tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/forced-marriage-7360/articlesForced marriage – The Conversation2023-06-07T16:43:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064242023-06-07T16:43:44Z2023-06-07T16:43:44ZHow the legal tools to prevent forced marriage can lead to further abuse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530058/original/file-20230605-17-bbwjs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=151%2C184%2C5448%2C3542&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/emotional-woman-sitting-on-floor-1760192618">KieferPix/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forced marriage – marriage that lacks the consent of one or both parties – is a serious issue which affects 22 million people around the world – <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_854733.pdf">predominantly women and girls</a>. In England and Wales, it is a crime that is legally recognised as a form of domestic violence. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/dist/6/8539/files/2023/05/Anitha-and-Gill%C2%A9_FMPO_Full-Report_18May2023.pdf">new report</a>, we paint a full picture of the problem, detailing the experiences of survivors and the challenges in supporting victims of forced marriage.</p>
<p>We interviewed 11 forced marriage survivors and 42 police, domestic abuse and other specialist support providers, analysed 37 court rulings and examined 70 police case files. We found the most common age of women and men subject to forced marriages is 16-21, but girls and boys as young as 11 have also become victims. </p>
<p>Since February 2023, when the minimum age of marriage in England and Wales was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/legal-age-of-marriage-in-england-and-wales-rises-to-18">raised to 18</a>, any marriage involving a child under the age of 18 also counts as forced. </p>
<p>The majority of victims are women and girls, but people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/bjc/azac097/6967228">especially vulnerable</a>. Contrary to popular belief, forced marriages are not limited to specific cultural groups, and have taken place in South Asian, Middle Eastern, Irish, Nigerian and Somali diaspora communities, among others.</p>
<p>The most common method of preventing forced marriages is through a civil injunction called a forced marriage protection order (FMPO). A potential victim, a relevant third party, such as a friend or lawyer, or any other person with the court’s permission (or the court itself) may seek an FMPO. </p>
<p>FMPOs were first introduced in with the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/20/contents">Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007</a>, which applies to Northern Ireland, England and Wales. <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2011/15/contents/enacted">Scotland introduced</a> similar laws in 2011. </p>
<p>FMPOs can prohibit perpetrators – usually the victim’s parents – from forcing the victim to marry, or taking them overseas for the purpose of marriage. They can also require perpetrators to return the victim to the UK if they have already been taken abroad to marry. Breaching the terms of an FMPO is a criminal offence carrying a maximum five-year sentence. </p>
<p>Approximately 200-250 FMPOs have been granted annually in England and Wales since 2014. We analysed 107 FMPOs issued between 2014-19 to learn more about how they affect victims. Our findings show that the legal tools currently available fall seriously short of protecting victims of forced marriage from further abuse. </p>
<h2>Intersecting abuse</h2>
<p>While FMPOs are effective in actually stopping a forced marriage from taking place, they do not do much to combat other forms of abuse and violence that take place in the context of forced marriage.</p>
<p>The majority of victims choose to remain in the family home while seeking protection from being forced to marry. In many situations, seeking an FMPO can increase the risk of “honour-based” violence and other forms of abuse. We found that forced marriage perpetrators commonly resort to emotional pressure, threats, beatings, kidnapping victims abroad, and even torture and rape.</p>
<p>One case we examined in the police files was of a 17-year-old girl of Indian origin. Following her rape, instead of supporting her, her parents blamed her for bringing shame upon them. She was subtly pressured to marry by her father, who told her that she was a burden on their family and marriage was the only way to restore their honour. </p>
<p>She went along with an engagement that she not want to pursue, but subsequently contacted the police. She told them how social services had let her down previously when she reported her rape:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Social services sent me home after keeping me in foster care. […] I am being pressurised to do things I do not want to do like marrying the boy I am engaged to and pressing charges on the boys involved in the [rape] incident last year. […] I have asked for help so many times from my teachers, social workers and police. […] In the past professionals have just gone straight to my parents and told them everything and that just makes things hard for me.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close up of a young woman's face, one eye and nose are in frame." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530061/original/file-20230605-21-gns42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forced marriage affects millions of young women and men around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ring-light-reflecting-womans-eye-face-2227026763">Stock-Asso/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In another case recorded by the police, a 16-year-old girl was taken to Somalia by her parents under the pretext of visiting family. Once there, she was held captive in a detention centre to break down her resistance to a forced marriage. Deprived of her diabetes medication, she regularly lost consciousness. </p>
<p>The same case file detailed the story of another detainee held in the same facility under similar circumstances. She and the 16-year-old girl were rescued at the same time. The other girl described how this 16-year old “would not wake up even when hit”. Both girls were regularly beaten, burned, had their feet chained, were exposed to extreme weather as punishment, and were tied up without food or blankets and left to defecate on themselves. </p>
<p>In all of these cases, FMPOs helped to prevent a forced marriage and, in the case of the girls held captive in Somalia, helped secure their return to the UK.</p>
<h2>Better protection</h2>
<p>Many victims struggle to balance their need for protection with the desire to avoid a complete break from their families. They were seeking the protection of FMPOs while living under the same roof as their abuser. Clearly, treating FMPOs as a solution requiring no further action can expose victims to further, serious harm.</p>
<p>FMPOs also have an expiry date – and we found that after they expire, very often the threat of forced marriage resumed. Despite this there are currently no mechanisms for alerting the police to an expiry. </p>
<p>When the police and child or adult protection services work together after an FMPO has been issued, they can create a protective shield that can support victims to make their own decisions about the best way forward. FMPOs are not enough on their own to address the complex and contradictory pressures that victims of forced marriage face. Securing their safety must involve a deeper understanding of coercion and emotional pressure and more long-term support for victims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sundari Anitha receives funding from research councils including the ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme trust and the Nuffield Foundation for her research. She is member of the Labour party, and a trustee of a domestic violence refuge for South Asian women, Asha Projects, and ATLEU, which provides legal support for victims of trafficking and labour exploitation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aisha K. Gill Ph.D. CBE receives funding from the ESRC/UKRI/Nuffield Foundation.
