Forced Marriage: Introducing a Social Justice and Human Rights Perspective

About the Editors......Page 3
Contents\n......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Foreword......Page 12
References......Page 17
Introduction: Framing forced marriage as a form of violence against women......Page 18
A note on terminology......Page 19
What is forced marriage?......Page 21
Forced marriage and domestic legislation......Page 25
Organisation of this book......Page 31
References......Page 35
PART 1 | Definitions, contexts and theoretical concepts......Page 40
1 | Understanding forced marriage: definitions and realities......Page 42
 Forced marriage as a human rights issue\n......Page 43
Forced marriage and multiculturalism......Page 47
Forced marriage as violence against women......Page 51
Conclusion......Page 56
Note......Page 58
References......Page 59
Locating forced marriage within debates on violence against women......Page 63
Forced marriage and the law in the UK......Page 66
Understanding consent and coercion in forced marriage: from binaries to continuum......Page 68
An intersectional approach to forced marriage......Page 72
Conclusion......Page 75
References......Page 79
3 | The European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998......Page 84
Current legal redress......Page 85
The use and development of international human rights......Page 86
The European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998......Page 88
Article 3 of the ECHR......Page 89
Article 8......Page 95
Conclusions on the domestic enforcement of Convention rights – the HRA......Page 100
Notes......Page 102
Cases cited......Page 103
References......Page 104
4 | Border control to prevent forced marriages......Page 107
My own position......Page 108
The Scandinavian case......Page 109
Disentangling immigration and women’s oppression......Page 113
Conflating forced marriage and marriage immigration......Page 114
Discussion......Page 115
Suspect subjectivities......Page 118
Suspect marriages......Page 121
Conclusion......Page 123
Notes......Page 124
References......Page 126
Problematisation and framing discourses......Page 129
On culturalist understandings of forced marriage......Page 132
From a cultural problem to the problematic culture......Page 138
Conclusion......Page 144
References......Page 146
PART 2 | Policy and practice......Page 152
6 | Forced marriage legislation in the UK: a critique......Page 154
Definitions of forced marriage and legislative responses......Page 155
The criminalisation debate and a civil remedy approach to FM......Page 156
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007......Page 159
The limits of the current legal approaches to forced marriage......Page 160
The implementation of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act......Page 163
Beyond the law: what can be done to address forced marriage in the UK?......Page 166
Conclusion......Page 169
Notes......Page 171
References......Page 172
7 | The law, the courts and their effectiveness......Page 175
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act and the Family Law Act......Page 176
Forced marriage and nullity proceedings......Page 182
Special measures and guidelines for change......Page 187
Notes......Page 191
References......Page 192
8 | The role of the Muslim Arbitration  Tribunal\n......Page 194
Religion and access to justice......Page 196
Arbitration and mediation: the historical context......Page 198
The legal context of family mediation in Britain......Page 199
The remit of religious courts under the Arbitration Act 1996......Page 202
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal and forced marriage......Page 204
Should we mediate in cases of forced marriage?......Page 209
Conclusion......Page 212
Notes......Page 213
References......Page 214
9 | Constructing victims, construing credibility\n......Page 217
Constructing victims......Page 219
Construing credibility......Page 225
Engineering silence......Page 230
Conclusion......Page 232
Notes......Page 233
References......Page 234
10 | ‘Wayward girls and well-wisher parents’\n......Page 238
The rights framework: constitutional and treaty norms......Page 239
The legal framework: contradictions and concerns......Page 240
Women’s right to personal liberty in decisions on marriage......Page 248
Conclusion......Page 251
Notes......Page 252
References......Page 257
About the contributors......Page 258
Index......Page 263