Today the Home Secretary, announced a suite of new
measures to tackle forced marriage, including proposals to refuse
spousal entry to the UK where there is evidence a marriage is
forced.
Forced marriage is an appalling crime and has no place in modern
Britain. That’s why we will continue to root out perpetrators and
support the brave victims who come forward to report their
experiences.
We will do this using a range of measures; consulting on
preventing spouses of forced marriage victims from entering the
country, working to strengthen the use of admissible evidence in
the courts when forced marriage visas are refused and helping
public service professionals identify and support victims. Forced
marriage can also be brought about through coercive control,
that’s why we will launch a communications campaign highlighting
other forms of coercion.
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· Consulting
to include an explicit reference to forced marriage in the
immigration rules to demonstrate that forced marriage is
unacceptable in the UK. This will give us the means
to refuse entry where there is evidence that the marriage is
forced.
-
· Consulting
on introducing a mandatory reporting duty for forced marriage to
help us tackle this appalling crime. This will
ensure that where a crime is committed it is reported to the
police, leading to more perpetrators paying for their crimes.
-
· Working
to ensure anonymous evidence of forced marriage can be admissible
as closed evidence in the visa appeals
process. Where someone is being forced to sponsor a
spousal visa as part of a forced marriage we will always protect
their anonymity. However, we want to ensure this evidence can be
used to refuse a visa and that this refusal withstands an appeal
in court.
-
· Consulting
on refreshed multi-agency statutory guidance on forced marriage
to help ensure professionals understand forced
marriage. Professionals also need to understand
risk factors, their responsibilities, and what action they can
take to protect and support victims.
-
· Launching
a communications campaign to raise awareness and understanding of
forced marriage. The campaign will highlight the many
ways people are forced to marry. This will be complemented by a
series of roadshows for frontlines professionals to promote the
use of forced marriage protection orders.
, Home Secretary said:
“Forced marriage is an appalling crime that has no place in
Britain, it is not compatible with British values and we will not
tolerate it.”
“This range of measures will build on our work to protect those
at risk of forced marriage, so everyone in Britain has the
freedom to choose who they spend their lives with. Supporting
victims will be at the very heart of these new proposals to give
them confidence to speak out knowing the government is on their
side.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Making anonymous evidence admissible. We
will be work with the Tribunal Procedures Committee to explore
how, with appropriate safeguards, evidence can be provided
to the courts on a confidential basis to ensure that the right
decision is reached and the victim is fully protected.
A Conservative Government made forced marriage a criminal
offence. The maximum penalty for forced marriage is
seven years, ensuring victims are protected by the law and that
they have the confidence, safety and the freedom to choose. Home
Office, 16 June 2014, link.
A Conservative Government asked Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Constabulary to carry out the first ever
inspection of the police response to forced
marriage. This inspection was a continuation of our
work to examine the effectiveness of the police response to
protecting vulnerable people and improve if for the future.
HMICFRS, So-called honour-based violence
inspections, accessed 21 September 2018, link.
