After the arrest of the 34-year-old businessman from Cardiff, under the forced marriage laws, the Force Marriage Unit (FMU) have revealed new statistics that most forced marriages in the UK take place within the British Pakistani community.
According to the FMU figures, which has been collaborated from the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, nearly 40% of the 1267 cases dealt by the FMU in 2014 involved people of Pakistani origin. It was followed by 7.8% Indian, 7.1% Bangladeshi, 3% Afghani and 1.1% Sri Lankan.
Furthermore, more than ¾ of the cases handled by the FMU had an “overseas element” to it. This means that one of the involved parties in the marriage were based in the country of origin of the UK-based family. There were also 135 cases involving victims with disabilities and eight victims who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).
Karen Bradley, the UK minister for preventing abuse and exploitation said, “We made forced marriage a crime to better protect victims and send a clear message that this brutal practice is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. We also hope that criminalisation will act as a deterrent. The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp this out, with our Forced Marriage Unit leading efforts to combat the practice both at home and abroad."
