SWAT, Pakistan — Police in northwestern Pakistan’s Swat district have arrested seven men for attempting to force a 16-year-old girl into marriage to settle a family dispute. Those arrested include the girl’s father, the prospective groom and his father, and four tribal elders who allegedly brokered the deal. If convicted, they face up to 10 years […]

A national help line on the issue has been launched by the forced marriage unit at Home Office London in order to discourage the menace of the issue of forced marriages through civil legislature and with the coordination of the civil society. This was disclosed here yesterday by Ms. Victoria White, the visiting Caseworker of the British Foreign & Common Wealth office in London while addressing […]

Girl was ‘locked in a room and raped’ by a 40-year-old man a fortnight ago She is being forced to marry her attacker’s son by Indian council elders Her parents, who live in Rajasthan, are protesting against the decision Victim is believed to have been raped by same man again on Wednesday  A six-year-old Indian […]

The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), a human rights and a social development non-governmental organization has expressed grave concern about the alarming rate of forced marriages in the Karaga District, a situation which impedes the education of the girl-child. Madam Agnes Gandaa, Northern Ghana Programmes Coordinator of ISODEC, who expressed the concern, said a survey […]

GIRLS as young as 14 are being forced to go overseas to marry older men and have their children. Parents tell their daughters they are being taken on holiday only for them to end up in arranged marriages. One desperate teenager has been placed on an airport watchlist to stop parents smuggling her out of the […]

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The latest incident of forced marriage of a minor Muslim girl to an Arab national has once again brought to focus vulnerability of women from poorer sections who continue to be victims of sexual exploitation. The infamous “Arabbi kalyanam” ( Arab wedding), a social malady prevalent in parts of Kerala, has stirred a raging debate over the evil practice, […]

In 2007 U.N. organizations, civil society groups and other institutions working to stop female genital mutilation got together and brainstormed a campaign to end the practice in Sudan. The result was Saleema, a word that translates to complete, to signify that a girl should remain the way she was born. The campaign has been ramping up […]

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has long been associated with communities in Africa such as Mali, Somalia and Sudan and some parts of the Middle East. But authorities in the UK say practitioners are being brought to Britain as part of Europe-wide cutting tours, largely driven by families who can no longer afford to send their […]

A UNICEF commissioned report says there is an increase in child marriages in Sri Lanka. UNICEF commissioned a qualitative inquiry to better understand why children were marrying young and what could be done about it. The inquiry was based on a 2009 desk review, which suggested that early marriage and statutory rape might be on […]