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CPS officers to attend Honour based violence conference

Published: November 9th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021

Author Aruna Papp to speak at honour based violence conference

Aruna Papp, author of Unworthy Creature, will be one of the presenters at the honour based violence conference in Calgary next week.

On November 12 and 13, the Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association (ACCPA) will host a conference on honour based violence.

The conference is being held to educate police, justice personnel, lawyers, teachers, counsellors, health care providers, judges, prosecutors and the general public on honour based violence. At the heart of honour based violence is the belief that women are inferior. Violent crimes are usually committed against women by their male family members who believe the women have damaged the family’s honour. The conference hopes to educate police and health care professionals on the prevention of honour based violence.

Worldwide, there are at least 5,000 honour based killings annually, however, that number is likely much higher as thousands of crimes are misreported as suicides or accidents or simply ignored.

Tags: abusive, child brides, forced, forced marriage, forced marriage unit, halo project, victims, violence
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Girl, 14, pregnant after Pakistan forced marriage, judge says

Published: November 9th, 2013 Updated: November 9th, 2013

14-year-old girl became pregnant after being taken to Pakistan by her father and forced to marry a man, a judge has said.

She was subjected to violence during which a gun was produced, according to Mr Justice Holman. The girl returned to England where she gave birth. Details emerged in a written ruling following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Birmingham.

‘Harrowing’

Two weeks after the ceremony, the marriage was consummated, the ruling said. The judge said: “The girl has given an account of the circumstances surrounding that marriage which are, frankly, harrowing. “On her account… this was a grave example of a marriage which was forced under considerable duress, involving at one stage the production of a gun and physical violence upon her.

“The marriage was consummated about two weeks later after further threats to her if she did not permit her husband, who was then aged about 24, to have sexual intercourse with her. “As a result, while still aged 14, she became pregnant.”

Local authority officials wanted the marriage nullified, but the judge said the girl would have to initiate proceedings herself for this to take place.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24819609

Tags: child brides, forced marriage, halo project, honour based violence, victims
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Greece girl Maria ‘bought as an investment by jailed foster parents’

Published: October 26th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021

Greek police believe Gypsy family planned to make big money by selling her into a forced marriage at the age of just 12.

The jailed foster parents of little ‘blonde angel’ Maria bought her as an “investment” to cash in on the biggest tradition of the gypsy world, police believe. The youngster is thought to have been bought young, with the intention of making big money by selling her into a forced marriage at the age of just 12. Police are investigating whether Maria, believed to be aged five or six, was being prepared for sale to a wealthy gypsy leader. Marriage at the age of 12 is common practice in many traditional Roma communities, with the bride’s family getting a pay-out from the new in-laws.

Because Maria was seen as a “white-skinned beauty” within the gypsy camp, she would be considered a “prize investment”. A police source said: “The money a family gets in the case of marriage is negotiable at a high level, especially with a prize catch like Maria. “This could be like a business deal which would give them a profit at the end of it when they sell to the highest bidder.” It could explain why a family with 13 other registered children – and raking in more than £2,000 in benefits a month – kept another mouth to feed for more than four years.
Read More: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/greece-girl-maria-bought-investment-2485445#ixzz2iqCkPIvO

Tags: child brides, child exploitation, forced marriage, halo project
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‘I was forced into marrying my relative … and there was nowhere to go, no way out’

Published: October 22nd, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021

A Scots woman forced into marrying a relative in Pakistan against her will while still a teenager has spoken for the first time of the abuse she has suffered.

Sara, who still fears for her life if her true identity or whereabouts are revealed, was beaten, threatened and coerced until she agreed to leave university and travel to Pakistan with her parents. She made her decision to speak out as support agencies revealed a surge in the reported numbers of women fleeing forced marriage.

According to a new report, women’s support agencies in Scotland have seen a surge in the numbers of cases reported since new legislation to deal with forced marriage was introduced in 2011 by the Scottish Parliament. Since the new law was introduced some support agencies have seen their referrals double. Under the legislation courts in Scotland can issue protection orders specifically tailored to a victim’s needs, for example by ensuring they are taken to a place of safety or by helping those in danger of being taken abroad for marriage. Breaching such an order is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine, a two-year prison sentence or both. Mridul Wadhwa, information and education officer at Shakti Women’s Aid, said: “The numbers of reports of forced marriage in Scotland have gone up significantly.