She was appointed Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women in 2019. This coalition includes feminist organizations and experts from across the UK, working to end violence against women and girls in all its forms.</span></em></p>Forced marriage protection orders are not very useful in combatting ‘honour’-based violence or other abuse.Sundari Anitha, Professor of Gender, Violence and Work, University of LincolnAisha K. Gill, Professor of Criminology, Centre for Gender and Violence Research, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1963492022-12-17T10:05:03Z2022-12-17T10:05:03ZICC upholds jail term for Ugandan rebel commander Ongwen - why it matters for Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500159/original/file-20221210-65080-uu5no9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dominic Ongwen is the first LRA commander to be found guilty of war crimes committed in Northern Uganda. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-looks-at-a-banner-of-former-child-soldier-turned-news-photo/628001270?phrase=dominic%20ongwen&adppopup=true">Isaac Kasamani/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The International Criminal Court (ICC) has upheld its 25-year jail term against former Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen. In a decision delivered on 15 December, the <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/court-record/icc-02/04-01/15-2023">ICC Appeals Chamber confirmed</a>, by majority, the punishment imposed in May last year. </p>
<p>Ongwen was the first <a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/lra.html">Lord’s Resistance Army</a> leader to be found guilty of the crimes during which thousands were killed or displaced in Northern Uganda.</p>
<p>His commander and Lord’s Resistance Army founder, <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/uganda/kony">Joseph Kony</a> is still at large. The US is offering up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandan-rebel-joseph-kony-the-latest-us-arrest-bid-raises-questions-177578">US$5 million</a> for information leading to his capture.</p>
<p>One of Kony’s tactics during the two decades of insurgency was the <a href="https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1171670/action-missing-children">abduction and conscription</a> of children into his army. Ongwen was aged about nine years when he was abducted. Many of the former child soldiers surrendered to the Ugandan forces under an amnesty framework, and were resettled back into their communities.</p>
<p>In 2005, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II issued <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/warrant-arrest-unsealed-against-five-lra-commanders">warrants of arrest for Kony, Ongwen and three other </a> senior leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Northern Uganda.</p>
<p>On 6 May 2021, the ICC sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2021_01026.PDF%3e">61 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity</a>. He appealed against the jail term. </p>
<p>So why is the verdict on Ongwen’s appeal important to the African continent? There are four key reasons. The decision of the ICC Appeals Chamber: </p>
<ul>
<li>sets precedence on forced marriages and forced pregnancies, </li>
<li>advances international jurisprudence, </li>
<li>tackles the question of child soldiers; and </li>
<li>underscores the role of ICC member states. </li>
</ul>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p><strong>Precedence on forced marriages and forced pregancies</strong> - The ICC Trial Chamber convicted Ongwen of <a href="https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/25/issue/7">sexual and gender-based violence crimes against seven women </a> he held in custody. Unlike the crimes of enslavement, rape and sexual slavery, the crime of forced marriage is not explicitly set out in the <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf">Rome Statute</a>. </p>
<p>Recognising and interpreting forced marriage as a separate crime against humanity was a <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2021/03/17/dominic-ongwen-conviction-a-move-towards-gender-sensitive-international-criminal-justice/">critical step in the direction of achieving justice for the victims of sexual and gender-based violence</a> at the Hague-based court.</p>
<p>The Trial Chamber indicated that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The crime of forced marriage depends on the unlawful confinement of a (forcibly made) pregnant woman, with the effect that the woman is deprived of reproductive autonomy. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This interpretation implies that judges will henceforth be mindful of the vulnerability of women during armed conflicts.</p>
<p>Ongwen’s was also the first case where the ICC dealt with the crime of forced pregnancy. Equally important to note is the Trial Chamber’s emphasis of its expansive interpretation of the Rome Statute. It noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>As with any crime, forced pregnancy must be interpreted in a manner that gives this crime independent meaning from the other sexual and gender-based violence crimes in the Statute. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Appeals Chamber stresses the need to protect the woman’s reproductive health, including the right to family planning. </p>
<p>The implication is that prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence within armed conflict and post-war contexts will most likely increase. </p>
<p>The pattern of violating women’s body cannot be overlooked, even beyond the context of armed conflict. The <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2021/03/17/dominic-ongwen-conviction-a-move-towards-gender-sensitive-international-criminal-justice/">explicit recognition</a> of Ongwen victims’ experiences of harm within the context of sexual and gender-based violence can address socio-cultural injustices against women in transitional contexts. </p>
<p>The ICC judgements in the Ongwen case are highly relevant for feminist legal scholars and proponents of <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/Rosemary_Grey/status/1603416735352295424">gender-sensitive judging</a>, viewed as an important precedent on reproductive autonomy and rights. </p>
<p>The ICC therefore sets a good precedent for analysing the precarious situation of victims of sexual and gender-based violence. This will be helpful in conflicts like the <a href="https://allsurvivorsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ASP-Central-African-Republic.pdf">Central African Republic</a>, <a href="https://allsurvivorsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ASP-Central-African-Republic.pdf">Democratic Republic of Congo</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220216-tigray-rebels-gang-raped-women-and-girls-in-ethiopia-conflict-says-amnesty">Ethiopia</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/south-sudan-un-report-highlights-widespread-sexual-violence-against-women">South Sudan</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Criminal Liability of former child soldiers</strong> - The decision on Ongwen provides an important precedent regarding the issue of child soldiers. It allows courts in other African contexts to differentiate between between children as victims (child soldiers) and as perpetrators of crimes. The conscription of children into combat is <a href="https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/world/children-voluntarily-join-armed-groups-in-dr-congo-1757774">still a challenge in contexts like the DRC</a>. </p>
<p>As a result of this ICC precedent, African courts can no longer absolve former child soldiers from criminal liability for crimes committed after they rose to high command positions. </p>
<p><strong>Support by member states is very crucial</strong> - The investigation, surrender and successful prosecution of Ongwen cost significant amounts of finances. It required support from state and other actors. It shows the dependence of the ICC on member states’ cooperation to fulfil its mandate.</p>
<p>The Ugandan government, for instance, referred the Lord’s Resistance Army crimes to the ICC. It also actively engaged in investigations and providing evidence.</p>
<p>Going forward, proponents of the international justice in Africa will need to engage with ICC member states. They should also seek technical and financial support from donors and private stakeholders. </p>
<p>Victims, experts and academics made key contributions to this significant jurisprudence on sexual and gender-based violence in the Ongwen case. </p>
<p>For other African countries dealing with legacies of international crimes and war crimes, availability of adequate finances and technical expertise will be crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tonny Raymond Kirabira worked as a Visiting Professional in the Office of Public Counsel for Victims at the International Criminal Court in 2020. The views he expresses are his own, and not for the Court or its affiliates. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Jjuuko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ongwen’s case ends the blanket amnesty that African courts have always granted ex-child abductees over war crimesTonny Raymond Kirabira, Teaching Fellow, University of PortsmouthDennis Jjuuko, Doctoral Candidate, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908822022-09-29T12:32:25Z2022-09-29T12:32:25ZUN slavery estimate raises question: Are 50 million people really enslaved today?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486639/original/file-20220926-26-nievn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=529%2C41%2C1467%2C1287&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forced laborers lived in prison cells at one palm oil plantation in Indonesia. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/private-prison-cell-is-seen-at-house-former-head-of-news-photo/1238075980?adppopup=true"> Kiki Cahyadi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to the United Nations, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1126421">about 50 million people</a> are enslaved worldwide.</p>
<p>The report, released Sept. 12, 2022, by the U.N.’s <a href="http://www.ilo.org">International Labor Organization</a>, <a href="https://www.iom.int">the International Organization for Migration</a> and the human rights group <a href="https://www.walkfree.org">the Walk Free Foundation</a>, revealed that 28 million people are in forced labor and another 22 million in forced marriage. </p>
<p>Forced labor includes exploitation in domestic work, agriculture and manufacturing. It also includes state-imposed forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Poverty is a powerful driver for forced labor around the globe, particularly in India, East Asia and West Africa. </p>
