MixTogether & Friends

Writing on Comment Is Free today, Nesrine Malik makes a number of incisive observations about the grey area that exists just outside the illegal practices that constitute forced marriage.

The recent marriage of an alleged centenarian to a 17-year-old girl in Somalia is one manifestation of this philosophy. Adolescent girls are frequently married to older men in the Horn of Africa and parts of Sudan.

According to reports, the bride in this case was not forced into the marriage but was convinced of her husband’s love. “I didn’t force her,” he is quoted as saying, “but used my experience to convince her.”

In situations where the opinion of the family bears heavily on the bride’s decision, it is impossible to fathom whether this is actually true. If there was any compliance at all on her part, it was probably stoked by her suitor’s social status, his standing in the community and her family’s encouragement.

…in a culture where… the balance of power is skewed to the advantage of the man, there comes a point when an inordinate age gap may border on abuse due to a woman’s inability to make a pressure-free choice, even when that pressure is not explicitly applied.

This is a logic familiar to MixTogether members, and many survivors of unhappy marriages that were never forced in the legal sense but were nevertheless bullied and coerced out of the bride or groom.

It is the grey area just beneath the surface of forced marriage, and it affects far more young people than the occasional news headlines would have you believe.

This is the inaugural post on MixTogether & Friends,

from Jasvinder Sanghera of Karma Nirvana.

I am very happy to be writing the inaugural post for this new blog, MixTogether & Friends.

My hope is that this blog will generate and improve discussion about the real issues of honour abuse and forced marriages in Britain. I hope that the realities of how these abuses are blighting the lives of many will inspire action.

With that aim in mind, my opening post is an invitation to join a crucial campaign.

The Honour Network, a phoneline that supports victims and survivors of forced marriage and honour based violence, is under threat of having its government funding cut.

I am simply asking you to add your name to a petition on the Number 10 website, requesting that the Honour Network helpline continue to be funded. If you could spread the word to your respective online networks that would also be a real help.

We do not have any funding now to sustain the line, having previously received funding from the Home Office and Forced Marriage Unit.

Despite my pleas for support to the Government we have found ourselves in the position of having to eventually close the life-line that many people call in need of Karma Nirvana’s support.

The fact is that the line has been funded by kind public donations  for the past 6 months despite the Governments commitment to supporting the Honour Network.

This is a truly progressive campaign that should appeal to people of all political persuasions. If you would like to read my detailed account of the background to this campaign, please click ‘more’ below.

Thank you,

Jasvinder Sanghera

Karma Nirvana.

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