depth, using the free text information in individual records, which might reveal
information on age at entry into the UK (if applicable). The VIVID database contains a
‘Vulnerable person’ number, which could provide statistics by ‘ethnic origin’.
2. The Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police have three databases: CRIS; CRIMINT and MERLIN. The
CRIS database was established in 1996 (when it replaced paper records) and is used to
record incidents recorded to the police (some but not all of which will be crimes). Forced
marriage is identified in the records by the ‘flag’ FM in the VIW (Victim, Informant, and
Witness) screen. Information on immigration status, sponsors etc are only recorded if the
police officer recording the case deems it relevant. CRIS can provide incident-based
information on all cases recorded by the Metropolitan Police, however will not be able to
adequately answer the questions in this study. The data has already been analysed as part
of an internal Metropolitan Police report. We are trying to obtain a copy of the summary
report but understand that the full report is confidential and an internal police document.
66
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
3. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Home Office Forced Marriage Unit
The UK Visas Central Reference System (CRS) contains a record on sponsors and
applicants for every application for a visa. The information is recorded mostly by entry
clearance officers and covers the period before entry to the UK. Variables recorded
include date of birth and citizenship. Searches of the database are carried out using a preset query via a web-based system. There are plans to redevelop the system in the near
future and it would be possible to re-programme the queries to request reports using a
'Forced Marriage' flag. The database contains text reports which may include information
on forced marriages, but there is no free-text retrieval search option. The CRS database
and the Home Office/IND CID database (above) are not linked and information on
changes of visas/visa switching cannot be retrieved from either.
The COMPASS database contains records of all the cases handled by the FM Unit. It is
possible to search the cases and request a report on the variables 'Forced Marriage' or
'Forced Marriage - Minor'. Paper records are kept for recording telephone calls and used
for data entry purposes. These include information on the victim's date of birth and
gender. The database only includes cases handled by the Unit (for example not phone-call
enquiries). There is no link between COMPASS and CRS.
Birmingham
1. Bangladeshi Welfare Association
Does not keep records of people using the service.
2. Barosa
Does keep records of people using the service and records would identify people that
have experienced a forced marriage. The referral system shows suicide, forced marriage,
self harm etc. Annual reports will be produced in the future with the changes to be
introduced with adult services and equalities.
3. Family Welfare Association (FWA)
Does keep records of people using the service but not currently of people who have
experienced a forced marriage. This may change in the future in relation to child
protection issues.
4. Health Gay Life
Does keep records of people using the service, but it is not known how many have
experienced a forced marriage. The information collected greatly depends on the issues
the client presented with. The system identifies the primary issue and then 4 other issues.
Variables include: Primary issue: eg age, mental health status, issues etc.
5. Jyoti Ashram
Does keep records of people using the service and the records would identify people that
have experienced a forced marriage. The information collected is basic: for instance name, reason for referral. It is not known how many people experienced a forced
marriage, but it may be possible to discover this. There is no annual report or any other
67
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
report containing figures about forced marriage. No research or evaluation has been
carried out about forced marriage.
6. Women’s Helpcentre
Does keep records of users of the service, but these would not identify people who have
experienced a forced marriage. If funding became available for monitoring (and this is in
writing), the project will produce stats and make sure that forced marriage data is
introduced into their monitoring forms.
7. Asylum Seekers and Immigration Team
Does keep records of users, but forced marriage would only be recorded as a failed
sponsorship, which could be sub-categorised as family breakdown.
The information is confidential and it was not possible to respond further on this point.
8. Birmingham Women’s Advice and Information centre (BWAIC)
BWAIC works with a wide range of women (Iranian, Jamaican, South Asian) who have
come from abroad and are forced into a marriage. Hand-written records are kept, rather
than a database. Forced marriage would be presented as domestic violence. There is no
annual or other report containing data on forced marriage.
9. The Irish Welfare and Information Centre
An electronic database is kept, containing records of users of the service. Reasons for
referrals are coded , but these reasons do not include forced marriage.
