- + Jdickins voted on a point for the debate The death penalty should be reinstated in the UK
- + Jdickins voted on a point for the debate The death penalty should be reinstated in the UK
- + Menareangrynow voted on the debate Are women superior to men?
- + Murphy Becca joined Debatewise
- + Jdickins voted on a point for the debate The death penalty should be reinstated in the UK
- + Garbypizzaro joined Debatewise
- + Ll Blynch voted on a point for the debate Are ASBOs Effective?
- + Qualaypak joined Debatewise
- + Jdickins voted on a point for the debate The death penalty should be reinstated in the UK
- + Terri Re joined Debatewise
- + Zedspeni Asype joined Debatewise
- + Moilt Evomot joined Debatewise
- + Jdickins edited the debate 1-child policy for every single country in the world!
- + Jdickins voted on a point for the debate 1-child policy for every single country in the world!
- + Jdickins joined Debatewise
- + Elefweiree Law joined Debatewise
- + Ll Blynch voted on a point for the debate Are ASBOs Effective?
- + Ll Blynch edited the debate Are ASBOs Effective?
- + Rahina joined Debatewise
- + Alexis Skitini voted on a point for the debate Legalise drugs worldwide
- + Dillas2 joined Debatewise
- + Rhoda Doku joined Debatewise
- + Ll Blynch voted on the debate Are ASBOs Effective?
- + Lisa1985 joined Debatewise
Forced marriage should be banned.
Current version: 13 Jul 2008 | 12:45 | dhc
All versions
Key
- Text coloured Greenhas been added snce the previous version
- Text marked
red and striked-throughhas been deleted
Yes, because... The ban will give powers to police to crack down on the murky underworld of forced marriages
Forced marriages are difficult to detect because the physcial/mental coercion does not usually coincide with the wedding itself and even if you do find evidence of physical or mental abuses, it is even more tricky to link this with any alleged forced marriage. With the new ban police investigators will be able to look at paper trails, DNA samples and conduct interviews with those involved in the wedding and put together cases to prove that a marriage was not made in true consent of one or both of the spouses.
More importantly, any such ban would also send out a clear message that forced marriage is a custom that is not tolerated in this country and would also say to those that are being forced into marriages that the law of the land is on their side which will in turn increase the amount of people affected by this custom contacting the authorities anonymously as they feel less isolated as a result, from which effective investigation can begin.
Unless the unwilling bride or groom is dragged kicking and screaming to the registry office there is no black and white distinction between a forced marriage and a consensual one. There may be some physical/financial coercion going on in the shadows but it is empirically impossible to decide whether this constitutes as forcing someone into marriage unless there is literally a shotgun wedding situation afoot and there are laws to deal with that already.
Even if the police found a document detailing how the family would pay the couple to marry one another the couple still have consent despite that decision being complete with attractive incentives. Any physical coercion or threats can be dealt with separately as we have laws for that sort of nonsense already. No new laws are necessary.
It would really be a waste of our time to make any such law and nobody wants a dummy law that does nothing to solve the problem it was intended to solve and could only potentially create new ones by the single fact that it is a law and there are people who love to find loopholes out there.
Modified:
28 May 2010
