More than 11,000 cases of so-called honour crime were recorded by UK police forces from 2010-14, new figures show. The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, which obtained the data, called for a national strategy for police, courts and schools to follow. The crimes are usually aimed at women, and can include abductions, beatings and even […]

A Dutch organisation which campaigns against forced marriages is on Thursday issuing hundreds of girls in Rotterdam with a special pen containing tips on how to avoid being married off during the summer. The pen contains the contact details of organisations which can help if they fear their parents plan to force them to marry […]

Forced marriage prosecutions are under way in Britain with 46 completed in the first year since the law was changed, Solicitor General Robert Buckland has announced. New laws introducing criminal responsibility for people who coerce others into marriage were passed in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Mr Buckland said the Crown Prosecution […]

Are you being forced against your will to marry someone? Are you scared you will be taken abroad to marry someone against your will? Are you in a forced marriage and want some advice about what to do? Whether you want advice because you are concerned about yourself, a relative or a friend we can […]

When Bhoke Peter was 14, her uncle married her off to a 55-year-old man. Her husband paid a bride price of 30 cows and set her to work in his field in a remote part of northern Tanzania, where he would whip her with a stick if she made a mistake. When they got home, […]

New figures show England and Wales witnessed an alarming level of convictions for violent crimes against women and girls in 2014. According to the figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service, 78,773 people were convicted of violence against women, up 16.9% from figures released in the previous year. The cases include a wide range of sexual offences, […]

Rahela* married at age 13, about a year after both of her parents were killed by Cyclone Aila, which struck Bangladesh in 2009. “They had left me at my grandmother’s house. [Our house] was swept away. No one saw their dead bodies,” she said. Rahela went to live with her aunt and uncle but they were […]

Last week, the British courts handed down its first ever sentence to a perpetrator of forced marriage. The perpetrator – a 34-year-old businessman from Cardiff – raped and imprisoned a woman, before forcing her to marry. It was just a year ago today that forced marriage became a crime in the United Kingdom. What does […]

The Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation has marked the first anniversary of the criminalisation of forced marriage. A year ago today, forcing someone to marry against their will became a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. The law, designed to help people in England and Wales but also UK nationals overseas, […]