More people have been protected by Forced Marriage Protection Orders than originally expected in their first year of operation.
More people have been protected by Forced Marriage Protection Orders than originally expected in their first year of operation.
Eighty-six have been issued, compared to the predicted total of 50, since the protection orders were introduced in November 2008.
The orders are tailored to individual cases and are used to prevent a forced marriage from occurring or to offer protective measures where a forced marriage has already taken place.
They can be used to confiscate a passport to stop someone being taken out of the country, or to disclose someone’s whereabouts and return them to the UK if they have already been taken abroad.
Justice Minister Bridget Prentice says: “There is no doubt in my mind that we have provided a remedy to respond to a genuine need.”
Commander Steve Allen, the ACPO lead on forced marriage and honour based violence says: “The new legislation has been one of the most important developments I have seen in this work.
“Not only does it provide us with a flexible means of protecting vulnerable people but it also sends a message in the clearest possible terms that such abuses are outside the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.”
The government set up a Forced Marriage Unit in 2005 to help victims and assist professionals working in this area. The Honour Network, part-funded by the FMU, offers emotional and practical support, and hosts a helpline which is manned solely by survivors of honour-based violence and forced marriage.
The Network also works with embassy staff to rescue victims, who may have been held captive, raped, forced into a marriage or made to have an abortion.
