British tolerance of forced unions wanes

Woodmonkey · 10-05-2005, 14:02

I've always found it interesting that the groups that claim to be for civil rights, especially for women, are the ones that demand all of us tolerate other peoples cultures indiscrimately. They turn a blind eye to the fact that many cultural practices are abusive to a group of people (usually women). Forced marriages, female genital mutilation, throwing widows on funeral pyres, physical abuse as a right of the husband etc are just a few examples.

Quote:

British tolerance of forced unions wanes

Quote:

The government may criminalize forced marriages, hundreds of which take place annually among Muslims.

In a drafty railway station cafe in England's Midlands, Ayesha, a young Muslim girl whose family is from Pakistan, is trying not to cry as she talks about her wedding day.

"When I was young I always expected to have an arranged marriage," she says. "But I also thought that I'd get a chance to know the man first."

Instead, at 17, her family forced her to marry a man she had never met. When Ayesha, not her real name, tried to have the marriage annulled, she was disowned by her family, and forced to flee her hometown of Birmingham.

Although every year hundreds of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu women in Britain, according to figures from the government and aid agencies, are forced into marriage to fulfill traditional ideas of family honor or parental prestige, Britain's government has so far been reluctant to interfere in the private lives of immigrants.

But now, following the London subway and bus bombings on July 7, the government is proposing new laws that would specifically criminalize forcing others into marriage. And calls for the ban have grown as Britain attempts to integrate its insular Muslim communities into the mainstream in an effort to temper extremism.

"In Britain we are proud of our cultural diversity," said Baroness Scotland, a Home Office minister who started talks on the proposal earlier this month. "But even a sensitive appreciation of cultural differences cannot allow abuse to go unchallenged."

Shaminder Ubhi, director of the Ashiana Project, one of several London refuges for Asian and Middle Eastern women fleeing domestic violence, says that about 300 women looking for help come to them every year. "And around 60 percent say that forced marriage is one of the issues they are escaping from."

But some say that new legislation specifically targeting minorities will only increase feelings of persecution, and that the worst cases of forced marriages can be dealt with under existing laws against rape and kidnap.

"There is already enough legislation. We prefer to say it's a cultural and not a religious thing and to abolish the practice that way," says Reefat Drabu, of the controversial Muslim Council of Britain's Social and Family Affairs Committee. "The media use the issue to demonize the Muslim community. And the problem is diminishing anyway."

But in Derby, a city where Britain's growing racial divide is most apparent, the problem is far from diminishing. "The cases sound barbaric but they happen every single day," says Jasvinder Sanghera, who runs Karma Nirvana, a shelter in Derby for Asian women fleeing forced marriages and abusive husbands.

"One day last week I dealt with 12 cases. We need a complete change of mind-set," says Ms. Sanghera. "This is a human rights issue. It needs to be treated with the seriousness it deserves."

One key problem is that while many South Asian immigrants permit their sons to absorb Western influences, they often cannot accept that their young women brought up in Britain have adopted Western ideas of female independence.

"We're born here. We're bound to be influenced by Western ideals," says Sanghera, who herself ran away from home after her Sikh family tried to force her into a marriage with a stranger. "I just wanted to have a love marriage that people like you can take for granted," she says.

The challenges of reconciling their increasingly Western ambitions with their private loyalty to their family and their cultural traditions are too much for many young women. "Younger Asian women in the UK in the 16 to 24 age group have a suicide rate two to three times the national average," says Sanghera. "Girls in schools at this moment are sitting there fearing that they're about to be sent to India or Pakistan to be married off."

But while the practice of forced marriage initially came from older generations keen to preserve their traditions, many young British-born Asians perpetuate the practice as a way to differentiate themselves from mainstream British society, which many deem corrupt and immoral.

"We are seeing an increasing number of 16 year olds fleeing forced marriages," says Sanghera, "The myth is that when the older generation die this problem will go. But young people are reinventing these attitudes."

The growing isolation of minority communities, particularly in the north of England, means that even with the new law, Sanghera's ambition to stamp out the problem may take years to fulfill, especially as many community leaders deny that the problem exists.

"Some schools say not to bring our leaflets into schools because it will upset the Asian community," she says. "But our human rights organizations shouldn't worry about upsetting people. These arguments slow us down.

"Asian community leaders say leave us alone, you're stereotyping us. I wish faith groups did work with us because they hold a lot of power," says Sanghera. "These communities are not above the law. If they choose to live [here] they must sign up to helping people live free of fear and violence."

But even if the new law does prevent forced marriages, it will do little for those who have already fled their homes to escape. "I've not seen my family for eight years," says Ayesha. "I'm so disappointed - they are supposed to be the closest things to me - they're not supposed to hurt you."

Click here for the source
of this article

stinger723 · 10-05-2005, 15:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodmonkey

I've always found it interesting that the groups that claim to be for civil rights, especially for women, are the ones that demand all of us tolerate other peoples cultures indiscrimately. They turn a blind eye to the fact that many cultural practices are abusive to a group of people (usually women). Forced marriages, female genital mutilation, throwing widows on funeral pyres, physical abuse as a right of the husband etc are just a few examples.

Click here for the source
of this article

This is a real hot topic in the UK at the moment katie. here is another comment.

British Support for forced marriage victims

The plans will help women tricked into marriages abroad

Potential victims of forced marriages will be issued with pocket-sized lists of support telephone numbers under a new action plan unveiled by the government.
The small cards - which are designed so they can be hidden under clothing - will carry the numbers of consulates, police and charities who can help the victim overseas.

Multicultural sensitivity is no excuse for moral blindness

Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien
Other measures include a £250,000 programme to improve liaison between British and overseas police forces and training for Foreign Office staff to help them deal with victims.

