Posts Tagged ‘halo project’
Published: July 27th, 2013 Updated: July 25th, 2013
Ireland: NEW laws may be necessary to protect very young people from being subjected to ‘forced’ marriages, a judge has warned.
His comment came after the High Court annulled the union between a 16-year-old Egyptian girl and a 29-year-old man whom she married against her wishes.
The marriage between the couple, who are both of the Islamic faith, was declared null and void, in a ruling which was delivered by Mr Justice John MacMenamin.
“While Irish society is becoming increasingly diverse and the Constitution attaches great significance to equality, children’s rights and the institution of marriage, there are no laws addressing marriages involving ‘no real consent’,” Mr Justice John MacMenamin said. An Irish charity warned that more cases of forced marriage have been identified in women living in Ireland. Plan Ireland said: “With changing patterns of migration into Ireland in recent years, it is not hugely surprising that cases of forced and child marriage among people living here have been identified.”
Read more: http://www.herald.ie/news/courts/teen-girl-wins-freedom-from-forced-wedding-29357969.html
Tags: forced marriage, halo project, haloproject, honour based violence, marriage, rape, victims, violence
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Published: July 26th, 2013 Updated: July 25th, 2013
Ireland: NEW laws may be needed to help young people placed in arranged or forced marriages, a Supreme Court judge has said.
The system for seeking exemptions from the legal age limit for marriage may also need to be reviewed as it raises child welfare questions, according to Mr Justice John MacMenamin of the Supreme Court. Judge MacMenamin raised the possibilities of new laws as it emerged that a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a 29-year-old man – both of whom are from the Islamic faith – was annulled by court order. Serious concerns remain for the welfare of the Pakistani-born girl, who was later taken to Egypt by her mother despite a court order restraining her removal from Ireland.
The marriage took place in an Islamic centre in 2010 and was annulled in September 2011 due to lack of “full, free and informed consent” on behalf of the teen. The girl, known only as R, had a brief acquaintance with her intended husband before the marriage.
Judge John MacMenamin highlighted the case of a 16-year-old who was in an arranged marriage
Persons aged under 18 must get the permission of the Circuit Family Court or the High Court to get married. Before the ceremony, two applications were made to exempt the girl from the age restriction and from the requirement to give three months’ notice of intention to marry.
Read More: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/judge-calls-for-new-laws-to-help-young-forced-into-marriage-29355450.html
Tags: forced, forced marriage, forced marriage unit, halo project, haloproject, kidnap, marriage, marry, victims, violence
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Published: July 25th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021
The challenge is to let people – men and women – have their voices heard on the issue, Unicef says
More than 30 million girls are at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) over the next decade, a study by Unicef has found.
It said more than 125 million girls and women alive today had undergone a procedure now opposed by the majority in countries where it was practised. Ritual cutting of girls’ genitals is practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities in the belief it protects a woman’s virginity.
Unicef wants action to end FGM. The UN Children Fund survey, described as the most comprehensive to date on the issue, found that support for FGM was declining amongst both men and women. FGM “is a violation of a girl’s rights to health, well-being and self-determination,” said Unicef deputy executive director Geeta Rao Gupta, “What is clear from this report is that legislation alone is not enough.”
‘Speak out loudly’
The report, ‘Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change’, was released in Washington DC. The study, which pulled together 20 years of data from the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where FGM is still practised, found girls were less likely to be cut than they were some 30 years ago. They were three times less likely than their mothers to have been cut in Kenya and Tanzania, and rates had dropped by almost half in Benin, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Liberia and Nigeria.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23410858
Tags: abusive, child exploitation, criminalisation, cultural stereotypes, cutting, Female genital mutilation, halo project, haloproject, virginity
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Published: July 25th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021
Many teachers have little knowledge or training about FGM. Louise Tickle looks at what they can do to safeguard students.
Mots of teachers aren’t even aware that female genital mutilation (FGM) goes on, says Lisa Zimmerman, a teacher at Bristol City Academy. She campaigns against FGM through the charity Integrate Bristol, which she co-founded five years ago. Zimmerman runs high-profile extra-curricular activities including plays and films looking at the issues raised by FGM in order to combat the practice. Despite all this, she says, “the girls in my project had to tell the health and social care teacher what FGM was”.
That teacher is not alone in being ignorant of the cultural practice of genitally mutilating young girls, or the physical and mental health disaster – sometimes even death – that can result from it. It’s reportedly practised in 48 African countries, as well as in the Middle East and Far East, and it’s estimated that 24,000 girls – mostly of primary age – are at risk of FGM in this country. Indications are that it is becoming more widespread in the UK as a result of immigration from countries where the practice is prevalent.