<p>Forced marriage, mainly affecting women and girls, often has gendered, patriarchal roots. </p>
<p>The U.N.’s latest estimate of 50 million has grown substantially <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/world/global-slavery-estimates-ilo">since its last estimate in 2017</a>, when it reported 40 million persons were enslaved. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en">As someone who studies modern slavery</a>, I am intrigued by global estimates. </p>
<p>Are there really 50 million persons living in slavery today as the U.N. claims? </p>
<p>What explains how the global estimate increased by 10 million over five years? Does that mean we will see an annual increase of 2 million slaves each year moving forward? </p>
<h2>Getting better at global estimates</h2>
<p>Global estimates of modern slavery have improved over time. </p>
<p>In 2013, Walk Free’s <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=polisci-faculty-publications">first Global Slavery Index</a> reported 29.8 million persons enslaved. </p>
<p>But that estimate was based almost entirely on expert input instead of nationally representative random sample surveys – the gold standard of research design. </p>
<p>For its <a href="https://legacy.globalslaveryindex.org/download/">2016 Global Slavery Index</a>, <a href="https://www.walkfree.org/">Walk Free</a> partnered with <a href="https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx">Gallup</a> and commissioned random sample surveys for 25 countries. </p>
<p>By partnering with the world’s premier polling organization and using advanced survey techniques, Walk Free was able to embark on groundbreaking work.</p>
<p>However, Walk Free ended up generating a global estimate for 168 nations, not just the 25 nations it had surveyed. That meant for the other countries in its 2016 estimate, Walk Free relied on both expert input and statistical techniques – and didn’t solely use nationally representative survey data. </p>
<h2>The devil in the details</h2>
<p>That same technique of mixing survey data with statistical techniques applies to the U.N.’s 2017 and 2022 global estimates. </p>
<p>For its <a href="https://www.alliance87.org/global_estimates_of_modern_slavery-forced_labour_and_forced_marriage.pdf">2017 estimate</a>, the U.N., working with Walk Free and other organizations, commissioned surveys in 48 countries from 2014 to 2016. And for its <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_854733.pdf">2022 report</a>, the U.N. gathered data from 68 countries to estimate forced marriage and from 75 countries to estimate forced labor. </p>
<p>Though the report revealed a clear increase in the number of nationally representative surveys to generate these global estimates, it still fell short in measuring a majority of the countries in the world. </p>
<p>There are currently <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us">193 member states</a> in the United Nations. The U.N.’s 2022 global estimate that surveyed 75 countries to estimate forced labor did not survey the remaining 118 countries, instead basing its numbers on expert input and statistical techniques. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view from above shows buildings in a grid, with identifying labels such as police station, hospital and visitation center." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417728/original/file-20210825-23-1jren5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2018 satellite image shows detention camps built near the Kunshan Industrial Park in China’s Xinjiang region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Planet Labs/AP,</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor did the U.N. publish a full list of the countries for which it conducted nationally representative surveys in 2017. It’s difficult, then, to know how many of those 48 countries sampled for the 2017 report were repeated for the 2022 report. </p>
<p>We also don’t have publicly available data for those 48 countries, let alone the countries surveyed for the 2022 global estimate. </p>
<p>And without access to any of the statistical calculations made by the U.N. for either estimates, scholars cannot independently replicate the findings of the U.N. for either of its 2017 or 2022 reports. </p>
<h2>Comparing apples and oranges</h2>
<p>This lack of transparency makes it difficult to claim that there really was an increase of 10 million in the number of enslaved persons from 2017 to 2022. </p>
<p>Two things are happening here. The U.N. seems to be getting much better at estimating global slavery. But because the survey techniques are improving over time, it is impossible to make comparisons. </p>
<p>Consider the analogy of a bathroom scale. In weighing yourself, you might purchase an inexpensive scale at first just to get a rough idea of how much you weigh. But then, becoming more concerned about your health, you then purchase a much better scale that gives you a far more precise measurement. </p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that your weight changed radically. It just means you now have a much better sense of your weight. </p>
<p>This analogy applies to measuring contemporary slavery. </p>
<p>The scale used by Walk Free was novel in 2013, and improved by 2016. The scale the U.N. used in 2017 was more precise, and the figures for 2022 got even better. </p>
<p>But to go back and say there are 10 million more persons enslaved today than there were in 2017 is not warranted. </p>
<h2>Finding clarity</h2>
<p>Global estimates of modern slavery are eye-catching and important.</p>
<p>The 50 million figure today is one of the best estimates of modern slavery available and can prompt policymakers to take action. Without awareness of this crime, the problem cannot be solved. </p>
<p>Yet, moving forward, the public still needs more reliable, more valid and more transparent data. Science advances on the promise that data is freely available to enable others to replicate or improve the analysis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monti Datta was a consultant with the Walk Free Foundation from 2013 to 2016.</span></em></p>Global estimates of modern-day slavery by the United Nations reveal improving methods for calculating the data.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699042022-08-22T12:27:10Z2022-08-22T12:27:10ZSlavery and war are tightly connected – but we had no idea just how much until we crunched the data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479488/original/file-20220816-8518-l5gine.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C3%2C996%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ugandans watch the start of the International Criminal Court trial of former child soldier-turned-warlord Dominic Ongwen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/residents-watch-the-screening-of-the-start-of-the-icc-trial-news-photo/628000204?adppopup=true">Isaac Kasamani/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm">40 million people</a> are enslaved around the world today, though estimates vary. Modern slavery takes many different forms, including child soldiers, sex trafficking and forced labor, and no country is immune. From cases of <a href="https://www.gahts.com/publications/ygsrx3nh2ecyz6z-34kln-yh99p-as9yk-e7k8n-slkln-f3htp-t9p9l-x9kb3-e75h9-mrbd6-rw7m5-t3bdh-j43r4">family controlled sex trafficking</a> in the United States <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/">to the enslavement of fishermen</a> in Southeast Asia’s seafood industry and <a href="https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/VeriteForcedLaborMalaysianElectronics2014.pdf">forced labor</a> in the global electronics supply chain, enslavement knows no bounds. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars</a> of <a href="https://unu.edu/experts/angharad-smith.html">modern slavery</a>, we <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/kevin.bales">seek to understand</a> how and why human beings are still bought, owned and sold in the 21st century, in hopes of shaping policies to eradicate these crimes. </p>
<p>Many of the answers trace back to causes like poverty, corruption and inequality. But they also stem from something less discussed: war.</p>
<p>In 2016, the United Nations Security Council <a href="http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/2331">named modern slavery</a> a serious concern in areas affected by armed conflict. But researchers still know little about the specifics of how slavery and war are intertwined. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">recently published research</a> analyzing data on armed conflicts around the world to better understand this relationship.</p>
<p>What we found was staggering: The vast majority of armed conflict between 1989 and 2016 used some kind of slavery.</p>
<h2>Coding conflict</h2>
<p>We used data from an established database about war, <a href="https://ucdp.uu.se/">the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)</a>, to look at how much, and in what ways, armed conflict intersects with different forms of contemporary slavery. </p>
<p>Our project was inspired by <a href="https://wappp.hks.harvard.edu/files/wappp/files/journal_of_peace_research-2014-cohen-418-28.pdf">two leading scholars</a> of sexual violence, <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/dara-kay-cohen">Dara Kay Cohen</a> and <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people/faculty/ragnhild-nordaas.html">Ragnhild Nordås</a>. These political scientists used that database to produce <a href="http://www.sexualviolencedata.org/bibliography/papers-in-progress/">their own pioneering database</a> about how rape is used as a weapon of war.</p>
<p>The Uppsala database breaks each conflict into two sides. Side A represents a nation state, and Side B is typically one or more nonstate actors, such as rebel groups or insurgents.</p>
<p>Using that data, our research team examined instances of different forms of slavery, including sex trafficking and forced marriage, child soldiers, forced labor and general human trafficking. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">This analysis</a> included information from 171 different armed conflicts. Because the use of slavery changes over time, we broke multiyear conflicts into separate “conflict-years” to study them one year at a time, for a total of 1,113 separate cases.</p>