The initiatives were published by the Foreign Office and Home Office in a drive to curb forced marriages of British nationals overseas.

At least 1,000 young women - many in their teens - are thought to enter marriages in other countries without their consent every year.

'Child abuse'

The proposals, contained in the document A Choice by Right, follow a Home Office report published in June, which recommended that forced marriages be treated like domestic violence or child abuse.

JohnRN · 10-05-2005, 19:21

A few points of interest:

1. It is certainly a cultural thing and has nothing to do with religion.
2. Inspite of what people claim, the majority of arranged marriages work out just fine. Arranged marriages were never forced marriages. Forced marriages from time immorial have rarely worked - ever.
3. This isn't a new problem.
4. Sadly, this problem won't go away that easy. You can't instill morality into a people. The problem is a patriarchial society that while revering their women, curiously also seems to treat them as property.
5. The 'elders' are very correct in claiming that it is western influence that is causing this tumult in their communities. And before anyone of you standup in self-righteous indignation, let me remind you that your own hands aren't all that clean when it comes to treating women. For example - wasn't Princess Diana's wedding a 'forced honour marriage' ?

Finally, before y'all jump the whole railroad :

I dislike arranged marriages. There are certainly noble intentions behind it, but many times noble intentions lead to disastrous results. I sincierly believe in free choice - any act that a free man/woman doesn't consent too, is an immoral act.

I have my own parental pressures to deal with - but I've thought about it. Now if my parents ask me to get married to someone they chose, out of respect for my parents, I'll consider it. But if I don't like it, I won't go through with it - it won't be fair on me, it also won't be fair to the one I'm marrying.

And if push comes to shove and they insist - or worse, threaten - I'll tell them to sod it. It pains me to say so for I love my parents very much, but they are supposed to want my happiness... not to see if I'm married, or if I'm an engineer or a janitor etc. How can they derive pleasure from my misery and unhappiness? And if they value their prestige and position in society more than my happiness, why would I want such parents?

Forced marriages are an entierly different animal - to me, I'll put it simply ::: Any man who force weds a female is as good as a kidnapper. Any man who consumates such a marriage, is as good as a rapist. All this bluster of 'family honour' is just that - bluster. The bluster of little men with even smaller minds but gigantic egos who derive great pleasure from tormenting the only people who might give them some importance in their otherwise miserable lives.

Woodmonkey · 10-05-2005, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinger723

This is a real hot topic in the UK at the moment katie. here is another comment.

British Support for forced marriage victims

The plans will help women tricked into marriages abroad

Potential victims of forced marriages will be issued with pocket-sized lists of support telephone numbers under a new action plan unveiled by the government.
The small cards - which are designed so they can be hidden under clothing - will carry the numbers of consulates, police and charities who can help the victim overseas.

Multicultural sensitivity is no excuse for moral blindness

Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien
Other measures include a £250,000 programme to improve liaison between British and overseas police forces and training for Foreign Office staff to help them deal with victims.

The initiatives were published by the Foreign Office and Home Office in a drive to curb forced marriages of British nationals overseas.

At least 1,000 young women - many in their teens - are thought to enter marriages in other countries without their consent every year.

'Child abuse'

The proposals, contained in the document A Choice by Right, follow a Home Office report published in June, which recommended that forced marriages be treated like domestic violence or child abuse.

Thank you for adding this. Please put in anything else you find.

Woodmonkey · 10-05-2005, 21:08

Good thoughts, John.

Any time a young girl, who is a minor, is forced, coerced, manipulated into marrying someone, it is wrong. The same goes for young men, but women in certain cultures are powerless and without rights. When people from those cultures move into free countries where women have civil rights, they need to lose those particular practices. The laws of the country they moved to are the ones that must be followed. They want to have these kinds of practices, then stay where they are legal.

Quote:

5. The 'elders' are very correct in claiming that it is western influence that is causing this tumult in their communities. And before anyone of you standup in self-righteous indignation, let me remind you that your own hands aren't all that clean when it comes to treating women. For example - wasn't Princess Diana's wedding a 'forced honour marriage' ?

She wasn't a minor who was forced to marry him. At the time, it was considered an honor bestowed on her.

Quote:

Forced marriages are an entierly different animal - to me, I'll put it simply ::: Any man who force weds a female is as good as a kidnapper. Any man who consumates such a marriage, is as good as a rapist. All this bluster of 'family honour' is just that - bluster. The bluster of little men with even smaller minds but gigantic egos who derive great pleasure from tormenting the only people who might give them some importance in their otherwise miserable lives.

Agreed.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Support Wanes in House for Genocide Vote	Woodmonkey	Point/Counterpoint	5	10-19-2007 13:35
[News Feed] Bush hones Iraq message as war support wanes	Forum Mouse	News Articles	0	06-26-2005 16:00
[News Feed] Bush hones Iraq message as war support wanes	Forum Mouse	News Articles	0	06-26-2005 16:00
[News Feed] Tomatoes Back on Menus as Shortage Wanes	Forum Mouse	News Articles	0	12-11-2004 00:00
[News Feed] Hope Wanes for 9/11 Bill's Pre-Election OK (AP)	Forum Mouse	News Articles	0	10-26-2004 12:00

Community Information
Options
	Contact Us - FAX - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy - Trackpads - Archive - Top
Trackpads Non-Commercial Ad

Time
	All times are GMT -4. The time now is 16:58.
Copyright
	The header is based off of work by Vipixel.com and modified by this site. Trackpads and the Trackpads Logo are both Registered Trademarks of Jason Edwards and cannot be used without prior written permission. The only exception is as a link back to this site. Trackpads is a private website run by a small legion of volunteers, 3 dogs, 12.5 cats and an army of small, super smart, bio-engineered mice with pointy hats and tutu's. Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.2.0 RC7
Archive Links
<