A new, tough law will make it illegal to forcibly marry teenagers.
Ministers are looking to add a clause to clamp down upon arranged marriages to drafted legislation, which raises the legal age of wed to 18 from 16.
The Private Member’s Bill of Pauline Latham, MP, is currently expected to get support across the House of Commons.
This comes at a time when campaigners say that current law doesn’t protect parents from forcing their children to marry them.
A leading charity advised children aged seven and under that they could be married.
Karma Nirvana revealed that a seven year-old had to get married after she allegedly brought shame on her family.
Ministers are looking to include a clause that will clamp down on the arrangement of marriages in legislation to raise the legal age for wed (file photo).
Pictured: Pauline Latham, MP. Today’s Private Member’s Bill is likely to be supported across the House of Commons
Today’s Private Members’ Bill will expand the definition of forced marital to cover anyone younger than 18.
It means that it will be against the law for a child to wed, no matter what their wishes are.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is among those backing Ms Latham’s move, telling the Sun: ‘Forced child marriage ruins lives.
“We support this Bill to protect vulnerable young people by increasing the legal age for marriage to 18 and closing any gaps that could put them at greater risk.
In the past seven years, there have been almost 3,000 marriage protection orders despite the decline in the number of people under the age of 18 who want to wed.
Yorkshire-based charity Karma Nirvana – which supports victims of forced marriage – revealed in call logs how concerned they are for young children getting wedded.
Sky News interviewed them and they presented messages to operators describing claims that children were forced to wed.
Unhealthy professional said to a telephone operator that her sibling was concerned about her 7-year-old sister marrying off due to the shame she had been told.
Another referral from a social worker said: ‘The eldest daughter is 14 years old. She was 14 years old when they brought her to Pakistan for marriage. She is 14 years old and insists that she wants to get married.
And one person told of their family member: ‘She became engaged when she was 12 years old and then had a religious marriage just after turning 15.’
Dominic Raab, Justice Secretary (pictured), is one of those supporting Ms Latham’s decision. He told the Sun that ‘forced child marriage destroys lives’
Members of the traveling community reported that they have seen priests blessing girls as young as 14 years old in recent months.
The ceremonies weren’t legally binding, but they highlighted the dangers that young people can be caught.
Natasha Rattu, Executive Director at Karma Nirvana said that it didn’t shock us because we are often told about the most distressing cases.
However, to consider that during a pandemic a seven year old girl could be married is truly terrifying.
“If they had a religious marriage, which is something we often see under 16 years of age, there would be no penalty in law.