<p>Coding each case to determine what forms of slavery were used, if any, was a challenge. We compared information from a variety of sources, including human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, scholarly accounts, journalists’ reporting and documents from governmental and intergovernmental organizations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in dark clothes sits, looking forlorn, over a crevice with rubble in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Yazidi woman who was held captive by the Islamic State visits the mass grave where her husband is believed to be buried in Iraq.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YazidiSlaveTrade/994255e1eb3a4296afa1a3f3599d7192/photo?Query=yazidi&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=755&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alarming numbers</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">recently published analysis</a>, we found that contemporary slavery is a regular feature of armed conflict. Among the 1,113 cases we analyzed, 87% contained child soldiers – meaning fighters age 15 and younger – 34% included sexual exploitation and forced marriage, about 24% included forced labor and almost 17% included human trafficking.</p>
<p><iframe id="mSfzB" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mSfzB/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>A global heat map of the frequency of these armed conflicts over time paints a sobering picture. Most conflicts involving enslavement take place in low-income countries, often referred to as the Global South.</p>
<p>About 12% of the conflicts involving some form of enslavement took place in India, where there are several conflicts between the government and nonstate actors. Teen militants are involved in conflicts such as <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/research/children-as-combatants-and-the-failure-of-state-and-society-the-case-of-the-kashmir-conflict-47514/">the insurgency in Kashmir</a> and the separatist movement <a href="http://www.humanrights.asia/news/alrc-news/human-rights-council/hrc6/AL-024-2007/">in Assam</a>. About 8% of cases took place in Myanmar, 5% in Ethiopia, 5% in the Philippines and about 3% in Afghanistan, Sudan, Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda, Algeria and Iraq. </p>
<p>This evidence of enslavement predominately in the Global South may not be surprising, given how poverty and inequality <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0738894214559673">can fuel instability and conflict</a>. However, it helps us reflect upon how these countries’ historic, economic and geopolitical relationships to the Global North also fuel pressure and violence, a theme we hope slavery researchers can study in the future. </p>
<h2>Strategic enslavement</h2>
<p>Typically, when armed conflict involves slavery, it’s being used for tactical aims: building weapons, for example, or constructing roads and other infrastructure projects to fight a war. But sometimes, slavery is as part of an overarching strategy. In the Holocaust, the Nazis used “strategic slavery” in what they called “extermination through labor.” Today, as in the past, strategic slavery is normally part of a larger strategy of genocide.</p>
<p>We found that “strategic enslavement” took place in about 17% of cases. In other words, enslavement was one of the primary objectives of about 17% of the conflicts we examined, and often served the goal of genocide. One example is <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/resources/academic-publications/2020/establishment-and-regulation-of-slavery-by-the-islamic-state.pdf">the Islamic State’s enslavement</a> of the Yazidi minority in the 2014 massacre in Sinjar, Iraq. In addition to killing Yazidis, the Islamic State sought to enslave and impregnate women for systematic ethnic cleansing, attempting to eliminate the ethnic identity of the Yazidi through forced rape. </p>
<p>The connections between slavery and conflict are vicious but still not well understood. Our next steps include coding historic cases of slavery and conflict going back to World War II, such as <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/forced-labor">how Nazi Germany used forced labor</a> and how Imperial Japan’s military used <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/04/940819094/photos-there-still-is-no-comfort-for-the-comfort-women-of-the-philippines">sexual enslavement</a>. We have published a new data set, “<a href="https://www.csac.org.uk">Contemporary Slavery in Armed Conflict</a>,” and hope other researchers will also use it to help better understand and prevent future violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169904/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our research team received the following funding that assisted with our work:
UK Arts and Humanities Research Council – Antislavery Usable Past project (AH/ M004430/1 and AH/M004430/2).
UK Economic and Social Research Council – Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement” (ES/P001491/1) (Including funds from ESRC International Impact Prize).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angharad Smith is affiliated with United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our research team received the following funding that assisted with our work: UK Arts and Humanities Research Council – Antislavery Usable Past project (AH/ M004430/1 and AH/M004430/2). UK Economic and Social Research Council – Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement” (ES/P001491/1) (Including funds from ESRC International Impact Prize).</span></em></p>Armed conflicts today involve slavery in many different forms, from forced marriage to child soldiers.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondAngharad Smith, Modern Slavery Programme Officer, Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), United Nations UniversityKevin Bales, Prof. of Contemporary Slavery, Research Director - The Rights Lab, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650122021-08-16T06:07:18Z2021-08-16T06:07:18ZAs the Taliban returns, 20 years of progress for women looks set to disappear overnight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416231/original/file-20210816-19-10bi7ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Reynolds/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the Taliban <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/8/15/in-pictures-taliban-fighters-enter-afghan-presidential-palace">takes control</a> of the country, Afghanistan has again become an extremely <a href="https://time.com/5472411/afghanistan-women-justice-war/">dangerous place</a> to be a woman. </p>
<p>Even before the fall of Kabul on Sunday, the situation was <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/06/30/you-have-no-right-complain/education-social-restrictions-and-justice-taliban-held#_ftn231">rapidly deteriorating</a>, exacerbated by the planned withdrawal of all foreign military personnel and declining <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/06/afghanistan-health-care-women-hit-aid-cuts">international aid</a>.</p>
<p>In the past few weeks alone, there have been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghans-tell-of-executions-forced-marriages-in-taliban-held-areas-11628780820">many reports</a> of casualties and violence. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. The United Nations Refugee Agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/briefing/2021/8/611617c55/unhcr-warns-afghanistans-conflict-taking-heaviest-toll-displaced-women.html">says</a> about 80% of those who have fled since the end of May are women and children.</p>
<p>What does the return of the Taliban mean for women and girls? </p>
<h2>The history of the Taliban</h2>
<p>The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, enforcing <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history">harsh conditions</a> and rules following their strict interpretation of Islamic law. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd of Taliban fighters and supporters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416238/original/file-20210816-21-dk4x0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Taliban have been taking back control of Afghanistan with the withdrawal of foreign troops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rahmut Gul/AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under their rule, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history">women had to</a> cover themselves and only leave the house in the company of a male relative. The Taliban also banned girls from attending school, and women from working outside the home. They were also banned from voting. </p>
<p>Women were subject to cruel punishments for disobeying these rules, including being beaten and flogged, and stoned to death if found guilty of adultery. Afghanistan had the highest <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT?locations=AF">maternal mortality rate</a> in the world.</p>
<h2>The past 20 years</h2>
<p>With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the situation for women and girls vastly improved, although these gains were partial and fragile.</p>
<p>Women now hold positions as ambassadors, ministers, governors, and police and security force members. In 2003, the new government ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which requires states to incorporate gender equality into their domestic law. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghan-government-collapses-taliban-seize-control-5-essential-reads-166131">Afghan government collapses, Taliban seize control: 5 essential reads</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The 2004 Afghan Constitution holds that “citizens of Afghanistan, man and woman, have equal rights and duties before the law”. Meanwhile, a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=102060&p_country=AFG&p_count=82&p_classification=01.04&p_classcount=10">2009 law</a> was introduced to protect women from forced and under-age marriage, and violence.</p>
<p>According to Human Rights Watch, the law saw a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/08/05/i-thought-our-life-might-get-better/implementing-afghanistans-elimination">rise</a> in the reporting, investigation and, to a lesser extent, conviction, of violent crimes against women and girls. </p>
<p>While the country has gone from having almost no girls at school to tens of thousands at <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/making-higher-education-accessible-afghan-women">university</a>, the progress has been slow and unstable. UNICEF <a href="https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/education">reports</a> of the 3.7 million Afghan children out of school some 60% are girls.</p>
<h2>A return to dark days</h2>
<p>Officially, Taliban leaders <a href="https://theconversation.com/taliban-has-not-changed-say-women-facing-subjugation-in-areas-of-afghanistan-under-its-extremist-rule-164760">have said</a> they want to grant women’s rights “according to Islam”. But this has been met with great scepticism, including by women leaders in Afghanistan. Indeed, the Taliban has given every indication they will reimpose their repressive regime.</p>