“The referrals from people who suspect forced marriage has also increased, but we still need more agencies – particularly schools and universities – to pick up on the warning signs and notify the authorities earlier.” Despite the constant threat of violence hanging over her, Sara has taken the decision to speak out because she wants other young people to know it is possible to escape such situations.

Tags: abusive, Asian, bride, child brides, forced, forced marriage unit, halo project, haloproject, honour, marriage, marry
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“Forced marriage is probably the last form of slavery in the UK.” — Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Northwest England.

Published: October 20th, 2013 Updated: October 20th, 2013

More than a dozen Muslim clerics at some of the biggest mosques in Britain have been caught on camera agreeing to marry off girls as young as 14.

Undercover reporters filming a documentary about the prevalence of forced and underage marriage in Britain for the television program ITV Exposure secretly recorded 18 Muslim imams agreeing to perform an Islamic marriage, known as a nikah, between a 14-year-old girl and an older man. Campaigners against forced marriage — which is not yet a crime in Britain — say thousands of underage girls — including some under the age of five — are being forced to marry against their will in Muslim nikahs every year, and that the examples exposed by the documentary represent just “the tip of the iceberg.”

The documentary, entitled “Forced to Marry,” was first broadcast on October 9 and involves two reporters posing as the mother and brother of a 14-year-old girl to be married to an older man. The reporters contacted 56 mosques across Britain and asked clerics to perform a nikah. The imams were specifically told that the “bride” did not consent to the marriage to an older man from London. Although the legal age for marriage in Britain is 16, according to Islamic Sharia law girls can marry once they reach puberty. The imams who agreed to marry the girl openly mocked the legitimacy of British law, reflecting the rise of a parallel Islamic legal system in Britain.

Tags: abusive, child brides, forced marriage, forced marriage unit, halo project, haloproject, honour based violence
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Australian Research Council rejects funding to research growing problem of forced marriages

Published: September 27th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021

CRUCIAL funding to research the growing problem of teenage forced marriages was rejected by the under-fire Australian Research Council.

The federal and NSW governments have both questioned the decision to reject funding for the study, saying they fear child-bride marriages are far more common than previously thought. Associate Professor Jennifer Burn from the University of Technology, Sydney and Director of Anti-Slavery Australia, said she applied for funding to explore the issue of forced marriages in NSW, but her application was “knocked back” by the Council earlier this year.

Child bride reveals the dark secret of unspoken crime in Sydney

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has been accused by the newly-elected federal government of “wasteful” spending on unnecessary projects. This includes grants for research into how people could adapt to climate change through public art, and another project into the meaning of “I” involving a retrospective study of 18th and 19th century German existentialists. Ms Burn said the area of forced marriages was under-researched and her project sought to quantify how prevalent it was in the community. “There’s a lot of work to be done,” Ms Burn told The Sunday Telegraph, adding that in NSW it was widely suspected to be a much bigger problem than on paper.

Tags: abusive, bride, child brides, child exploitation, coerced, criminalisation, forced, forced marriage, halo project, haloproject
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Kerala: minor forced to marry Saudi national, abandoned after honeymoon

Published: September 21st, 2013 Updated: September 20th, 2013

In yet another case of forcing a minor Muslim girl into wedlock with Arab nationals in Kerala, a 17-year-old girl has approached the Child Welfare Committee alleging that the orphanage authorities, where she had been staying, forced her to marry a man from Saudi Arabia. In her complaint to the committee on Friday, the girl had alleged that the orphanage authorities “pressurised” her to marry the man, who deserted her after honeymooning for 17 days and returned to his country. The Child Welfare Committee chairman in Malappuram, Sherrief Ullath, said according to the girl the marriage took place on June 13.

The orphanage authorities forced her to marry the Saudi national against her wishes. The Child Welfare Committee authorities said they have forwarded the girl’s complaint to the police, who has registered cases under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, the Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Tags: Asian, bride, child brides, child exploitation, halo project, haloproject, honour, violence
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Child marriage campaigners in south Asia receive $23m cash injection

Published: September 7th, 2013 Updated: November 16th, 2021

By the age of 17, Zeenat had been divorced three times after forced marriages. She first wed shortly after puberty to a man who abused her, an experience that recurred in her subsequent marriages.