10. The Chinese Community Centre Birmingham
A database of users is kept and this includes information on people who have experienced
forced marriages, but the information is not recorded as ‘cases’.
The organisation requested that no further contact be made with them on this point.
11. West Midlands Police
Records are kept of individuals, but forced marriage is logged as domestic abuse.
Around 4-5 cases of forced marriage had been identified during the previous 3 month
period.
12. Imaan Somali Women’s Group
Records are kept of people using the service, but they would not identify people who
have experienced a forced marriage.
A request was made not to contact the group again on this point.
13. Birmingham Central Mosque
Does not keep records of people using the service.
14.
University of Central England
68
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Records are kept of users of the service but there is no systematic recording of forced
marriages, no evaluation or research has been carried out on the topic and no annual
report is produced containing relevant data.
69
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
15. The Dohli Project
Manual records are kept, which identify people who have experienced a forced marriage,
together with age, gender, background. There were around 50 cases during the period
January to October 2006.
16. Birmingham Women’s Aid
Records are kept of users of the service, but these would not identify people who have
experienced a forced marriage.
The organisation requested not to be contacted again on this point, nor to be assumed to
endorse this report’s recommendations or outcomes.
Potential future sources of data
1. Data on school registrations/de-registrations
It could be useful to look (in target areas) at the numbers of pupils coming off the school
rolls each term or school year, so school registrations and de-registrations are a possible
source, although often pupils will not be reported as de-registering, they simply
disappear. In attempting to explore the potential of this type of source, officials of Tower
Hamlets local authority have been contacted. At the time of writing no response has yet
been received to the data questionnaire.
2. Entry clearance data
Statistical information available for the period 2003-2005 on numbers of persons given
leave to enter the United Kingdom as husbands, wives or for marriage from ‘key’
countries of the Indian sub-continent are so low that meaningful statistical analysis is
scarcely possible.
UK Visas
Visa application form VAF2 (applications for settlement visas).
Data variables collected from applications made using this form include nationality, date
of birth, sex and passport number. One category is ‘Reluctant sponsor’. Case files are
destroyed after 5 years, unless there is an ongoing investigation, but statistics are kept on
the main variables. On the UK Visas database, it is possible to do a search by sponsor or
by applicant. There are Home Office generated numbers in CID, but the FMU has no
access to this system. Information is exchanged between the two by email.
The data query formats could be rewritten/reprogrammed in order to extract more useful
information from the database. Addition of a ‘forced marriage’ flag could allow better
exploitation of the data, although this would not overcome the inconsistencies in the
system. Once the IT team has worked on it, it should be possible to produce tabulations
including, for example, the following data variables:
'nationality'
'date of birth'
'sex'
‘Reluctant sponsor’
70
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
in addition to ‘forced marriage’.
Entry clearance officers in Consular Offices might should be able to report on the number
of visa issuances that have taken place and how numbers/patterns have changed (or not)
since the change in the age rule. Statistics could probably be produced at post and if the
date of application is just after the implementation of the change in rules, there is a
potential wealth of information available from this source. The Consular Immigration
Link Team in Islamabad checks date of birth. It might be possible to see, for example,
how many applications were delayed from the ages of 16-18 to 18 plus two months.
3. UK Human Trafficking Centre http://www.ukhtc.org/
The remit of the UKHTC includes forced marriages, but it is too soon to know whether or
not any data collection activities will be carried out on the subject.
Comparison with other European Union Member States
The European Migration Network http://www.european-migration-network.org/
Preliminary enquiries made through the European Migration Network indicate that some
statistics are available in the Netherlands, Denmark and possibly Germany (police
statistics). The National Contact Points of the EMN might be potential future sources of
information on forced marriages in the EU, but there are no sources currently exploited
which could produce comparable cross-national datasets.
