Forced marriages helpline launched

The government has launched a new national helpline for victims of forced marriage.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said that the helpline, run by the Karma Nirvana charity, would help increase awareness and encourage more victims to come forward for help.

"This helpline run by survivors, for survivors, is a big step in the fight to raise awareness of the issues of forced marriage and honour-based violence and is crucial in giving victims across the country the confidence to come forward," he said.

"We recognise that the scale of these issues remains unknown and much of the problem stays underground.

"We are determined across government to continue engaging with local communities and taking action to protect victims to put an end to this appalling practice."

Responding to an ePolitix.com blog recently, justice minister Bridget Prentice stressed the government's commitment to tackling forced marriages.

"Forced marriage is a marriage without the full and free consent of both parties," she wrote. "It is a form of domestic violence and an abuse of human rights.

"Forced marriages are not arranged marriages. In an arranged marriage the family will take the lead in arranging the match but the couples have a choice as to whether to proceed. In a forced marriage there is no choice."

Describing forced marriage as "an appalling and indefensible practice", she said the government's Forced Marriage Unit launched in 2005 was the UK's 'one-stop shop' for providing support and information on the issue.

Prentice added that the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act to come into force this autumn would offer civil remedies to protect potential victims and those already in such marriages.