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June 10, 2006

UK: Muslims Pressure Government To Allow Forced Marriages

I am still in the process of compiling our Special Report on forced marriages, but an item from the Daily Mail needs its own space as an article, as it highlights the dhimmitude of the Blair government in Britain.

Forced marriages, as we described, involve the denial of a young woman, often a minor, of the most basic of human rights, the most important being her right to choose her own future husband, and to choose who is allowed to have sex with her body.

Two years ago, Britain wanted to introduce a law to outlaw forced marriages, and set up a Home Office consultancy on the matter. Every year 200 cases of forced marriage are reported to the Foreign and Commonwealth office, and police guidelines make pains to differentiate between "arranged" and "forced" marriage.

A special Foreign Office unit has assisted more than 1,250 people who were subjected to forced marriages since it started in 2000, rescuing 200 people a year from abroad.

Many victims of forced marriage are tricked to go abroad, to countries like Pakistan or Bangladesh on the parent's pretext of "visiting relatives", and once abroad they are made to marry against their will, and often under the legal age of consent for Britain.

The true figure for forced marriages is unknown, but it is estimated that at least 1,000 cases of such abuse happen annually. The closed nature of the Muslim communities prevent cases being highlighted in the media. When a girl is dumped in a foreign country, it is easy to pretend to the community that she is "happily married".

As we reported on May 28, there is a strong link between forced marriages with both arranged marriages and also, more seriously, honour killings. When a girl is targeted by parents to become a bride and goes against Muslim parents' plans, she can be hunted down by relatives, or even by hit-men hired by the family.

But this week, the Home Office announced that it would no longer be planning to make forced marriages illegal. The Muslim Council for Britain, whose last head, "Sir" Iqbal Sacranie supported terrorists such as Osama bin Laden (whom he tried to bring to the UK in 1996) and also Hamas, was always opposed to outlawing forced marriages.

The MCB claimed that outlawing forced marriage would see children made to give evidence at their parents' trials and could lead to the Muslim community being "stigmatised", the Mail states.

So for the MCB it is more important for the Muslim community to be protected from stigma and for abusers of a child's rights to go unpunished than to provide justice to young women, who in many cases are still children.

The Muslim Council for Britain's newly elected leader, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, states in an interview in today's Telegraph that not only does he approve of "arranged" marriages, but he believes that Britain should learn from the Muslims and adopt them too.

The decision by Baroness Scotland of the Home Office to abandon attempts to criminalise the human rights abuses of forced marriage was met with disappointment by the NSPCC.

The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is Britain's leading child welfare charity. Its Head of Policy and Public Affairs is Diana Sutton. She said: "The coercion involved in forced marriage is abusive and a violation of children's human rights. We know that forced marriage can have serious harmful consequences for children including physical, emotional and sexual abuse, kidnap, rape and self harm. In the most tragic cases it can result in murder and suicide. In the longer term, many women forced in to marriage suffer domestic violence, whose impact on children is now widely documented."

David Davis, the Conservative's Shadow Home Secretary, said: "The Government seems to be ignoring the views of the victims of this abhorrent practice. We remain to be convinced that ministers will use their existing powers to stamp out this degrading and vile practice."

He said the Government's much-hyped launch of its campaign 18 months ago which has now been shelved suggested that ministers were "more interested in grabbing headlines than delivering results."

And obviously, the government cares more about appeasing Muslims (and gaining their votes) and approving their alien and barbaric marriage customs, than it does about supporting the rights of young, often underage girls. These girls have the misfortune to be born into a family that sees them as nothing more than brood-mares, chattels to be bartered off with no consideration of their wishes. And the government does not care about protecting them.

The BBC which, like a poodle, vaunted and publicised the Home Office proposals when they were first laid out, has not given a single column inch to report that the Blair government is going to do nothing to prevent these abuses of young lives.

A letter to the UK Telegraph from Monday 12th June, concerning Dr Bari's support for arranged marriages, draws attention to how in Britain dowry marriages were common two centuries ago. A rich man could effectively "buy" a woman from from her family. The letter draws attention to a poem by Robert Burns. I do not normally reproduce poetry, but it seems appropriate, to remind us of how we in the West have managed to shed our own poor traditions of forced marriage.

How Cruel Are The Parents

How cruel are the parents
Who riches only prize,
And to the wealthy booby
Poor Woman sacrifice!
Meanwhile, the hapless Daughter
Has but a choice of strife;
To shun a tyrant Father's hate-
Become a wretched Wife.

The ravening hawk pursuing,
The trembling dove thus flies,
To shun impelling ruin,
Awhile her pinions tries;
Till, of escape despairing,
No shelter or retreat,
She trusts the ruthless Falconer,
And drops beneath his feet.

Robert Burns, 1795

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 10, 2006 10:31 AM

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