One step closer to making forced marriages a thing of the past...

Everyone has the right to choose when they get married and to whom...yet, so many young people, especially girls, do not get that freedom. 

More needs to be done to make this a thing of past. Almost 600 people have come forward in the past five months to raise the alarm over fears that they are about to be forced to marry against their will. 


Mr Cameron and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, announced today that forced marriage is a crime, after rejecting claims that banning the practice would simply drive it underground. 


The strongest sanctions available at the moment are “Forced Marriage Orders”, a form of civil court order which operate like a restraining order against the girl’s family but do not carry criminal punishments for those who breach them. 


Which is nothing really right. To be honest, I think it's generally not taken as seriously as it should be as it's seen as 'cultural practice' -but it isn't at all. I mean nobody should have to go through that.


IT IS A CRIME!!! 

After visiting the cross-departmental Forced Marriage Unit, Mr Cameron said: "It is necessary to make this a crime because it is an absolutely abhorrent practice. It is, frankly, little short of slavery. 


"You are taking 15, 16-year-old British citizens, taking them off to another country against their will, marrying them with someone against their will. That is a crime and it should be a crime.


"For too long in this country we have thought 'well, it's a cultural practice and we just have to run with it'. We don't. It's a crime. 


"Listen to the stories of these women and what they've been through and how painful and difficult it was to be rescued and you know this should be a crime and treated as such by this country." He added: "I think there should be tough punishments. 


"Think what we are considering here: this is a 15-year-old girl, whipped out of school, flown to the other side of the world, introduced to the person they are going to be forced into marrying and their whole life being ruined. 


"That's what we are talking about and as far as I'm concerned if you commit that sort of offence you get a very, very tough punishment." [The Independent]


It is a step closer to making forced marriages a thing of the past, however, more will need to be done. The thing with this however, is that there is a risk that it will deter victims from coming forward. 


The new law will distinguish between forced marriages, where there is no consent, and arranged marriages where "both parties have consented to the union but can still refuse to marry if they choose to". 

• Every year hundreds of young people are at risk of being taken abroad by their parents and forced to marry against their will. 
• The majority of cases involve families from South Asia, particularly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Forced marriage is a crime - nobody should feel like they can't speak up - cultural concerns is NOT an excuse. . .  


Much love, 
Anokhi

Syria: 108 massacred, including 50 children... Enough is Enough!!!

‘How much blood must we pay before the world helps?’ - Abu Suhaib, a Syrian hospitalised in Jordan.

The village of Taldou, near the town of Houla in Syria's Homs province was the scene of one of the worst massacres in the country's 14-month-long uprising on Friday.

United Nations observers on the ground have confirmed that at least 108 people were killed, including 49 children and 34 women. Some were killed by shell fire, but the majority appear to have been shot or stabbed at close range.

Syria Massacre - photo from The Telegraph: AP

But at whose hands they died remains a matter of contention...

Anti-government activists, eyewitnesses and human rights groups - including the UN's high commissioner for human rights - point the finger at the Syrian army and the shabiha, a sectarian civilian militia that supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The government however denies all responsibility, saying its soldiers were attacked and armed terrorists went on to shoot and knife civilians.

This latest atrocity has shocked many, and brought condemnation from the UN Security Council. 

Is condemnation enough though? Urgent action needs to be taken to stop the killing of innocent men, women and children.

Amnesty International reports that they have the names of over 9,750 people killed since the crackdown on largely peaceful protests began in March 2011. Many more have been injured. 

On 27 March 2012 the Syrian government accepted a ‘six-point plan’ by Kofi Annan and a ceasefire was agreed on 12 April. A UN observer mission entered the country two days later but the violence continues to rage - more than 1,300 people have been killed since. 

Amnesty was one of the first organisations to recognise the actions of the Syrian authorities in response to the peaceful protests that began in March 2011 as what they were: crimes against humanity.

Call on Russia to support Syria’s referral to the International Criminal Court

And yet as the UN Security Council fails to take decisive action, blocked from action by veto wielding member Russia, more family homes have been bombed and more civilians massacred. 

The bloodshed must be stopped and the people responsible for killing civilians must be held to account. 

Tell Russia to stop obstructing UN Security Council action!!

It is time for Russia to stand up against this brutality and call on the Syrian government to stop the bloodshed and fulfill its obligations under the ‘six-point plan’.

Let's all #prayforsyria

Much love,

Anokhi