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Protecting Victims of Forced Marriage: Is Age a Protective Factor?

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Abstract

This paper explores the UK’s legal interventions in the arena of forced marriage. Three key initiatives have been considered in the last 5 years: creating a specific crime of forced marriage; civil rather than criminal protection for victims; and an increase in the age of entry for non-EU spouses, with a corresponding increase in age for sponsoring such spouses. Our key focus is on the last of these interventions and we draw upon a research study conducted in the UK in 2006/2007 exploring the risks and benefits associated with increasing the age of sponsorship and entry. The UK government’s argument is that the increased maturity which comes from being older acts as a protective factor, thus making it easier to resist forced marriage. This view of maturity gains its saliency from developmental psychology. Here, we critically analyse the construct of age and the link between age and ability to resist forced marriage. We illustrate through the accounts of victims of forced marriage and of stakeholders the difficulties of adopting age as a central organising feature of protection for potential victims of forced marriage.

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Notes

  1. House of Commons Hansard Debates, 5 February 2007: http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070205/debtext/70205-0014.htm (accessed 14 February 2009); 14 June 2004: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040614/debtext/40614-22.htm (accessed 14 February 2009).

  2. The terms ‘victims’ and ‘survivors’ are used interchangeably throughout this article to represent both sets of experiences.

  3. Home Office website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducingcrime/domestic-violence (accessed 14 March 2008).

  4. Straw's veil comments spark anger, BBC news, 5 October 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5410472.stm (accessed 6 January 2009).

  5. Women and men entering the UK on a spouse visa are now subjected to a 2 year probationary period, after which they are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain. During this period, they are subject to the condition of ‘no recourse to public funds’. ‘Public funds’ include a range of income-related benefits, together with housing and homelessness support, including: jobseeker’s allowance, income support, child tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit, state pension credit, carer’s allowance, allocation of local authority housing and homelessness assistance. Under the domestic violence exemption, if a person during the probationary period can prove that s/he has experienced domestic violence, s/he is able to claim these benefits. As forced marriage is part of the definition of domestic violence, some respondents believed that this exemption could be extended to immigrant women and men on a probationary visa experiencing forced marriage.

  6. At the time of writing only one case has been tried under this new law, involving a 33 year old woman with a Bangladeshi passport, with resident status in the UK, working here with the NHS as a GP. Attempts were made to force her into marriage in Bangladesh, but she has since returned to the UK. In this case, the Bangladeshi judicial system worked together with the UK police and immigration authorities to release her from unlawful captivity by her family members: Forced marriage doctor, Humayra Abedin, freed by Bangladesh court, The Times, 15 October 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5340058.ece (accessed 6 January 2009).

  7. House of Commons Hansard Debates, 5 February 2007, http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070205/debtext/70205-0014.htm (accessed 14 February 2009).

  8. Office of National Statistics, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7308&More=Y (accessed 29 September 2009).

  9. One in five university students living at home, 9 October 2006, http://www.grb.uk.com/448.0.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=470&tx_ttnews%5Buid%5D=470&cHash=c1a04f55ef (accessed 7 January 2009).

  10. Graduates delay major life events due to debt and many avoid university to escape it, 15 August 2007, http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/deals/news/student_money-news-Graduates-delay-major-life-events-due-to-debt-and-many-avoid-university-to-escape-it-321.html (accessed 7 January 2009).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the participants in our research study for their valuable and insightful contributions. We would also like to thank all the other researchers involved in our study: Marianne Hester, Bipasha Ahmed, Jasvinder Devgon, Melanie McCarry, Sandhya Sharma, Ann Singleton, Nicole Westmarland, and the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful views and comments. Both authors have made an equal contribution to the article.

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Correspondence to Geetanjali Gangoli.

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Gangoli, G., Chantler, K. Protecting Victims of Forced Marriage: Is Age a Protective Factor?. Fem Leg Stud 17, 267–288 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-009-9132-7

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