71
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
APPENDIX FOUR
Focus group participants
Table 1: African Women (n=7)
AGE
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
SEXUALITY
50-55
2
Black British
1
British
2
Muslim
1
Heterosexual
6
40-50
30-40
1
4
Black African
Arab
5
1
Kenyan
Ghanian
Ghanian/British
Egyptian
Cameroon
1
1
1
1
1
Christian
6
Not declared
1
IMMIGRAT
ION
STATUS
ILR
1
HSMP
STUDENT
1
1
Social class unknown
Table 2: Ugandan group (3 women, 1 man)
AGE
50-55
40-50
30-40
0
2
2
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working Class
Middle Class
Missing
RELIGION
ETHNICITY
Black African
NATIONALITY
4
British
Uganda
2
2
4
SEXUALITY
Catholic
3
Heterosexual
Church of
England
1
Not declared
4
IMMIGRATION
STATUS
ILR
2
British
2
72
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 3 Chinese young women (n=5)
AGE
SOCIAL
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
CLASS
202
Working 0 Chinese
5 Chinese
5 None
4
25
Class
253
Middle
3
Buddhist
1
30
Class
Did not
2
say
Note: None of the respondents in this group divulged their sexuality and immigration
status
Table 4 Chinese older women (n=12)
Age
60 -70
1
50-59
3
40-49
3
30-39
4
20-29
1
Immigration
status
UK citizen
(from China)
UK Citizen
(From HK)
Has applied
for residence
Dependent’s
visa
UK Resident
Student visa
Marital status
religion
3
Married
9
Buddhist
4
3
Single
1
None
7
1
Missing
2
Christian
1
1
1
1
Table 5:Lesbian friendly women (n=5)
AGE
40 45
3035
25 30
3
1
1
SOCIAL
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
SEXUALITY
CLASS
Working 3 Irish
2 British
4 None
4 Lesbian
3
Class
Middle
2 Indian
1 Irish
1 Sikh
1 Bisexual
1
Class
British
1
Queer
1
Mixed race
1
73
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 6 South Asian young men (n=6)
AGE
17
4
18
1
19
1
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working
Class
Middle
Class
Don’t
know
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
1
Pakistani
3
British
5
4
Bengali
2
French
1
1
Mixed-race
(Asian/white)
1
SEXUALITY
Muslim
6
Heterosexual
5
Not declared
1
Table 7 Girls 6th form college (n=12)
AGE
16
5
17
3
18
3
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working
Class
Middle
Class
ETHNICITY
11
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
SEXUALITY
Pakistani
6
British
8
Muslim
10
heterosexual
8
Arab
2
Swedish
1
Christian
1
Not declared
3
African
Bengali
2
1
Somalian
Zimbabwean
1
1
Note: While there were 12 participants, there were only 11 completed forms Immigration
status not declared for 2 participants.
