Quarantine hotel costs risk forced marriage victims dying in ‘honour’ killings or being trapped abroad

Exclusive: Victims Commissioner warns forced marriage victims ‘face many barriers’ to escaping and expensive ‘hotel quarantine should not be one’. By Maya Oppenheim

Honour-based abuse includes forced marriage, coercive control, and female genital mutilation (FGM), as well as assault, threats to kill, attempted murder, and murder (AFP via Getty)

The government’s strict rules around travel are placing forced marriage victims at grave risk of being trapped abroad or potentially murdered in so-called honour killings, experts have warned.

In a letter, shared exclusively with The Independent, campaigners raised fears British girls forced into marriages abroad or facing “honour”-based abuse overseas will be fearful of returning to the UK due to not being able to afford the cost of staying in a quarantine hotel once home.

Pandemic travel restrictions mean Britons travelling to England from countries on the red list have to isolate in a quarantine hotel for 10 days, costing up to £1,750. And those who are required to go to a special quarantine hotel yet do not come into England at one of the selected entry ports can face a penalty of up to £10,000.

Honour-based abuse includes forced marriage, which sees girls or women taken abroad to be married off to strangers, coercive control, and female genital mutilation (FGM), as well as assault, threats to kill, attempted murder, and murder.

The letter to Priti Patel, the home secretary, and Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, warns that quarantining rules could place the “safety and wellbeing” of forced marriage victims at risk.

Natasha Rattu, who authored the letter, draws attention to the murder of a young woman from London in Pakistan last month.

“It is widely reported that Mayra Zulfiqar was shot in Lahore, Pakistan, after refusing two proposals of marriage,” Ms Rattu, director of Karma Nirvana, a national charity supporting victims of honour-based abuse, writes.

“Ms Zulfiqar was a Belgian national who lived in London with her family. There is some concern being raised in news reports that one of the main reasons she did not return to London from Pakistan when she found herself in danger of being forced to marry, or threatened with violence once refusing these proposals, is that she could not afford to pay the costs of quarantining in an approved hotel on her return.”

The letter, which has over 20 signatories, including leading charities End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition, Refuge, SafeLives, Women’s Aid, and Rights of Women, notes a number of countries on the red list have been highlighted by the UK government as nations where high numbers of British girls are forced into marriages.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Somalia, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Bangladesh – all red list nations – together accounted for 65 per cent of total cases dealt with by the government’s Forced Marriage Unit between 2012 and 2019.

Legislation which made it illegal to force someone into marriage in England and Wales was introduced in 2014 and anyone found guilty of doing so can be imprisoned for up to seven years.

Farhana Raval, a forced marriage survivor, was coerced into a marriage on a family holiday to Bangladesh in the summer holidays when she was just 16. She said she did not know what was going on when the marital vows took place.

The 36-year-old accountant, who says her case is typical of forced marriages still happening, told The Independent: “Having been isolated in my marital home, I found it incredibly difficult to escape Bangladesh when I was forced into marriage and inevitably was only allowed to return when I was pregnant beyond the date of abortion.

“As a 16-year-old child with no access to my passport, return plane ticket nor being able to freely travel, even if I was brave enough to attempt leaving I would have found the financial burden of paying for testing impossible. I can’t imagine the hopelessness I would have felt if so many structural barriers stood in the way of my freedom.

“To risk the danger of running away from a forced marriage, and be faced with the prospect of being isolated and alone in the UK without access to a support network following my return, would not only have been traumatic but enough to deter me from even attempting leaving my situation.”

The letter urges the government to provide “clarity and reassurance that victims of existing or potential forced marriages will be protected during these uncertain times”.

A substantial number of girls forced to marry strangers abroad are younger than 18, and are not likely to have a credit card or even a bank account, campaigners noted.

“It is also important to highlight that people requiring Forced Marriage Unit assistance are likely to be at significant risk of harm from family members and/or guardians, and face real danger if forced to quarantine in the same hotel as them for 10 days on their return,“ Ms Rattu states in the letter.

The letter also says that Covid rules requiring everyone arriving in England to spend their own money on getting evidence of a negative coronavirus test could place forced marriage victims at risk.

“Victims of forced marriage may be unable to access a test without alerting perpetrators to their intentions to travel, which risks causing them serious harm including the danger of being murdered,” warns Ms Rattu.

A campaign spearheaded by her charity, Karma Nirvana, led to the Foreign Office reassessing and altering its policy back in 2019 so victims repatriated by the Forced Marriage Unit would no longer be forced to spend their own money on being repatriated.

Ms Rattu’s charity trains the police, NHS and social services on issues of forced marriage and abuse, as well as running a national helpline for victims.

Diana Nammi, executive director at IKWRO, which helps victims of honour-based violence, said British women and girls taken to the Middle East or North Africa already found it highly tricky to return to the UK to escape forced marriage and “honour” based abuse prior to the pandemic, but lockdowns and curfews abroad now compound the situation.

She added: “British Consular support and assistance from the Forced Marriage Unit is too often lacking in these areas, where diplomatic relations are poor, especially in conflict zones. This, on top of laws and social attitudes that means that girls and women cannot travel, or even leave the home alone, without chaperones.

“It is common for relatives to have removed the girl’s or woman’s mobile phone and laptop and to constantly monitor her, so it will be very difficult for her to make a call and not be overheard, or to get access to the internet.

“Even if she can access a device, telephoning abroad is very expensive, and in Iran, where websites of women’s rights organisations, like IKWRO are censored, even searching for help is very difficult and requires special knowledge and software.”

Dame Vera Baird QC, the Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, gave her backing to calls for the government to ensure forced marriage victims do not have to pay for hotel quarantine. She added: “Victims of forced marriage face many barriers to accessing support. Hotel quarantine should not be one.”