This week we are supporting Kirklees Safeguarding Week 2022. The theme this year is ‘continuous learning’ and during the course of the week, the aim is to cover a number of safeguarding topics to increase awareness within agencies, communities and the public.
A topic that will be covered is Honour-Based Abuse and Forced Marriage.
What is Honour-Based Abuse?
In a nutshell, Honour-Based Abuse is a collection of practices which are used to control behaviour within families or other social groups and are done in ‘honour’ to that person’s cultural and/or religious beliefs.
Honour-Based Abuse is widely misunderstood and can take place in many forms such as child marriage, enforced abortion, female genital mutilation, domestic abuse in a variety of forms and forced marriage.
What is Forced Marriage?
A forced marriage takes place where one or both parties to the marriage do not or cannot consent and pressure or abuse is used to force them into the marriage.
The parties to the marriage may be pressured through the use of threats or violence or it may be by emotional or psychological pressure which makes one or both parties feel they are bringing shame on their family if they do not agree to the marriage.
Forced marriage is illegal in the United Kingdom. Every person has a right and a choice to decide if and with whom they want to marry. There are circumstances in which the parties may express the desire to marry however they may have severe learning disabilities or severe mental health issues which previous them from having the requisite capacity to consent to marriage.
It is important to note that an arranged marriage is not the same as a forced marriage and the key difference is that of consent.
If you are concerned that you are going to be the subject of a forced marriage, you can contact the Forced Marriage Protection Unit (Forced marriage - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). You may also be able to make an application to court to obtain a Forced Marriage Protection Order.
Kirklees Safeguarding Sessions
There are a number of helpful webinars taking place over the course of the week. Visit the Programme of Events Multi-agency Learning and Development Offer (kirkleessafeguardingchildren.co.uk) to sign up to the Honour Based Abuse and Forced Marriage focused session.
If you require further information, please call our family helpline on 08000 147720 or send us an email to book a free information session at any of our offices. We also offer early morning and late evening appointments across our offices.