Forced Marriage · Questions? Asma Ashraf - a.ashraf@ucl.ac.uk . Author: Elma Shahzad Created Date:...

Forced Marriage

Asma Ashraf

University College London

What does marriage mean?

Definition of Forced Marriage

Source: Multi-agency practice guidelines: Handling cases of Forced Marriage, 2014

“A forced marriage is a marriage in

which one or both spouses do not

consent to the marriage but are

coerced into it. Duress can include

physical, psychological, financial,

sexual and emotional pressure”.

How do you recognise a forced marriage?

Arranged Marriage to Forced Marriage

The Grey Area

Family-arranged

marriage

One or both prospective

spouses object

Marriage

forced

Who, why, where?

• No typical victim

• Happens in the UK

• Illegal

• Gender disparity

• Impacts on health

Right to choose: Spotting the signs of forced marriage

Azim

Nayana

Honour Based Violence

Focus Group Participant in Gilbert et al 2004

“…it’s like the weather, you

can’t question it…”

The ‘one chance’ rule

“To recognise, empathise and

witness and to refer to appropriate

multi-agency services”

Laura Wilson – 2010

Shafilea Ahmed - 2003

Banaz Mahmod - 2006

Uzma Rahan and three children -

2006

One chance rule

Arash Ghorbani-Zarin -

2004 Rukhsana Naz - 1998

Why is it important for healthcare professionals to be aware

of forced marriage?

• Forced marriage and the law

• Safeguarding

• Health Impacts

“I eventually thought about killing myself and I went

through that process of thinking I can’t live with him. I

can’t leave my family because I will be dishonouring

them so my only way out is by killing myself that way I

won’t dishonour the family…”

Case study/Role Play

Good Practice

In summary…

Jasvinder Sanghera CBE – Karma Nirvana

“Cultural acceptance does not

mean accepting the

unacceptable”

Richard Horton – Editor, The Lancet 3rd March 2015

“The health sector has a powerful

position… healthcare workers need

passionate leadership to take on

FGM and forced marriage”

What do we need to do…

• Include compulsory training for ALL healthcare

professionals pre and post qualification

• Research exploring health impacts of forced

marriage and effects of honour system

• Learning from those affected by HBV and FM

• More data is needed in this area to develop

appropriate interventions

• Consider how we work with communities to

prevent this (we need to tackle this from within*)

Questions?

Asma Ashraf - a.ashraf@ucl.ac.uk