Activists campaigning to change Lebanon’s law on rape have staged a macabre protest on Beirut’s famous sea front.

What appeared to be more than 30 white wedding dresses were hung from nooses, strung up between the palm trees.

Lebanese law currently allows a rapist to be exonerated if he marries his victim.

The activists are pressing to have the legislation abolished at an upcoming session of parliament.

Minister for Women’s Affairs Jean Oghassabian described the article as being “from the stone age”.

“There are 31 days in a month and every single day, a woman may be raped and forced to marry her rapist,” said Alia Awada from the non-governmental organisation Abaad.

A proposal to scrap Article 522 of the penal code, which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage, was introduced last year and approved by a parliamentary committee in February.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39680838

Britain’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) recorded over 1,400 victims in 2016, up from 1,200 the previous year.

Nazir Afzal, former head of the North-West Crown Prosecution Service, told the taxpayer-funded broadcaster that “one of the major things stopping victims coming forward is the codes of silence that exist in the family”.

Afzal likened the culture within communities where forced marriage is common to organised crime, explaining that “it’s like the mafia. You cover up, as you are so scared of the consequences.”

The BBC reported 11,744 so-called “honour crimes” in the UK between 2010 and 2014, with campaigners claiming far more likely going unrecorded.

The Halo Project estimates these crimes include an annual 12-15 honour-related killings, again noting that the true figure could be far higher.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/03/11/tip-iceberg-uk-records-1428-forced-marriage-victims-2016/

British 16- and 17-year-olds who get into difficulty abroad will no longer have to reimburse the government the costs of their journey home, it has been announced.

The Foreign Office previously required people aged 16 and over who found themselves in a vulnerable position to pay for their own repatriation, or issued loans to those who didn’t have the funds, confiscating their passports until they were repaid.

The department announced it would be reviewing this policy after the Guardian detailed the case of a 17-year-old British girl who arrived at the UK embassy in Islamabad in 2014, seeking help to escape a forced marriage.

The girl, who cannot be named for safety reasons, was required to sign a loan agreement and surrender her passport before she was flown back to the UK. She was then issued a bill for £814, the cost of her repatriation from Pakistan, and told she would not have her passport returned until she repaid the money.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/03/uk-changes-policy-on-charging-under-18s-for-repatriation

Actress, director, and humanitarian Angelina Jolie spent Tuesday night in the Cambodian capital, pledging her support for efforts to prosecute the Khmer Rouge crime of forced marriage and those working here to end violence against women.

Jolie, a UN special envoy for the rights of refugees, co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative with former British Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2012. Two years later, both spearheaded a summit in London focusing on ending sexual violence in conflict.

http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/cambodia-jolie-lauds-survivors-of-forced-marriage/755339

Pakistan has outlawed child marriage and toughened penalties for those guilty of the crime in an effort to crack down on the practice which is estimated to affect one in five girls in the country.

The legislation passed by the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, also bans forced marriage involving women from minority groups. Under the new law, offenders will face a minimum of five years in prison and may serve up to 10 years. They also face a fine of up to 1 million rupees (RM42,000).

Before the change in law, offenders faced a minimum of three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 rupees (RM21,000).

“The punishment has been made harsher in the law … in order to completely curb the social maladies which have risen because of the less stringent punishment and fines,” Federal Law and Human Rights minister Zahid Hamid told Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.
Read more at http://www.star2.com/family/children/2017/02/11/pakistan-gets-tough-on-child-marriages/#dlgxoxWOmreIBAhw.99

Just days after prominent Melbourne imam Ibrahim Omerdic was charged with facilitating the forced marriage of a child under 16, NSW Family and Community Services is seeking urgent advice about how to better protect young people from arranged marriages.

One option being seriously considered is introducing the UK’s forced marriage protection orders. Under the orders, parents can be hauled before the family courts and made to reveal where the child could be found.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/child-brides-new-laws-to-get-tough-on-parents-who-force-arranged-marriages/news-story/e529a9b19803bbfa24c66ca207fe8a5e