<p>In July, the United Nations <a href="https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/unama_poc_midyear_report_2021_26_july.pdf">reported </a> the number of women and girls killed and injured in the first six months of the year nearly doubled compared to the same period the year before. </p>
<p>In the areas again <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/aug/12/i-worry-my-daughters-will-never-know-peace-women-flee-the-taliban-again-afghanistan">under Taliban control</a>, girls have been banned from school and their freedom of movement restricted. There have also been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghans-tell-of-executions-forced-marriages-in-taliban-held-areas-11628780820">reports</a> of forced marriages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Afghan woman looking out a window." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416235/original/file-20210816-28-1f5mf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Afghan women and human rights groups have been sounding the alarm over the Taliban’s return.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hedayatullah Amid/EPA/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women are putting burqas back on and speak of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/an-afghan-woman-in-kabul-now-i-have-to-burn-everything-i-achieved">destroying evidence</a> of their education and life outside the home to protect themselves from the Taliban. </p>
<p>As one anonymous Afghan woman <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/an-afghan-woman-in-kabul-now-i-have-to-burn-everything-i-achieved">writes</a> in The Guardian: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I did not expect that we would be deprived of all our basic rights again and travel back to 20 years ago. That after 20 years of fighting for our rights and freedom, we should be hunting for burqas and hiding our identity. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many Afghans are angered by the return of the Taliban and what they see as their abandonment by the international community. There have been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/3/afghans-chant-allahu-akbar-in-defiant-protests-against-taliban">protests in the streets</a>. Women have even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/07/armed-afghan-women-take-to-streets-in-show-of-defiance-against-taliban">taken up guns</a> in a rare show of defiance. </p>
<p>But this alone will not be enough to protect women and girls. </p>
<h2>The world looks the other way</h2>
<p>Currently, the US and its allies are engaged in <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-kabuls-saigon-moment-australia-faces-the-shame-of-repeating-its-mistakes-exiting-the-vietnam-war-166163">frantic rescue operations</a> to get their citizens and staff out of Afghanistan. But what of Afghan citizens and their future? </p>
<p>US President Joe Biden remains largely unmoved by the Taliban’s advance and the worsening humanitarian crisis. In an August 14 <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/14/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-afghanistan/">statement</a>, he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And yet, the US and its allies — including Australia — went to Afghanistan 20 years ago on the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/laurabushtext_111701.html">premise</a> of removing the Taliban and protecting women’s rights. However, most Afghans do not <a href="https://www.aihrc.org.af/media/files/ENLGISH.pdf">believe</a> they have experienced peace in their lifetimes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/taliban-has-not-changed-say-women-facing-subjugation-in-areas-of-afghanistan-under-its-extremist-rule-164760">Taliban 'has not changed,' say women facing subjugation in areas of Afghanistan under its extremist rule</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As the Taliban reassert complete control over the country, the achievements of the past 20 years, especially those made to protect women’s rights and equality, are at risk if the international community once again abandons Afghanistan. </p>
<p>Women and girls are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58205062">pleading for help</a> as the Taliban advance. We hope the world will listen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165012/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Sapiano receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP210103549 for a project titled 'Gendering Peace Mediation'. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Azadah Raz Mohammad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Taliban have given every indication women and girls will face violence and repression as they back control of Afghanistan.Azadah Raz Mohammad, PhD student, The University of MelbourneJenna Sapiano, Australia Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate and Lecturer, Monash Gender Peace & Security Centre, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1584042021-06-07T12:35:16Z2021-06-07T12:35:16Z‘Bride kidnapping’ haunts rural Kyrgyzstan, causing young women to flee their homeland<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403393/original/file-20210528-22-ah8da2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4672%2C2853&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest against bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on April 8, 2021, after a young woman abducted for marriage was found dead. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-hold-pictures-as-they-attend-a-rally-for-womens-news-photo/1232176999?adppopup=true"> Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are many types of forced marriage in this world, but perhaps the most dramatic is marriage by abduction, or <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw_legislation_2009/Expert%20Paper%20EGMGPLHP%20_Cheryl%20Thomas%20revised_.pdf">bride kidnapping</a>. </p>
<p>Bride kidnapping is common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caucasus and Central Asia. In rural Kyrgyzstan, where over 60% of the country’s population lives, surveys suggests <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-015-0393-2">1 in 3 marriages begins with a kidnapping</a>. </p>
<p>There, bride kidnapping is known as “ala kachuu,” which translates as “to take and run away.” It became illegal in <a href="https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/bride-kidnapping-kyrgyz-republic">1994</a>, but the practice continues today, especially in rural areas. </p>
<p>And our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1931062?src=">research</a> on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z7Xve00AAAAJ&hl=en">labor migration</a> in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5HRNTzAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">the country</a> suggests bride kidnapping may push young women to leave their rural communities to avoid forced marriage.</p>
<h2>What is bride kidnapping?</h2>
<p>Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country of 6.5 million, is one of the world’s epicenters of marriage by abduction. </p>
<p>A typical bride kidnapping occurs in a public place. A group of young men locates the young woman that one has chosen for his wife – whom he may know, but perhaps not well – and carries her, screaming and struggling, into a waiting car. </p>
<p>The kidnapping victim is taken to the groom’s family home, where the women of the family attempt to talk her into consenting to the marriage. At this stage, some victims are rescued by their father or other male relatives. More often, though, having been kidnapped is so shameful that the victim or her family agrees to marriage rather than risk the stigma of being a “used” woman. </p>
<p>Sometimes, grooms use <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/kyrgyzstan-new-rape-case-highlights-need-for-immediate-action-to-end-appalling-bride-kidnapping-practice/">rape or other physical violence</a> to coerce women to consent to marriage – though that’s not the norm. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman holds a drawing depicting a scared woman being taken away in a car" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3746%2C2448&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402882/original/file-20210526-21-uw77qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Violent bride kidnappings have triggered several protests in Kyrgyzstan in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-holds-a-picture-as-she-attends-a-rally-for-womens-news-photo/1232177367?adppopup=true">Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Kyrgyz people, especially those in older generations, still see bride kidnapping as a harmless tradition, according to our interviews. </p>
<p>“It’s a very old custom,” a 60-year-old woman told us. “Even I was married that way, and I’m happy with my family life. My husband never beat me, and everything turned out well.” </p>
<p>People younger than 50 are more likely to reject “ala kachuu,” our research shows, especially when the couple are complete strangers. But they also believe that bride kidnapping is a thing of the past, and that such events today are “pretend” – staged kidnappings. </p>
<p>Several Kyrgyz women confirmed for us that they had agreed to be kidnapped before marriage, to uphold a tradition they see as romantic. </p>
<p>But some kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan are clearly nonconsensual. Since 2018 at least two women, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/09/another-woman-killed-scourge-kyrgyzstan-bride-kidnappings">Aizada Kanatbekova</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/31/young-womans-murder-kyrgyzstan-shows-cost-tradition">Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy</a>, were killed by their kidnappers when they attempted to resist the marriage. </p>
<p>Both murders spawned <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56675201">protests nationally and in their hometowns</a>, some of the largest rallies against bride kidnapping seen in Kyrgyzstan since visible public opposition began in the 1990s. </p>
<h2>Migrating to ‘escape’</h2>
<p><a href="http://forumofwomenngos.kg/ru/women-and-violence/">Kyrgyz women’s rights groups</a> say the line between “pretend” and “real” kidnappings is fuzzy, because a woman can’t truly consent to a kidnapping if she knows her boyfriend can easily disregard her wishes. </p>
<p>The United Nations considers any kind of forced marriage to be a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/MinimumAgeForMarriage.aspx">human rights violation</a>. About 15.4 million people worldwide are wed without giving their free, full and informed consent, according to a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575479/lang--en/index.htm">2016 International Labour Organization estimate</a>. </p>
