The British government came under fire on Wednesday after it emerged that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is charging victims of forced marriages to return home to the UK after their rescue overseas.
According to the latest statistics from the UK's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), India ranks fourth among countries where victims are taken to be forced into marriage after Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. In 2017, 82 male and female victims of forced marriage supported by the FMU were from India.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by 'The Times' found that any such victims must cover the cost of their plane ticket, food and shelter on being assisted by the government unit. If they are over 18, they can take out emergency loans from the government.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he would "get to the bottom" of the issue to ensure his department was acting with "compassion and humanity".
I have asked officials to give me some proper advice on the whole issue on the basis of seeing this story. But any interventions that I have had on these consular matters, I have always stressed to embassies and posts abroad that they need to use discretion," he said.
Laws making it illegal to force someone into marriage in England and Wales were introduced in 2014. Anyone found guilty of the crime can be jailed for up to seven years. There have so far been two cases of conviction under this law, including a Bangladeshi-origin couple who were jailed for a total of eight years for forcing their daughter into marriage with a first cousin and a British-Pakistani mother being jailed for forcing her daughter to marry a relative almost twice her age last year.
Official FMU data records the top three countries with the highest number of cases of British nationals being forced into a marriage against their will as Pakistan (439), Bangladesh (129) and Somalia (91), with India fourth. In 2017, the UK Foreign Office helped 27 victims of forced marriage return to the UK and 55 in 2016.
The FOI data revealed that in the past two years, the Foreign Office has lent 7,765 pounds to at least eight women and about 4,500 pounds is still outstanding.
Yvette Cooper, chair of the UK Parliament's influential Home Affairs Select Committee, said, "Forced marriage is slavery. For the government to make victims pay for their freedom is immoral. Ministers need to put this right fast."
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