But teachers’ ignorance could result in schools failing the safeguarding element of an Ofsted inspection, as the regulatory body has included a section on FGM in their ‘Inspecting Safeguarding’ briefing, issued in January. Given that a recent NSPCC survey of 1,000 teachers demonstrated a shocking lack of knowledge of FGM, it may well be that when Ofsted inspectors ask about how their school deals with the issues it raises, senior leadership teams struggle to answer.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jul/23/protect-students-female-genital-mutilation
Tags: abusive, child exploitation, criminalisation, cultural stereotypes, Female genital mutilation, forced, halo project, honour based violence, victims
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Published: July 25th, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021
Nada Al-Ahdal must be one of the bravest people alive today. This 11-year-old Yemeni girl managed to escape the fate that befalls so many girls of her age: a forced marriage.
Her story is harrowing. Nada, one of eight children, lived with her uncle in Saudi Arabia since she was three. According to Nada, her uncle, Abdel Salam al-Ahdal, was the only thing standing between her and life as a child bride.
Abdel Salam told NOW:
“When I heard about the groom, I panicked. Nada was not even 11 years old; she was exactly 10 years and 3 months. I could not allow her to be married off and have her future destroyed, especially since her aunt was forced to marry at 13 and burnt herself. I did all I could to prevent that marriage. I called the groom and told him Nada was no good for him. I told him she did not wear the veil and he asked if things were going to remain like that. I said ‘yes, and I agree because she chose it.’ I also told him that she liked singing and asked if he would remain engaged to her.”
According to NOW, the groom then ended the engagement. When he told Nada’s parents that he did not want to marry their daughter anymore, they were disappointed since they would no longer receive the bride price.
Despite her tender age, Nada is no stranger to arranged marriages. Her 18-year-old sister has been engaged several times, and her maternal aunt committed suicide by self-immolation after being forced to marry an abusive man. Even though Nada made her preferences very, very clear, her parents tried to marry her off again. That’s when Nada made this haunting video.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/nadas-escape-from-forced-marriage-highlights-child-marriage-epidemic.html#ixzz2a2y9xMR1
Tags: child brides, child exploitation, Child Marriage Act, criminalisation, cultural stereotypes, forced marriage, halo project, honour based violence, marry, pregnant, rape, victims, violence
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Published: July 23rd, 2013 Updated: July 23rd, 2013
The Ministry of Justice has introduced tougher penalties for those who break Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPO). It is now a criminal offence to breach a FMPO punishable by up to five years in prison.
Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both individuals do not (or cannot) consent to marriage, but are forced into it. Being forced can include: physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.
Victims of forced marriage can be both women and men, and the marriages may take place in the UK or overseas. Previously there was no specific offence of forcing someone to marry – however someone could be prosecuted for criminal offences involved in forcing someone to marry such as kidnap, false imprisonment, assault, child abduction, harassment, etc. The FMPO use civil law to protect someone at risk of being forced into a marriage. A FMPO puts in place restrictions for example: not to threaten or use force against the person concerned; to not take a person’s passport or other travel document; and not to arrange the engagement or marriage of the person protected by the FMPO. A new offence of breaching a FMPO has been introduced with a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, a fine or both on indictment (serious crime) and six months imprisonment, a fine or both on summary (lower level).
A new offence of forced marriage has also been introduced with a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment, a fine or both on indictment (more serious) and six months imprisonment, a fine or both, on summary (lower level).
The new measures are being brought in by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing (ASBCP) Bill, which was introduced on 9th May 2013 and includes measures to make both forced marriage and the breach of an FMPO a criminal offence.
Read More: http://www.immigrationinuk.co.uk/legal_news-legal_news-tougher_penalties_announced_against_forced_marriage_4648.html
Tags: criminalisation, forced marriage, halo project, honour, imprisonment, kidnap
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Published: July 10th, 2013 Updated: July 10th, 2013
Chandigarh, July 10: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in its report has chronicled rampant large-scale trafficking of girls from other states into Haryana where they are held as bonded labourers and forced into marriages. Such girls are nicknamed Paro (of Devdas fame) in the villages of Haryana, particularly in Mewat area. The girls are forced to marry against their will and are “sold” at price that varies according to their age, beauty and virginity.