<p>A growing body of <a href="https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol41/20/default.htm">research</a> supports the argument that “ala kachuu” is not a harmless national tradition in Kyrgyzstan. </p>
<p>For example, survey data from Kyrgyzstan finds that the birth weights of the first children born to mothers who married by kidnapping are <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-017-0591-1">significantly lower</a> than those of other first-borns, likely because of higher stress levels among kidnapped mothers. </p>
<p>In Alay district, a rural region of southern Kyrgyzstan, we found that the young adult daughters of parents in a kidnapping-based marriage were 50% more likely to migrate for work, both within Kyrgyzstan and internationally. Our regression analysis controlled for other factors that could push young women to migrate, such as household size, education and wealth. </p>
<p>Survey questions generally cannot distinguish between “pretend” and “real” bride kidnappings, so these findings may understate the negative effects of forced marriage on infant health and migration. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Circular hut constructed of basic materials with a gorgeous mountain backdrop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402884/original/file-20210526-23-jdkkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A traditional Kyrgyz house in Sary Tasch village, Alay, Kyrgyzstan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/village-sary-tasch-in-alaj-valley-part-of-pamir-mountain-news-photo/1288033047?adppopup=true">Martin Zwick/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on this research, we believe Kyrgyz women use migration to escape the possibility of being kidnapped themselves.</p>
<h2>Why women leave Kyrgyzstan</h2>
<p>In rural Kyrgyzstan, a young woman’s chances of avoiding a forced marriage depend largely on her parents’ willingness to intervene on her behalf after kidnapping. A girl from a family that began with a bride kidnapping can reasonably surmise that her parents are unlikely to help her. </p>
<p>And since Kyrgyzstan has Central Asia’s highest rates of women’s labor emigration – women make up [40% of all Kyrgyz migrants in Russia], a <a href="https://kyrgyzstan.iom.int/news/current-migration-situation-and-trends-kyrgyzstan">much higher share</a> than those from neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – migration would be a socially acceptable way to move somewhere where kidnapping is rare.</p>
<p>Other researchers have hypothesized that Kyrgyz women migrate at such high rates because of <a href="https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/journals/15644278/32/2/3">their Russian language proficiency and Kyrgyzstan’s less restrictive gender norms</a>. </p>
<p>But bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan seems to play at least as critical a role in this trend. Living in a household headed by a kidnapping-based couple is one of the strongest predictors of women’s migration, our research found. Household size and whether the family owns land are other main factors. </p>
<p>No one we interviewed in Kyrgyzstan mentioned that young women migrated to avoid a forced marriage, nor have we seen this argument made by other academics or the Kyrgyz media. </p>
<p>However, we did find that people commonly described women’s migration in terms of “escape.” </p>
<p>Explaining why his daughter moved to Russia after separating from her abusive husband who married her through kidnapping, one father told us, “A new place and a new life were what she needed.” </p>
<p>Men’s migration, in contrast, is usually spoken of in economic terms. </p>
<p>Women’s migration <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?locations=KG">plays an important economic</a> role in Kyrgyzstan, and many other countries, too. But our research suggests it can be an escape route for women who don’t want to follow their mothers into a forced marriage.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guangqing Chi receives funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Multistate Research Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Hofmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In rural Kyrgyzstan, 1 in 3 marriages begins with an abduction. Older generations see this as a harmless tradition, but two brides have been killed since 2018. A study finds other problems, too.Erin Hofmann, Associate Professor, Utah State UniversityGuangqing Chi, Professor, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1595112021-04-29T15:39:50Z2021-04-29T15:39:50ZYoung British Indians are embracing arranged marriage – just not in the traditional sense<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397801/original/file-20210429-13-235nz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5734%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/indian-groom-dressed-white-sherwani-red-764321776">IVASHstudio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arranged marriages occupy an awkward place in contemporary Britain. For some, they’re equivalent to forced marriage. Others see them as a quaint custom in need of adjustment to the modern ideal of western-style “love marriages”. However, my <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/learning-to-love/9780813599632">decade-long research</a> with British Indians paints a rather different picture of this practice. </p>
<p>Far from being a homogeneous tradition, modern arranged marriages involve a variety of matchmaking practices where each family tailors its own version to suit modern identities and ambitions. </p>
<p>Among the first generation, transnational arranged marriages were the norm. People would go back to India to find partners, with the added expectation that their children would follow a very traditional style of arranged marriage. But there was a marked shift in the attitude of the British-born second generation. </p>
<p>For this group, attitudes towards arranged marriages began to noticeably shift in the 1960s and 1970s. They felt that unlike their parents, traditional transnational marriages would not work for them and their children who identified more with Britain than with India.</p>
<p>The range of arranged marriages that now exist can be thought of as a spectrum, with forced marriages that involve marrying someone against their will at one extreme and the most westernised style of courtship and marriage (including inter-religious marriages or instances where parents may only be involved in arranging the wedding) at the other. </p>
<h2>Two new versions of arranged marriage</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/learning-to-love/9780813599632">research</a> has highlighted two styles of arranged marriage that lie between these extremes. Both appear to be the most popular ways through which young British Indians have embraced arranged marriages. </p>
<p>The first of these is called “semi-arranged marriage”, where parents who wish to help their child find a potential partner will introduce them to several candidates from within the British Indian population that they think could make a suitable match. Introductions can involve sifting through specially commissioned bride or groom CVs, studio photographs, events similar to speed-dating organised by local temples and, increasingly, matrimonial websites (even social media sites like Facebook and Instagram).</p>
<p>After introductions are made, the relationship follows an established pattern of the couple going on dates (sometimes chaperoned) to get to know each other better. They’re also gently encouraged to fall in love in the run-up to the wedding. Families don’t frown upon these types of courtships because matches are approved by the parents of the couple themselves. All those I interviewed who went through this version of arranged marriage confessed to being in love with their chosen partner by the wedding. </p>
<p>The other style is what my research participants called “love-cum-arranged marriages”, where the person who wants to get married finds someone they like themselves. In these marriages, couples go on dates and get to know each other before asking their families to approach the parents of their love interest in order to arrange a formal introduction. This is followed by parent-approved courtship and then marriage. </p>
<p>Falling in love independently of parental involvement was important in love-cum-arranged marriage. But what was more pressing was actively socially engineering the process so that one fell in love with the right person, matching parents’ criteria of a desirable partner and standards that were tacitly underlined while growing up. </p>
<h2>Priorities among British Indians</h2>
<p>Young British Indians practising love-cum-arranged marriages felt they had the “freedom to fall in love with anyone” but within certain boundaries – typically making sure to fall in love with someone of the same religion, ethnicity and class.</p>
<p>The importance of caste (the hierarchical Indian system of social division primarily based on hereditary status and resistance to inter-marriages) is becoming rarer in these instances. And some negotiations in class boundaries were permitted among research participants. </p>
<p>However, sharing the same religion and ethnicity were seen as non-negotiable, which meant that the arranged aspect of this style of marriage still carried weight. Love-cum-arranged marriages were regarded not as a compromise but as the ideal to meet the desires of both the parents and the child.</p>
<p>Indeed, the popularity of these two styles underscores the requirement of “learning to love” among British Indians – where previously in traditional-style arranged marriages, the focus was on learning to love the partner you had chosen after a brief introduction or with little choice (especially for women). </p>
<p>For British-born generations today, love as learning involves first discovering the boundaries of family expectations and preferences in relation to future partners. Secondly, (and more significantly), it requires putting that learning into practice through self-censure and falling in love with someone who parents would be likely to approve of. This hybrid form of marriage allows British Indians to adapt different elements to reflect both the British and Indian aspects of their identities. </p>
<p>These two styles of marriage – semi-arranged marriage and love-cum-arranged marriage – symbolise the future of arranged marriages in Britain. Younger British Indians increasingly prefer the latter over the former. </p>
