Girls as young as 13 are contacting Childline about forced marriage

Young girls are being pressurised into marrying strangers but fear being cut out of their community if they refuse, the NSPCC has warned.

Girls as young as 13 have been contacting Childline about being forced into marriage, with 205 counselling sessions on the issue in 2016/17 – a 12 per cent increase from 2015/16. There were 6,099 visits to the Childline forced marriage page in the same year.

Children told counsellors they were frightened of being taken out of the country for marriage and reported emotional abuse by their parents about the issue.

In 2016/17 the NSPCC’s Helpline made 48 referrals, almost exactly the same from 2015/16, where it made 50.

The Halo Project is a Middlesbrough based charity, they support victims and those at risk of forced marriage, honour based violence and mutilation.

Their director, Yasmin Khan, explains this is a prevalent problem in the North East and the rest of the country;

“We have a number of cases that we’re dealing with – hundreds and hundreds since we’ve been established,

“So we’re almost reaching the 600 threshold of forced marriage, honour based violence and FGM cases that we ourselves have supported victims.”

The NSPCC is revealing the figures as the UK’s school summer holiday begins, a time when some families can exploit the long break to take children overseas and force them to marry.

In some instances children may have been told that they are going on a normal holiday and do not realise that they are heading to their wedding day with a complete stranger. Once they are abroad they may find themselves isolated and find it difficult to raise the alarm and halt the marriage.

A 17-year-old girl told counsellors: “I got forced to marry last year. I never wanted any of this. My friends are being supportive but I can’t talk to my mum about it as she thinks he’s the best thing for me and told me that if I end the marriage she won’t speak to me ever again. I’ve never even met him.”

An 18-year-old girl told Childline: “My parents are talking about taking me back to my home country to get married, but I don’t want to. They get violent when I don’t do what they want. I want to leave home but they’d never agree to it. I just want to live a normal teenage life, but they won’t let me.”

Worries about family honour and cultural expectations sometimes acted as barriers for children speaking up while some young people feared that their relatives would be punished if they sought support.

The secretive nature of forced marriage combined with feelings of loyalty to family and community can mean it is difficult to grasp the true scale of the problem, the NSPCC warned.

NSPCC Chief Executive Peter Wanless said: “No child should be forced into marriage and we must be clear that, regardless of cultural expectations, this is a crime and an abuse of human rights. Forcing a child to marry shows a complete lack of regard for their feelings, thoughts or ambitions.

“We understand some may worry about betraying their family but we would urge anyone – including potential victims – to speak up before it is too late. Help us break the cycle and speak up, so that we can step in and stop a child being bound into something that they would never ask for.”

It is a criminal offence to force someone to marry and can result in a prison sentence of up to seven years, but many children said their parents were bullying them and threatening them into it.

Some young people told counsellors that the driving force behind their parents’ wishes was because to resist the marriage would be to bring shame and dishonour on their family. Some families may believe forcing their child into a marriage is the best thing for the young person’s prospects.

You can find more help and advice on this issue by visiting the Halo Project or the NSPCC websites.

A child can always call Childline on 0800 1111 and any adult worried about a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000. Both lines are free, confidential, and open 24/7.