Table 8: Sikh women focus group (n=7)
AGE
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIG
ION
6 Sikh
1
SEXUALITY
1 Indian
3 British
7 heterosexual
50-55
2 Punjabi
1 Indian
40-50
3 Sikh
2
30-40
Missin 1
g
Note: None of the participants divulged social class and immigration status
7
Table 9: South Asian women (n=5)
AGE
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIG
ION
2 Sikh
2 Muslim
1
Pakistani
4 Pakistani
1
50-55
Punjabi
1 British
4
40-50
2
British Pakistani
30-40
3
20-30
Note: None of the participants divulged social class and immigration status
74
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
75
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 10: Bangladeshi older women (n=5)
AGE
30-40
20-30
4
1
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working Class
RELIGION
5
Muslim
ETHNICITY
5
MARITAL
STATUS
Married
Bangladeshi
5
NATIONALITY
5
British
5
IMMIGRATION
STATUS
British passport
5
Table 11: Bangadeshi boys (n=6)
AGE
20-30
15-20
1
2
Missing
3
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working Class
RELIGION
Muslim
ETHNICITY
6
Bengali
SEXUALITY
6
heterosexual
Not declared
4
NATIONALITY
6
British
Bangali with
British passport
Missing
Immigration
Status
British passport
4
Missing
2
3
1
2
76
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 12: Bangladeshi girls (n=10)
AGE
9
15-20
Missing 1
SOCIAL
CLASS
Working Class
Middle Class
Missing
RELIGION
ETHNICITY
8
0
2
Bangladeshi
Missing
SEXUALITY
Muslim
9
heterosexual
8
Christian
1
Not declared
2
NATIONALITY
9
1
British
10
IMMIGRATION
STATUS
British passport
10
Table 13: Middle Eastern Women (n=4)
AGE
5055
4050
3040
2030
ETHNICITY
NATIONALITY
RELIGION
SEXUALITY
0 Arab
2 Arab
1 Muslim
4 Heterosexual 1
1 Moroccan
1 Syrian
2
2 Jordanian
1 Jordanian
1
Missing
3
1
IMMIGRATION
STATUS
ILR
British
3
1
77
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 14: Iranian (2 women, 2 men)
AGE
50-55
40-50
30-40
20-30
1
1
1
1
SOCIAL
CLASS
Middle Class
RELIGION
No religion
3
Christian
1
Gender
4
MARITAL
STATUS/
SEXUALITY
Married
Single
heterosexual
NATIONALITY
Male
Female
2
2
British
Iranian
3
1
Immigration
Status
2
British passport
3
2
Missing
1
Table 15: Kurdish women (n=5)
AGE
2
30-40
2
20-30
Missing 1
SOCIAL
CLASS
Missing
RELIGION
ETHNICITY
5
Muslim
2
MARITAL
STATUS/
SEXUALITY
Married
Atheist
Missing
2
1
Heterosexual
Not declared
Kurdish
Iraqi Kurd
Iranian
NATIONALITY
2
2
1
British
Kurdish
1
4
Immigration
Status
3
British passport
1
1
1
Refugee
ILR
1
1
78
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Table 16: Focus Group participants view on RISKS AND BENEFITS OF
INCREASING AGE OF SPONSORSHIP/ENTRY
No benefits to increase in age to 18, 21 or 24:
17 (19.3%)
Benefit only to 18:
21 (23.9)
Wholehearted endorsement to 21:
3 (3.4)
Some benefits to 21 (but with substantial risks):
26 (29.5)
Some benefits to 24 (but with substantial risk) :
Whole hearted endorsement to 24:
21(23.9)
9 did not respond (88/97)
79
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
APPENDIX FIVE
Mapping Survey
Table 1 - Type of organisation
statutory
voluntary
other
Total
Frequency
13
56
9
78
Valid Percent
16.7
71.8
11.5
100.0
Table 2: Mapping survey – organisations: communities they work with and frequency
How common is forced marriage
How many cases
per year
Community mainly Very common Sometimes
Don’t know <10 10- 5050 75
worked with
occurs
N/A
26.4% 30
56.6 9
17.0 14
9
3
South Asian n=53 14
Somali
n=30 9
30.0
10
33.3
11
36.6
4
6
2
Other
African
Chinese
n=25 9
36.0
9
36.6
7
28.0
6
6
2
n=11 5
45.5
3
27.3
3
27.3
1
3
1
11
50.0
6
27.3
3
6
1
3
33.3
2
22.2
1
3
1
10
45.5
6
27.3
2
6
1
n=22 5
22.7
Middle
Eastern
n=9 4
44.4
Latin
American
n=22 6
27.3
Other
communities
of forced marriage cases per annum
80
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Support provided re forced marriage
Community mainly Victims
worked with
35.8%
South Asian n=53 19
Victims &
families
12
22.6
No support
17
32.1
Somali
n=30 10
33.3
5
16.7
9
30.0
Other
African
Chinese
n=25 13
52.0
4
16.0
7
28.0
n=11 4
40.9
2
18.2
4
36.4
Middle
Eastern
Latin
American
Other
communities
n=22 9
40.9
4
18.2
8
36.4
n=9
4
44.4
3
33.3
2
22.2
n=22 8
36.4
6
27.3
5
22.7
Table 3:
mapping
survey – whom
support
provided to by
organisations
Table 4: Mapping survey – type of support provided
Type of support
N=79
Advice
Counselling
Mediation
Emergency
accommodation
Frequency
34
25
9
10
Percentage
43.0
31.6
11.4
12.7
81
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Referral to other agencies
Befriending
Other
28
12
7
35.4
15.2
8.9
82
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION
Organisations mapped
Manchester:
For the Manchester arm of the mapping survey a total of 68 organisations/groups were
contacted. The majority of these were selected from the 2005-2006 Directory of Ethnic
Minority Organisations produced by Manchester City Council; the remaining
organisations/groups were selected as a result of previously established contacts and also
from suggestions from other agencies.