<p>While forced marriage has been made <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage">illegal</a> in the United Kingdom and love marriages are held up as the norm, arranged marriages end up occupying a grey zone between the two — always suspect and never desirable. Consequently, people who have arranged marriages are treated with suspicion and are regarded as a threat to social cohesion. As such, it is ever more important to acknowledge the diversity of arranged marriage forms. </p>
<p>We need to move beyond the idea that love and arrangement have to be mutually exclusive, embodying the differences between traditional Eastern and the modern Western cultures respectively. In fact, love and arrangement can exist in tandem, as shown by the marriage styles that are popular among British Indians today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raksha Pande works for Newcastle University. </span></em></p>The range of arranged unions that now exist can be thought of as a spectrum, and younger generations tend to prefer a love connectionRaksha Pande, Senior Lecturer, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1550682021-02-16T14:57:35Z2021-02-16T14:57:35ZAdolescent girls in five African conflict zones share stories about their lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383766/original/file-20210211-24-1tubres.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Civil rights activists at a rally calling for the rescue of abducted Chibok school girls in Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>International organisations around the world are increasingly committing themselves to undertaking inclusive approaches to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2018.1426681">peacebuilding</a>. These organisations all pledge to engage with ‘local actors’ in the design, implementation and evaluation of their programmes to support peace and security in conflict-affected zones.</p>
<p>There is good reason to adopt this approach. <a href="https://www.c-r.org/news-and-insight/why-does-inclusion-matter-peace">Research</a> shows that programmes that are inclusive of the voices in a community, and responsive to their needs, are more likely to see short- and long-term successes. </p>
<p>But the number of times organisations take this approach is patchy at best. And even when they engage in genuine inclusive peacebuilding practices it is still necessary to ask: ‘Whose voices and experiences are included in efforts to ensure inclusive peacebuilding?’ </p>
<p>In <a href="http://contemporarysecuritypolicy.org/adolescent-girls-in-protracted-crises-promoting-inclusion-and-advancing-peace/">our research</a> with conflict-affected communities in South Sudan, Uganda, and Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin, we found that adolescent girls aged between 10 and 19 were seldom – if ever – consulted about the programmes to support peace in their communities. This was true even if the programmes were designed to support the girls themselves.</p>
<p>This is an important oversight that needs to be fixed. Adolescent girls face unique challenges in times of conflict and crisis. Their experiences are different from those of women, boys, and younger children. </p>
<p>If adolescent girls are not consulted about the programmes that seek to support them and their community, it is less likely that the programmes will be responsive to their unique challenges, and girls will continue to face insecurity.</p>
<h2>How do girls experience conflict differently?</h2>
<p>Over the last three years we have surveyed, interviewed and held focus group discussions with thousands of adolescent girls in conflict and crisis contexts. In 2017 and 2018 we conducted a survey with 698 girls across South Sudan, Uganda, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon. The aim was ascertain the security risks they faced, the ways in which they navigated them, and ways in which they contribute to building peace and security in their communities. </p>
<p>We also held interviews and focus group discussions with girls, their parents and guardians, adolescent boys, community leaders, representatives of civil society and international organisations, to understand the challenges girls face.</p>
<p>The adolescent girls we spoke to identified several major challenges to their lives. </p>
<p>For example, girls experience unique forms of conflict-related gender-based violence. One of these is child, early and forced marriage. South Sudan and Niger have among the highest <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/where-does-it-happen/">rates of child marriage in the world</a>. In Niger, almost half of all girls we surveyed aged between 15 and 19 told us they were, or had been, married.</p>
<p>Research has shown that <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/themes/conflict-humanitarian-crises/">child, early and forced marriage</a> increase in times of crisis. Girls told us that this was for a number of reasons: they were married as a way of restoring a girl’s or family’s honour in the aftermath of <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/Child-marriage-evidence-report-2021.pdf">sexual violence</a>; to provide physical protection from <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Child-marriage-in-humanitarian-settings.pdf">abduction</a>, <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Child-marriage-in-humanitarian-settings.pdf">sexual violence</a> and forced marriage by militant groups; and to address the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/741954315">economic insecurity</a> of girls (and their families, with one less mouth to feed) through the payment of a bride price.</p>
<p>Girls in South Sudan reported that child, early and forced marriage was the most prominent form of gender-based violence they faced. While many girls in both contexts recognised its inevitability, none we spoke to freely chose to marry nor reported that they were involved in the decision-making around marriage.</p>
<p>Early marriage can have <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Changing-Norms-of-Child-Marriage-in-Conflict.pdf">devastating consequences</a> for adolescent girls, increasing their likelihood of family violence, poverty, denial of education, and <a href="https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescents-health-risks-and-solutions">health complications</a> associated with early pregnancy.</p>
<p>Another example of conflict-related gender-based violence was the fear of <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Child-marriage-in-humanitarian-settings.pdf">abduction, sexual violence and forced recruitment</a> by militants. </p>
<p>Girls cited cases of abduction, including that of the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/03/six-years-ago-boko-haram-kidnapped-276-schoolgirls-where-are-they-now/">Chibok schoolgirls</a>, as a reason for their restricted movement and fear of moving about their communities. In South Sudan, <a href="http://contemporarysecuritypolicy.org/adolescent-girls-in-protracted-crises-promoting-inclusion-and-advancing-peace/">13%</a> of all girls we surveyed said that they had previously been abducted. Across Lake Chad <a href="http://contemporarysecuritypolicy.org/adolescent-girls-in-protracted-crises-promoting-inclusion-and-advancing-peace/">50%</a> of all girls said they felt insecure in their own communities.</p>
<p>Another example of conflict-related gender-based violence was the fear of being vulnerable to family violence. This was particularly problematic given that many girls were separated from their families because of the conflict.</p>
<p>In South Sudan, a girl in Bidi Bidi told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know children being mistreated because the mother is far away.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Girls also suffer other forms of community-based physical violence and threats. A girl in Juba told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will be beaten by unknown people. Because the security is not good at night. People can be easily killed or shot dead… </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Imagining life in peacetime</h2>
<p>By far, the overwhelming hope recited by adolescent girls was to return to school. </p>
<p>Girls told us that their ability to attend school was undermined by numerous factors. These included the cost of school fees and supplies, the poor quality of the teachers and facilities, the increased domestic labour and caring responsibilities placed on girls, issues of safety and distance in travelling to school, and marriage. </p>
<p>None of the girls we spoke to who were married returned to school after their marriage. </p>
<p>Girls described school as fundamental to their lives. They saw it as a protective mechanism against early marriage and family violence, a safe space to learn, a network that built their confidence and happiness, and an opportunity to develop independent pathways and future economic security.</p>
<h2>Why these voices matter</h2>
<p>Adult decision-makers assume that both their age and their gender render adolescent girls unable to understand and articulate their life experiences. </p>
<p>Yet in our conversations with girls, we found astute commentaries on their communities, and the causes of the issues that they face. They are clearly experts on the threats to security in their own lives. </p>
<p>Moreover, we found that adolescent girls have different priorities to adults on the issues that needed addressing, new insights into the drivers of the insecurities they faced, and a capacity to be partners in the programmes offered to them.</p>
<p>Another reason peacebuilding programmes need to include the views of adolescent girls is that they are major grassroots peacebuilders in their communities. Girls and women run households, perform care labour, build social relationships, show community leadership in times of crisis, raise children and foster the values of inter-generational peace. Moreover, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/10/compilation-the-power-of-women-peacebuilders">research</a> has shown that building cultures where girls and women are encouraged to participate, lead and make decisions in both public and private spheres is central to achieving lasting peace. </p>
