Thursday September 28th, Umme, from the Angelou Centre in Newcastle, spoke on the subject of forced marriage. Umme is the Executive Director of the centre. She said that forced marriage is a culturally specific form of violence and is a way to control women’s behaviour and lives. It is a way to preserve cultural values from the country of origin. Girls rescued from forced marriages are often at risk of exploitation as they find it difficult living outside their family. Bounty hunters can be employed by the families to bring them home. With the changes to the law, girls are often reluctant to criminalise their families by reporting attempts to take them abroad for marriage, to the police.
Further information about the centre’s work can be found on the Angelou Centre website: http://angelou-centre.org.uk/