The UN report has blamed Haryana’s fast declining female sex ratio for large-scale trafficking of girls from other states. The report, “Current Status of Victim Service Providers and Criminal Justice Actors in India on Anti-Human Trafficking-2013”, states: “There’s a large-scale trafficking of girls from the North-East. These girls are being brought to Haryana for forced marriage and bonded labour.
Read more: http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/un-report-reveals-rampant-trafficking-of-girls-nicknamed-paro-into-haryana-for-forced-marriages-24857.html
Tags: Asian, child brides, forced, forced marriage, halo project, haloproject, honour, kidnap
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Published: June 3rd, 2013 Updated: December 1st, 2021
ALEM GENA, 23 February 2007 (IRIN) – Standing at the front of her classroom, Mulu Melka reads out of her English book in a shy voice like any other 13-year-old schoolgirl; betraying nothing of the fact that twice within two years, she has been abducted and forced into marriage. A target of the traditional practice, known locally as “marriage by abduction”, Mulu managed to escape on both occasions. “The first time I was 11,” she recounts. “I was going to the mill, when a group of men grabbed me from behind. They took me by surprise. I fell on the ground, and when I woke up again I was in the house of my abductor. I stayed there three days.”
In the meantime, her parents held a meeting with the abductor’s parents, mediated by village elders. In exchange for a cow and two sheep, her parents agreed to her marriage with the abductor. But, Mulu ran away one night. “I escaped from the abductor’s house while he and his friends were drinking and dancing. I went to the toilet and then I escaped through a fence and ran away.”She then hid for nearly a year in the house of one of her uncles. “After nine months, I could not stand hiding anymore, so I decided to go back to school,” Mulu says nervously, looking at her hands.
Later, her parents received a letter from another suitor asking to marry Mulu, but she refused. The 39-year-old man turned up at the house and kidnapped her with her parents’ consent. “I managed to get my parents to agree for us to be tested for HIV. I had heard about it at school and on the radio. I was negative but my abductor was positive.” With the test results in her hand, Mulu managed to convince her parents to cancel the wedding.
Read more: http://www.irinnews.org/report/69993/ethiopia-surviving-forced-marriage
Tags: abducted, child brides, forced marriage, halo project, haloproject, kidnap, rape
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Published: June 3rd, 2013 Updated: June 3rd, 2013
There are many instances where a marriage can be voidable (set aside) or ‘void’ where the marriage is treated as though it has never taken place. Examples include non-consummation of marriage, due to either inability or wilful refusal. There are other reasons relating to unawareness that the bride is already pregnant or that one party has a serious STD. More commonly, these days, it may be that one of the parties may not have the legal capacity to consent to the union or may be entering it under duress or have suffered undue influence.
The latter appears to relate to the recent case highlighted in the Daily Mail involving a sixteen year old girl who had the protection of a Court Order which banned the arrangement of her marriage. The Order was backed by a Power of Arrest. It is alleged that, in spite of the Court Order, the girl was forced to marry a man she had met only once under a threat from her father to kill her (which would apparently be explained as suicide) if she refused to comply. She is reported to have turned up at a local police station in her pyjamas on her wedding night in a distressed state.
The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) is raising awareness about forced marriages across the public sector to professionals and lay clients alike. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16(2)). FMU goes on to say that No marriage shall be legally entered into without the full and free consent of both parties and a woman’s right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage that is central to her life and dignity and equality as a human being (Recommendation 21 Comment Article 16 (1) (b) UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).
This unfortunate 16 year old lady is due to appear in Court where, presumably, the persons alleged to have threatened her and organised the marriage despite the Court orders and powers of arrest will have to account for their actions. Duress includes actions perpetrated against a victim for physical, psychological, sexual, financial or emotional reasons and such pressure tends to be consistent and wholly unacceptable. In 2008 over 1,600 cases in the UK were reported involving South Asian and other families. It is important to remember that many go unreported. This often starts when the victim is quite young when during school there are often prolonged absences that are not properly explained, requests for extended leave, with the victim showing anxiety as the school holidays and breaks come nearer. Often they are not allowed to join after-school activities or forge a friendship with other children or their families. This can result in self-harm, feelings of depression and isolation and can result in unreasonable restrictions at home. Incidents as being beaten by a parent for ‘looking at a boy’ can often result in confiscation of a mobile phone and being forced to go back to the originating country often to meet the prospective ‘husband’.
Read more: http://www.deferolaw.com/profiles/blogs/forced-marriages-do-you-know-where-you-stand
Tags: child brides, coerced, criminalisation, distressed, forced marriage, forced marriage unit, halo project, haloproject, honour, honour based violence, marriage, marry, pregnant, pressure, threatened
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