Forced UK marriages down 44% during pandemic

Despite reduction at least a quarter of cases involved youngsters under 18

A beautician paints the nails of a Pashtun bride for her upcoming wedding at a beauty parlour in Kabul. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)

The number of forced marriages in Britain has almost halved during the pandemic, figures released by the Home Office reveal.

In 2020 the government dealt with 759 cases, which represents a 44 per cent drop from the average number dealt with year-on-year since 2011.

It attributed the lowest figure to date to disruption of marriage ceremonies and travel during the pandemic.

Social distancing, tougher restrictions on wedding ceremony numbers and travel bans affected the figures.

"This is thought to be largely attributable to reasons derived from the coronavirus pandemic, such as restrictions on weddings and overseas travel, which have been in place to varying degrees from March 2020", the Home Office said.

"Following the introduction of the first lockdown in the UK, referrals to the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) decreased from an average of 82 per month (January-March 2020) to 44 per month (April-June 2020)", the Home Office said.

"The FMU remained fully operational throughout the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic and took steps to ensure that this was publicised extensively."

Despite the drop in cases, a quarter still involved children, with 26 per cent of the cases involving people under 18 and 15 per cent involving victims under the age of 15.

The UK regions associated with the greatest number of cases were London, the West Midlands and the North West, together accounting for 48% of referrals.

The main countries involved were Pakistan with 38 per cent of cases, followed by India and Afghanistan.

The number of youngsters under the age of 16 who were involved in forced marriages in Pakistan rose from 12 per cent of cases in 2019 to 18 per cent of cases in 2020.

In 2020, 603 cases - 79 per cent - involved female victims, and 156 - 21 per cent - involved male victims, the Home Office said.

"This highlights that forced marriage is a crime which disproportionately affects women, but that men can also be victims."

The majority of cases - 62 per cent - were reported by professionals such as social services, police, and border and immigration staff.

Only 21 per cent of cases were reported by victims and the rest were referrals by family and friends.

Last year more than 12,000 professionals took the government's free Awareness of Forced Marriage online course and more than 450 people have been trained to support victims of forced marriage.