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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*)
