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Oldham Borough a high risk for forced marriages
Stuart Greer & Michael Herbert27/ 3/2008
OLDHAM Council has confirmed that 36 Asian pupils have seemingly vanished from school registers, raising fears that some of them may have become victims of forced marriages.
Oldham is one of 15 local authorities considered a ‘high-risk zone’ for the practice and was ordered to provide information to the Government on children missing from school registers as part of an investigation into forced marriages and domestic violence in the UK.
The Oldham figure includes primary school children and secondary school pupils, which would suggest it would be wrong to conclude that all had fallen victim of the controversial practice.
"The figure needs to be considered extremely carefully as it is not possible to determine how many of the missing pupils, if any of them at all, have been forced into marriages," said a council spokesman. "In many instances pupils will be missing from registers because of extended holidays abroad, and so on."
A recent study claims the number of women who have become victims of forced marriages in the UK has been drastically under-estimated and could be as high as 4,000.
Women who become victims often have no idea who their husbands will be and have no rights once they are married.
Oldham Council is organising a conference on forced marriage in July and has been praised for its pro-active approach.
"We would emphasise that Oldham has a growing reputation for its protection of children and – through the Local Safeguarding Children Board – has a forced marriage protocol within existing procedures," said the council spokesman.
Kay Knox, an Oldham councillor for 21 years who has spent the past eight years specialising in issues affecting women of all backgrounds, has condemned the practice of forced marriage.
"I am not against arranged marriages but I am very much against forced marriages," she said. "In this society women have basic freedoms that a forced marriage can take away. They are entitled to work on an equal footing to men."
She added: "You only have to look at the example of Police Superintendant Caroline Ball to see what women in Oldham are capable of. The mental torment women can experience when they are forced to give up these rights is often damaging to family life.
"I welcome both the Government’s and the council’s positive stance and hope the practice becomes less prevalent."s
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