A Civil Rather Than Criminal Offence? Forced Marriage, Harm and the Politics of Multiculturalism in the UK
| Author | Kaye Quek |
| Date | 01 November 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00525.x |
| Published date | 01 November 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A Civil Rather than Criminal Offence?
Forced Marriage, Harm and the Politics
of Multiculturalism in the UK
Kaye Quek
Research Highlights and Abstract
• The British preference for civil remedies, rather than criminal measures, regarding
forced marriage is examined and an explanation for this approach, put forward.
• The reluctance in the UK to criminalise forced marriage is traced, in part, to the
influence that multicultural ideals have had on current British approaches to the
practice.
• The state’s tendency to conceptualise the harms of forced marriage principally in
terms of a violation of choice (rather than as a matter of long-term violence against
women), is also identified as significant to the British preference for civil remedies,
over criminal legislation.
• A critical feminist analysis of UK government papers, policy documents, and Hansard
debates, relating to the 2005 public enquiry on the criminalisation of forced marriage
and to the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007, is undertaken.
• British discussions on the proposal to criminalise forced marriage are noted as lacking
consideration of arguments that identify criminal legislation as a critical means of
combating violence against women.
• The question is raised as to whether, by adopting such an approach, the state may be
giving rise to a two-tier system of rights, in which minority group women are
afforded a lesser protection of their human rights, as a result of their racial or cultural
background.
This article examines the preference for civil, rather than criminal, measures that has emerged as
the favoured policy approach for dealing with forced marriage in Britain. In particular, the article
considers why, following much public and parliamentary debate, the option to criminalise forced
marriage was rejected by UK lawmakers. It suggests that one explanation for this approach is the
influence that multiculturalism, as a set of political ideals, has had on British policy on forced
marriage in recent years. The article also identifies as significant the limited conception of the harms
of forced marriage apparent in much UK government discourse, which fails to identify the practice
principally as a form of violence against women, and therefore as a custom that should be subject
to criminal legislation. It draws on a critical feminist analysis of UK government papers and policy
initiatives dealing with forced marriage during the period of 1999–2007, in order to make this case.
It concludes by raising the question of whether, in adopting a civil remedy approach, the state may
be affording some women less protection of their human rights than others.
Keywords: forced marriage; multiculturalism; criminalisation; violence against
women
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doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00525.x BJPIR: 2013 VOL 15, 626–646
© 2012 The Author.British Journal of Politics and International Relations © 2012
Political Studies Association
Introduction
In September 2005 the British government initiated a public consultation on
whether the practice of forced marriage should be made a criminal offence in the
UK. The backdrop against which this occurred was one of growing public concern
regarding the prevalence of forced marriage in Britain, following several years of
increased media reporting of cases of forced marriage, from the period of the
late-1990s (Siddiqui 2005; Deveaux 2006). Since this time, the extent of forced
marriage in the UK has been the subject of much policy and academic discussion,
and is an issue that is increasingly well-documented; women’s refuges and feminist
scholars estimate that there are between 450 and 1,000 incidences of forced mar-
riage in Britain each year (Anitha and Gill 2009, 167; also see Macey 2009, 68–69),
affecting women from a range of backgrounds (Chantler et al. 2009), with a major-
ity originating from the Indian sub-continent (FMU 2006, 4; Anitha and Gill 2009,
167). In such marriages, women, and a smaller number of men—approximately
15 per cent of victims (HAC 2008, Ev 447)—are forced to marry a family-chosen
spouse in the UK, or are brought overseas for the marriage to take place (FCO
2005a).
In an effort to combat the practice, successive British governments have sought to
address the occurrence of forced marriage through a variety of legislative proposals.
Recent years have thus seen a series of initiatives implemented in the UK relating
to the practice. These include raising the age of marriage to a person outside of the
European Union (EU) from 16 to 18 years old in 2003, and then to 21 years old in
2008, as well as the passage of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act in 2007,
which enables victims to obtain protection orders against those forcing them to
marry. It has also been noted by UK governments that existing legislation, such as
on kidnapping, rape, and assault, may be used to prosecute offenders and to tackle
the custom (FCO 2005a; FMU 2006, 5–6; HAC 2011, 5). The option, however, of
creating a specific criminal offence of forced marriage is one proposal that was
rejected—following the 2005 public consultation—largely due to the responses
made to the enquiry, which found a slender majority (37 per cent, compared to 34
per cent) opposed to criminal legislation (FMU 2006, 11). On the basis of the
responses submitted to the enquiry, it was announced by the government that the
focus of state efforts would instead be on civil remedies, such as greater use of
family courts, when assisting victims of forced marriage (Home Office 2006).
This article examines the preference for civil, rather than criminal measures that
has emerged as the favoured approach for dealing with forced marriage in Britain.
In particular, it considers why, following much public and parliamentary debate,
the option to criminalise forced marriage was rejected by UK policymakers. The
British approach to forced marriage is significant in view of the concerns raised by
some feminists since the late 1990s about multiculturalism, and its potential to
impede the protection of women’s rights. Beginning with Susan Moller Okin,
several feminist scholars have sought to highlight the tension that can exist
between practices of cultural accommodation in Western states and the upholding
of human rights norms for women, given that many abuses of women’s rights, such
as forced marriage, are often justified by or tolerated as a result of claims to tradition
FORCED MARRIAGE AND MULTICULTURALISM 627
© 2012 The Author.British Journal of Politics and International Relations © 2012 Political Studies Association
BJPIR, 2013, 15(4)
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