She became so isolated that she did not go to the hospital or ask for help. Neither had she heard of India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005, which made her husband’s violent outbursts not just wrong, but illegal. Sadly, her story is all too common. Every year about 10 million girls become child brides, and one in seven girls in the developing world marries before the age of 15. Bangladesh, Nepal and India have three of the highest rates of child marriage, with 68.7%, 56.1% and 50% respectively of girls married before the age of 18. Child marriage is not just a question of poverty – although that is a critical issue – but also of how girls are viewed in society.

“Even with higher levels of income, there is the practice of child marriage,” said Care International’s gender director, Theresa Hwang. “It is an issue of status; girls are valued in a lesser way. In India, girls are not seen as ‘added value’. The issue is squarely tied to gender equality and social norms.” Care USA, the US arm of the anti-poverty NGO, and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) this week received grants of $7.7m (£4.9m) and $15.3m respectively from the Kendeda fund to tackle child marriage in south Asia. Both organisations will use the money to support local NGOs.

Founded 10 years ago, the Kendeda fund worked initially on environmental sustainability in the US, but last year created a girls’ rights portfolio. AJWS will focus on India, Care on Nepal and Bangladesh.

Tags: Asian, attacks, bride, child brides, child exploitation, cultural stereotypes, halo project, marriage, victims, violence
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Girl says mother forced her to marry HIV+ man, helped him rape her

Published: September 7th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021

Mumbai: In a shocking case of abuse, a 16-year-old student from a Thane college was forcibly married off to an HIV+ patient by her mother based in Kalwa, Mumbai, police said. Cops said the mother would bind her hands and stuff a piece of cloth into her mouth to allow the husband to rape her. If she resisted, she would be battered by the duo, they added.

“On many occasions I was beaten with bamboo sticks. When I still refused to give up, my mother forced me to have cold drinks laced with sedatives so that he could rape me,” the girl said in her statement to Childline NGO. According to the police, the matter came to light when the victim approached the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) through a former teacher. Based on her statement to the CWC committee, the panel asked the Kalwa police to register an FIR. As per the victim’s statement to the police and the panel, the accused who is in his early 30s, is a distant kin of the family and had been staying in their neighbourhood for several years. The girl alleged that he would support the family financially and had been paying for her education.

Dragged back home
On May 23, the accused allegedly put forth a marriage proposal and the victim’s indebted mother could not resist.The girl said, despite her protests, she was forced to marry the accused. Her age was allegedly manipulated and the ceremony took place at a temple in south Mumbai, she added. “After hearing talk of my marriage, I tried to escape from the house. But my mother chased me till the station and forced me to get off the train. She consumed phenyl to blackmail me into staying. I was left with no option but to marry this guy, knowing full well that he was HIV-positive,” the victim stated.

The girl said she was forced into a physical relationship with the accused after marriage. She added that if she refused, her mother would pin her down and muzzle her while the accused forced himself on her. She was allegedly beaten black and blue by them. At times, he’d lock her up in the room.

Tags: child brides, forced marriage, halo project, haloproject, honour, marriage, victims
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Posts Tagged ‘child brides’

CPS officers to attend Honour based violence conference

Author Aruna Papp to speak at honour based violence conference

Girl, 14, pregnant after Pakistan forced marriage, judge says

14-year-old girl became pregnant after being taken to Pakistan by her father and forced to marry a man, a judge has said.

‘Harrowing’

Greece girl Maria ‘bought as an investment by jailed foster parents’

Greek police believe Gypsy family planned to make big money by selling her into a forced marriage at the age of just 12.

‘I was forced into marrying my relative … and there was nowhere to go, no way out’

“Forced marriage is probably the last form of slavery in the UK.” — Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Northwest England.

Australian Research Council rejects funding to research growing problem of forced marriages

Kerala: minor forced to marry Saudi national, abandoned after honeymoon

Child marriage campaigners in south Asia receive $23m cash injection

Girl says mother forced her to marry HIV+ man, helped him rape her

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Posts Tagged ‘child brides’

Author Aruna Papp to speak at honour based violence conference

14-year-old girl became pregnant after being taken to Pakistan by her father and forced to marry a man, a judge has said.

‘Harrowing’

Greek police believe Gypsy family planned to make big money by selling her into a forced marriage at the age of just 12.

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