Only one in 30 suspected forced marriages in England is leading to a prosecution.

In the past seven years 8,170 cases of suspected forced marriages were identified by the government’s forced marriage unit. There have only been 395 referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service since 2010, however, of which 268 prosecutions were completed, according to the CPS’s violence against women and girls reports.

During the same period, about 1,250 forced marriage protection orders were issued to protect girls and women at risk, and assist with repatriating victims. Last year 246 were issued, up from 217 in 2015.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/forced-marriage-law-is-failing-l82r6pprv

Parents accused of trying to take their children out of the country in the breach of a “forced marriage” court order have appeared before Teesside’s top judge.

The Teesside man and woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday.

They are accused of breaching a forced marriage protection order by trying to take their children out of the country.

They have not yet entered pleas.

They were stopped at the departure gate at Newcastle Airport on August 5 last year.

It is alleged they tried to board a flight to Dubai with their children aged four to 15, with a connection flight booked to Islamabad in Pakistan.

The forced marriage protection order was imposed at Middlesbrough County Court in January 2016.

Such orders are imposed to prevent forced marriages or protect people in a forced marriage.

Their case has now been adjourned until September 7 for further investigations to take place.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/parents-accused-breaching-forced-marriage-13459685

In 2016, the Pakistani designer Nashra Balagamwala attended her best friend’s wedding in Karachi. She was approached by an older woman, who asked about her relationship status. “You’re 22 and you’re still single?” the lady gawked.

“She was in shock I wasn’t getting engaged any time soon,” said Balagamwala, who now lives in New York City. “It infuriated her before she walked off.”

Pakistani women can face incredible pressure to wed at a young age. Balagamwala has worn fake engagement rings to weddings, cut her hair to look less feminine and even “become more tanned and therefore more unappealing”, she said.

Now she wants to shed light on arranged marriage in a new board game called Arranged!, which will be released on her website on Wednesday.

The strategy game follows three young Pakistani women as they try to avoid a matchmaker. There are escapist tactics and genuine ways to finding Mr Right.

“My parents have tried to have me married off multiple times,” said Balagamwala. “I want to avoid an arranged marriage without upsetting my parents too much.”

In 2012, Balagamwala started studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. Since graduating last year, she has worked at Hasbro, which makes Monopoly and Jenga, but her parents want to her to return to Karachi, just as her one-year work visa expires.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/aug/08/nashra-balagamwala-pakistan-arranged-marriage-board-gamearranged-marriage-board-game-nashra-balagamwala-pakistan

The NSPCC report of increasing calls in relation to forced marriage (Report, 31 July) is alarming. In 2016 more than a quarter of cases dealt with by the Forced Marriage Unit involved under-18s. Child marriage is a harmful practice that has severe, lifelong consequences and is a violation of human rights under international law.

Childline and charities like ours provide support for children at risk but are not the whole solution. The increase indicates a need for urgent action and is a damning indictment of the government’s response to child marriage. Despite the criminalisation of forced marriage, loopholes remain. Eighteen is the legal age for marriage in England, Wales and Northern

Ireland but legislation allows marriage of 16- and 17-year-olds with parental consent, which can mean coercion. In Scotland, the minimum age of marriage is 16 and does not require parental consent.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/03/close-loopholes-that-allow-forced-child-marriage-in-the-uk