Number of girls being forced into marriage ‘spikes during Christmas’

Exclusive: ‘I thought I was going out to Bangladesh to visit my sick grandma. A couple of weeks in, people said you are here to get married. I was really alarmed and confused and angry,’ says victim

Karma Nirvana, a national charity which supports forced marriage victims, said the wider problem of so-called honour crimes perpetrated against girls also rises during the festive period (Getty Images)

The number of girls being forced into marriage spikes during the Christmas holidays due to authorities failing to properly protect girls ahead of the festive period, frontline service providers have warned.

Karma Nirvana, a national charity which supports forced marriage victims, said the wider problem of so-called honour crimes perpetrated against girls also rises during the festive period.

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

Karma Nirvana, which trains the police, NHS and social services about issues of forced marriage, said the most significant increase in cases of forced marriage and wider honour-based abuse reported to them by victims in the autumn and winter period was between last December and this January, when cases increased by 57 per cent.

The organisation says calls it receives from girls needing help, or public officials flagging cases of honour-based abuse, are lower in December than the lead up to the summer and Easter holidays due to authorities not deeming the Christmas period a risk.

This starkly contrasts with the run-up to Easter and summer holidays. Both periods see calls to the charity’s helpline increase, due to intensified security measures in place because authorities are aware those breaks are a risky time for victims.

Cases of honour-based abuse reported to the helpline decreased by 22 per cent in the time after the holiday periods in comparison with activity before the holidays. But the opposite trend occurs during the Christmas period – with calls increasing by 22 per cent after the Christmas holiday period when compared with the pre-festive period over the past two years.

Natasha Rattu, director of Karma Nirvana, said: “We see a particular spike in cases in January. It is a big mopping up of those cases we missed over the Christmas period. It is the biggest spike of all of the ends of the holiday periods that we see throughout the year.

“It is strange you do not get the same increase of calls before Christmas as you get before other holidays, because we know that pupils go missing around Christmas. We tend to find it is the week before they break up because travel tends to be cheaper. Those absences go unnoticed because it is Christmas – girls at risk are more invisible at that time of year. Everything before and over Christmas grinds down to a halt. There are often fears among victims about escalation over the festive period”.

Ms Rattu ​said forced marriage is a “troubling crime” because “unsuspecting” victims often do not realise they are being married off until it is too late. She said young girls are duped into going abroad to visit family but are married off while away – adding that in some instances girls assume it is just a party and do not realise what has happened until the wedding has taken place.

The wider problem of honour-based abuse occurs when a perpetrator believes the victim, who is usually a family member, has done something which brings shame on the family, so they assault, disown or isolate the victim in response, she added.

Ms Rattu said examples of actions which could be perceived as disgracing the family could be dating someone or making a career choice the family do not approve of or becoming less religious.

The campaigner said honour-based abuse spikes at Christmas because specialist police services are reduced at this time of year and victims are “off the radar” due to not being at school.

“Christmas is also a time for pupils to bring shame on their family,” Ms Rattu added. “There might be invitations to school discos or parties. People are sometimes taken out of the country, with no idea of when they will be allowed to return, as a punishment if the victim dishonoured the family.”

The family may feel they need to go back home to “learn more about their background”, rather than always forcing a member into a marriage while abroad, she said.

Ms Rattu hit out at the Home Office for not taking sufficient precautions to safeguard girls ahead of the Christmas holidays, and condemned the government agency for pulling an annual campaign on forced marriage ahead of the summer holidays at the eleventh hour.

Ms Rattu added: “It shows honour-based abuse is not prioritised. The question needs to be asked about why ethnic minority women always get left behind? We are constantly having to battle. It is a dire situation with honour-based abuse.”

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 36-year-old accountant, said she was forced into a marriage on a family holiday to Bangladesh in the summer holidays when she was just 16.

Her story is typical of forced marriage cases which still take place and school holidays are the time girls remain at greatest risk, she said.

Ms Raval added: “It was a typical story. I thought I was going out to Bangladesh to visit my sick grandma. A couple of weeks in, people said you are here to get married. I had his family come and meet me. I was really alarmed and confused and angry. I made it quite clear I wasn’t happy and I didn’t want to get married.

“But my mum was manipulative. She made it clear that if I went against her wishes I would be in danger. I accepted my fate at this point. With the view that as soon as I got back to England, I would do what I would have to do to get out of it. When the vows happened, I didn’t understand what was happening.”

Ms Raval, who divorced her husband eight years after they got married, said her family initially blocked her from returning to the UK until she was pregnant and later from leaving until she reached the date she would not be able to have an abortion.

Manna Ahmed, a manager at London Black Women’s Project, which has five domestic-violence refuges in Newham in east London that house women from across the UK, said she often encounters forced marriage survivors.

She said they receive calls from forced marriage victims who are distressed but do not want their families to get into trouble with the authorities – as well as also being anxious about the prospect of social services getting involved and potentially splitting siblings or family members up.

Ms Ahmed said: “We come across women who had forced marriages at the age of 16 or 17, and they come back to the UK with the husband and over time you see that he is subjecting her to domestic abuse. The fact he knows the family forced her into the marriage emboldens him to abuse her. The lack of support network from the immediate family puts her in a vulnerable position.

“It is very much a crime perpetrated by the family and the community. It is very difficult for girls to speak out about. Forced marriage is a hidden crime. There is a lack of understanding among all statutory authorities about honour-based abuse.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “No one should be forced to marry or be subjected to so-called honour based abuse. The government has safeguarded more than 2,000 people through forced marriage protection orders, and the forced marriage unit continues to give advice and support.

“Border Force and the police recently carried out the latest Operation Limelight at Heathrow airport to raise awareness of forced marriage and female genital mutilation and safeguard potential victims.”

Operation Limelight has previously also focused on breast-ironing and other forms of honour-based abuse.

Commander Ivan Balhatchet, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for forced marriage and honour-based violence, said: “Honour-based abuse and forced marriage are a systematic violation of human rights, and police are committed to protecting victims and pursuing offenders through the criminal justice system.

“These crimes can happen at any time and our specialist teams work hard all year round to protect vulnerable victims from these appalling forms of abuse.

“The isolation, threats and violence that victims of forced marriage experience mean that this is not something that can be tackled by police alone and requires close partnership with public and third-sector organisations.”