Forced Marriage Statutory Guidance

Chapter 2

Background

11. In August 1999, the UK Government's Home Office Minister for Community Relations, Mike O'Brien MP established a Forced Marriage Working Group to undertake an investigation into the scale and extent of forced marriage across the UK. The working group's findings were published in "A Choice by Right" in 2000^[10]. The working group concluded, amongst other things, that there were eight guiding principles that should be adopted by all agencies dealing with forced marriage.

12. These were:

• Commitment
• Safety and protection
• Sensitivity
• Involving communities
• Multi-agency working
• Monitoring
• Training
• Promoting awareness of rights and services

13. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) responded to this by setting up the Community Liaison Unit in 2000. The role of the Unit was to provide information and support to the victims of forced marriage and professionals who were dealing with cases. In 2005, the Unit developed into a joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Unit known as the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU).^[11]

14. The Scottish and UK Governments undertook a joint consultation, Forced Marriage, A Wrong Not a Right, in 2005 to ask whether or not forced marriage should become a criminal offence. Agencies, professionals and individuals were invited to respond to the paper. While there was no clear majority among respondents about whether or not a specific criminal offence should be created, the majority thought that the disadvantages of creating new legislation would outweigh the advantages; the predominant concern was that criminalisation may push the issue further underground. As a consequence of the consultation paper, the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act^[12] was enacted in 2007. The Act forms part of the Family Law Act 1996 and makes provision for protecting children, young people and adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland through the civil courts, from being forced into marriage without their free and full consent.

15. In 2009 the Scottish Government launched a consultation Forced Marriage: A Civil Remedy? which asked whether Scotland should introduce its own civil legislation to protect victims of forced marriage.

16. The consultation was overwhelmingly in favour of the introduction of legislation and led to the development of the Forced Marriage etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011^[13], which was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 29 September 2010. The Act makes provision for protecting people from being forced to enter into marriage without their free and full consent and for protecting those who have been forced to enter into marriage without such consent. It also amended the jurisdiction of the Sheriff Court in relation to actions for the declarator of nullity of marriage. It successfully made its way through the Scottish Parliamentary process in March 2011, received Royal Assent on 27 April 2011, and was commenced in full on 28 November 2011.

17. To extend protection for those at risk, separate provision has also been made to criminalise forcing someone into marriage. The relevant legislation is contained in section 122 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014^[14] and came into force on 30 September 2014. The criminalisation of forcing a person into marriage provides an additional layer of protection for victims from a practice that is often accompanied by physical, financial, sexual and emotional abuse. The decision to criminalise forced marriage is in accordance with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention^[15] – Article 37 of which calls for the criminalisation of forced marriage.

18. Stakeholders agreed that the application process for Forced Marriage Protection Orders could be made easier for police. A Scottish Statutory Instrument was made in 2017 to add the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland to the list of relevant third parties who can put in an application for a Forced Marriage Protection Order without leave of the court^[16].

19. The Scottish Government commissioned independent research into Forced Marriage in Scotland. A final research report 'Understanding Forced Marriage in Scotland'^[17] was published at the end of January 2017.

Extent of the problem

20. In 2023, the FMU provided advice or support in 280 cases of forced marriage and 519 forced marriage enquiries^[18]. Of the 280 cases of forced marriage (and 3 of female genital mutilation) 2% of these were in Scotland. Proportionally, this percentage has remained consistent since 2012 with cases in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government is aware that this data will not accurately reflect the number of instances of forced marriage in Scotland; Scottish victims often seek advice and support from organisations closer to home and the issue is generally under-reported as a result of a lack of public awareness of the issue, and of where to seek help and advice. The majority of victims of forced marriage are women; according to data from the FMU, 69% of the cases they supported in 2023 involved female victims^[19].

21. Main specialist support organisations in Scotland for female victims include Shakti Women's Aid, Saheliya, Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid, and AMINA – The Muslim Women's Resource Centre (MWRC) and Scottish Women's Aid.

• Scotland's Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline is available to provide support to anyone experiencing domestic abuse or forced marriage as well as their family members, friends, colleagues and professionals who support them. Between 2019-2022, there were 125 helpline contacts handled relating to forced marriage. 115 were in relation to a woman or girl, 9 were in relation to a man and boy and in 1 the person's gender was unknown.
• Between 2019 – 2022, Shakti Women's Aid supported 47 adult survivors, 162 adults who were married and did not realise their marriage was a forced marriage and 13 children and young people affected by (or victims of) forced marriage.
• Between 2019 – 2022, Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid supported 39 cases of forced marriage.
• Since January 2022, Saheliya has supported 10 new cases of women affected by forced marriage whilst supporting 200+ migrant women who are living in or have experience of forced marriage that took place prior to migration.
• Between 2019 - 2022, Amina MWRC has supported 79 cases of forced marriage.

22. Contact details and information for the main specialist support organisations can be found in Appendix C.

23. Forced marriage also affects people with learning and other disabilities, and evidence suggests that for people with learning disabilities, forced marriage may occur at a similar rate for men and women^[20].

24. The Police Service of Scotland is committed to thoroughly investigating every report of forced marriage. Forced marriage is a criminal matter for investigation, however, it can also be a child (child protection processes will be considered up to the age of 18) or adult (adult protection processes may cover individuals aged 16 and older) protection issue and one where the support of the victim, or potential victim, is at the core of the investigation. As such, the Police work closely with a range of partners including specialist services to ensure that every person who is a victim, or potential victim, will receive appropriate protection and safety advice.