Title: Forced
marriage expected to become a crime
Subject:
Forcing someone to marry is set to be
made a crime after David Cameron rejected claims that doing so would simply
drive the practice underground.
Web
address: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9315181/Forced-marriage-expected-to-become-a-crime.html
Date: 7:00AM BST 07 Jun 2012
Summary
Almost 1,700 people a year in Britain – most of them
women from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds – come forward to voice fears
that their family is plotting to force them into a marriage against their will.
David Cameron has condemned the practice as like “slavery” but it is not
currently illegal in Britain to make someone to get married against their will.
Complete criminalisation would represent a victory for campaigners such as
Jasvinder Sanghera, herself a former victim who now runs the charity Karma
Nirvana and the support group and helpline The Honour Network.
Opinion
How is something that has “forced” in it not a crime? Forcing something
is usually not a positive thing. The fact that I could not come up with any
forced thing that could even be remotely positive shows that it is nigh
impossible for something forced to be positive since I have a vivid
imagination. I also do not see how there could be any discussion about the
outlawing of forced marriages. It sounds criminal, it is criminal, let’s make
it a crime. Discussion closed. Any people who might disagree with this point of
view, please see me in my trailer.
It can be a difficult task to decide whether something is part of someone’s culture or something that is against the law. I think it is good that Cameron has decided that this is where he will draw the line. It probably will not stop people marrying their children off though.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe issue of culture is always where to draw the line. Being forced means that the person in question has already drawn it. I agree that forcing someone to marry another (often for monetary gain or status) is criminal.
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