Our original sample of 35 organisations had to be expanded considerably due to the high
rate of non-participation. The final sample of 68 organisations/groups consisted of two
statutory organisations and sixty-six organisations/groups which could be classed as
voluntary or community based. The organisations/groups were of varying sizes, ranging
from national organisations which had a head office based in the Manchester area to
much smaller groups that were run by volunteers. The selected organisations/groups
represented and worked with a wide range of communities, e.g. South Asian, Jewish,
African, Chinese, lesbian/gay.
From contact with the 68 organisations, 25 interviews were conducted. These interviews
represented 26 organisations (one of the interviews was conducted with someone who did
volunteer work for two of the organisations in the sample and one questionnaire was lost
in transit).
The remaining 42 organisations/groups were unable to take part in the mapping survey
for a variety of reasons.
Table 5: Reasons for non-participation
Out of date Contact details
7
Letter returned
2
Unable to establish contact
18
With relevant person
Time constraints
5
FM not relevant
4
Mitigating circumstances
6
TOTAL
42

For seven organisations/groups the contact details were out of date, so for
example the phone number was no longer active or the organisation was no longer
located at the given address.
83
DRAFT QUALITY NOT ACCEPTED FOR
PUBLICATION

One organisation returned the letter inviting them to participate in the study. It is
unknown whether the letter was returned due to re-location of organisation, or the
closure of the organisation, or some other reason.

The main reason why a large number (18) of the selected organisations were
unable to be interviewed for the mapping survey was because the researcher was
unable to establish contact with the appropriate person (despite numerous
attempts) within the timeframe of the project. This was either because the
appropriate contact was not available when calls were made or simply because no
response to the initial invitation was ever received.

Upon contact nine of the organisations/groups stated that they were unable or did
not wish to be involved in the study. Five organisations/groups stated that time
constraints of their work prevented them from becoming involved in the study.
For four organisations, the contact person felt that the study was not relevant to
them or the communities within which they worked, as they reported that forced
marriage was not an issue for their communities.

The remaining six organisations/groups that were contacted gave a positive
response to the questionnaire stating their wish to be involved. However
mitigating circumstances (e.g. person unavailable at agreed time due to workload,
named person going on maternity leave) meant that the interviews were never
completed.
Tower Hamlets and Birmingham
42 agencies were contacted in Tower Hamlets, of which interviews were conducted with
30 organisations. 33 organisations were contacted in Birmingham, of which interviews
were conducted with 25. The mechanisms for drawing up the sample were similar to
those used in Manchester, although it proved easier to obtain the Tower Hamlets and
Birmingham samples than that in Manchester. The reasons for non response in Tower
Hamlets and Birmingham were again similar to Manchester and included the following:






Incorrect contact details (4)
No response to phone call, letter or email (5)
Refused to participate because claimed that study did not fall within its remit (3)
Refused to participate because of lack of time (2)
Relevant person not available to speak (1)
No reason given for refusal (5)
84