Home Office Consultation on the Criminalisation of Forced Marriage 12th December – 30th March 2012
The Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, on 12th December 2011 launched the Forced Marriage Consultation. She stated “I am clear that Forced Marriage is a form of violence against women and men. We must do all we can to stamp out this appalling abuse”. This consultation finishes on 30th March 2012.
SI Bilston and SI Lichfield worked in partnership on this issue and produced a series of reponses to the Home Office questionnaire, see pdf link here. FMConsultationComplete
It was of the utmost importance for as many people as possible to complete the Home Office Consultation questionnaire and many members from Midland Chase Region and countrywide did this.
The topic was on UKPAC website, PAM and UKPAC Chairman’s report and is part of the flagship project VAWSIN.
Karma Nirvana added a post card campaign to support the Home Office Consultation. Karma Nirvana’s staff including Jasvinder gave out the postcards in Derby, Leeds, Bradford and other northern cities. SI Bilston and SI Lichfield then sent the cards to all UK Soroptimist clubs encouraging individuals to complete and return them by 20th March. On 29th March Jasvinder presented the cards personally at 10 Downing Street, London and Soroptimist contributions to the number of cards was significant.
On 26th February 2013 nine Bilston members attended a Forced Marriage Conference along with over 100 professionals from Wolverhampton. The roadshow was one of a series that had been run countrywide by Karma Nirvana to raise the issues surrounding Forced Marriage. This partcular roadshow was arranged by Wolverhampton City Council, Wolverhampton Safeguarding Board, West Midlands Police, Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum with guest speakers. The morning speakers included, His Honour Judge Cardinal, Detective Sergeant Trudie Runham, West Midlands Police, Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana, and Chaz Akoshile joint head of the Government’s Forced Marriage Unit. After lunch Monika Bindal, a Child Protecetion Solicitor spoke followed by Kathy Cole-Evans Strategy Coordinator and Manager of Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum. All the speakers were most informative and inspirational. During the afternoon delegates were entertained by the New Vic Theatre Group to a performance of ‘All our Daughters’ a play with many powerful messages about Forced Marriage.
BBC 6 oclock News reporters were present all day and at lunch time interviewed many people including several Bilston Soroptimists but thank goodness there was insufficient time to show those interviews at 6pm!