<p>And where girls and women continue to experience gender-based violence and are denied their rights, true peace will always be undermined.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research for this article was funded by Plan International.</span></em></p>Adolescent girls face unique challenges in times of conflict and crisis yet they are rarely consulted about how to engender peace in their communities.Katrina Lee-Koo, Associate Professor of International Relations, Monash UniversityEleanor Gordon, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1546712021-02-09T16:46:28Z2021-02-09T16:46:28ZDominic Ongwen: ICC conviction of former child soldier establishes ‘forced pregnancy’ as a war crime<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55921421#:%7E:text=Ex%2DUgandan%20rebel%20commander%20Dominic,first%20in%20an%20international%20court.&text=He%20was%20convicted%20on%2061,and%20war%20crimes%20he%20faced.">conviction of Dominic Ongwen</a>, a former commander in the Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an array of crimes against humanity has raised important questions about guilt and victimhood among former child soldiers. Ongwen was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2021/feb/04/uganda-ex-child-soldier-dominic-ongwen-guilty-of-war-crimes-against-humanity">found guilty</a> on February 4 of 61 of the 70 charges laid against him, including the ICC’s first-ever successful prosecution for “<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/former-ugandan-rebel-commander-dominic-ongwen-guilty-of-war-crimes-icc/a-56449103">forced pregnancy</a>”.</p>
<p>Charges against him related to attacks on civilian populations in four camps for internally displaced people in northern Uganda between 2002 and 2005 during the vicious <a href="https://theconversation.com/dominic-ongwen-surrenders-but-justice-for-lords-resistance-army-victims-will-be-hard-to-find-35966">two-decade war</a> between the LRA and the Ugandan army. Besides forced pregnancy, other charges included murder and sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage. He was also convicted for conscripting children under the age of 15 into the LRA.</p>
<p>Ongwen’s experience as a former child soldier, having been forcibly abducted on his way to school at the age of ten by the LRA under the supreme command of Joseph Kony was a <a href="https://www.ijmonitor.org/2019/08/once-a-victim-always-a-victim-ongwens-lawyer-speaks-about-his-client/">central theme in his defence</a>.</p>
<p>But while the court was conscious of the psychological trauma suffered by child soldiers, Ongwen’s experience as a child was not a factor in the decision. In her <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int//Pages/item.aspx?name=2016-12-06-otp-stat-ongwen">opening statement</a> when the trial began in 2016, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The evidence of many of the child victims in this case could be, in other circumstances, the story of the accused himself … But having suffered victimisation in the past is not a justification, nor an excuse to victimise others.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ongwen’s own abduction and the brutality and coercion he undoubtedly suffered at the hands of the LRA as a child may be considered as mitigating circumstances during the sentencing phase of the trial, expected to take place in March or April 2021.</p>
<h2>Gender crimes in war</h2>
<p>There is a developing body of case law at the ICC concerning crimes of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/add16852-aee9-4757-abe7-9cdc7cf02886/283503/romestatuteng1.pdf">Statute of Rome</a> defines SGBV as those crimes committed against persons – whether male or female – because of their sex or socially constructed gender roles. These are not necessarily manifested as sexual violence, but can include rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and enforced sterilisation. </p>
<p>According <a href="https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/sexual-and-gender-based-crimes">to the ICC</a>, the Rome Statute is “the first international treaty to establish conflict-related SGBV as crimes against humanity, war crimes and, in some instances, genocide. These groundbreaking provisions have provided a new language to describe and prosecute these heinous crimes.”</p>
<p>The first ICC trial of a militia leader for SGBV crimes was that of <a href="https://theconversation.com/iccs-bemba-ruling-is-a-landmark-but-falls-short-of-a-big-leap-56687">Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo</a>, who was found guilty in 2016 of five counts of murder, rape and pillaging, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. </p>
<p>He was also found guilty of failing to stop troops under his command of committing similar crimes, also the first time that the concept of command responsibility was used by the ICC. The unique element in Bemba’s case was the recognition by the ICC of <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2016/03/525132-un-welcomes-iccs-first-conviction-rape-war-crime">rape as a weapon of war</a>.</p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/07/first-time-international-criminal-court-has-sentenced-man-sexual-slavery-hell-now-be-jail-years/">Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda</a> was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of 18 counts of murder, rape, sexual slavery and using child soldiers. Ntaganda’s case <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2017_03920.PDF">expanded the category of victims</a> of sexual slavery to <a href="https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/20170109/ntaganda-decision-will-icc-build-clarity-around-sexual-and-genderbased-crimes">include child soldiers</a>. </p>
<p>But Ongwen’s trial was the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jicj/article/15/5/905/4683651?login=true">first time</a> the court considered the offences of forced pregnancy and marriage specifically as war crimes. Large numbers of women and girls were abducted to serve as “bush wives” of senior members of Ongwen’s Sinia Brigade. The court acknowledged the complex physical and psychological effects of such enforced sexual servitude on both the victims and their children. </p>
<h2>Looking after victims</h2>
<p>Ongwen’s lawyers plan to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55921421">appeal the decision</a> on all the charges. But if the verdict is upheld at appeal, victims may receive compensation from the ICC’s <a href="https://www.trustfundforvictims.org/">Trust Fund for Victims</a>. These could include both individual compensation and collective reparations awards in the shape of rehabilitation as well as educational and housing assistance. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://asf.be/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ASF_UG_ABeggarhasnoChoice_EN_201704.pdf">one study conducted in northern Uganda</a> reveals, reparations are doubly important because of the stigmatisation faced by the victims of sexual crimes which can affect their prospects of employment or marriage in later life.</p>
<p>It is also important that the Ugandan government, as a matter of urgency, investigates allegations of similar war crimes committed by government troops. As early as 2005, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2005/09/20/uganda-army-and-rebels-commit-atrocities-north">Human Rights Watch established</a> that soldiers in Uganda’s national army had raped, beaten, arbitrarily detained and killed civilians in camps. Thus far, none have been brought to justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sex and gender-based offences have become an increasing focus of war crimes trials at the International Criminal Court.Tonny Raymond Kirabira, PhD Candidate in Law, University of PortsmouthLeïla Choukroune, Professor of International Law and Director of the University Research and Innovation Theme in Democratic Citizenship, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1408382020-06-17T20:05:05Z2020-06-17T20:05:05ZForced labour, sexual exploitation and forced marriage: modern slavery in Australia hides in plain sight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342014/original/file-20200616-65921-67z12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C4896%2C3217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Yes, there <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-there-slavery-in-australia-yes-it-shouldnt-even-be-up-for-debate-140544">was slavery in Australia</a>. Yes, there is slavery in Australia now. It occurs as forced labour, sexual exploitation and forced marriage.</p>
<p>These situations rarely involve the actual chains and bars we commonly associate with historical slavery. They are nonetheless conditions of enslavement: a person is forced to work under threat; is controlled by another; is dehumanised or treated as a commodity; and is not free to leave.</p>
<p>Relatively speaking, modern slavery is rare in Australia. Perhaps a few thousand people fit the strict definition, compared with about 40 million globally. </p>
<p>But every number is the story of a human being. Their stories are, however, rarely heard as modern slavery in Australia remains largely invisible. </p>
<h2>Australian statistics</h2>
<p>The best official data on modern slavery in Australia come from the Australian Federal Police, the agency to which all alleged human trafficking and slavery offences must be referred. Between 2013 and 2017, as reported to the federal parliament’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/ModernSlavery">Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act</a>, there were 496 referrals. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-last-australia-has-a-modern-slavery-act-heres-what-youll-need-to-know-107885">At last, Australia has a Modern Slavery Act. Here's what you'll need to know</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>The cases represent just a fifth of the iceberg, according to <a href="https://antislavery.org.au/modern-slavery/">Anti-Slavery Australia</a>, a research and policy centre that provides free legal services to victims of modern slavery. It estimates more than 80% of victims go undetected. This means about 2,000 more people in modern slavery than the AFP numbers indicate.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342016/original/file-20200616-65961-3aiupc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<h2>Forced labour</h2>
<p>The most common form of slavery globally is (non-sexual) forced labour. An estimated 25 million people are forced to work through the use or threat of violence, or physical, emotional or financial restraints. Particularly prevalent is bonded labour or debt bondage – having to work to pay off a debt. </p>
<p>These practices thrive in the regulatory gaps of global supply chains. They are common, for example, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-moves-in-india-australia-relations-risk-pushing-millions-more-into-modern-slavery-139867">Indian textile making</a>, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-every-brand-of-tuna-on-supermarket-shelves-shows-why-modern-slavery-laws-are-needed-108421">Thai fishing</a> and in <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-corners-forced-labour-expose-shows-why-you-might-be-wearing-slave-made-clothes-115462">Chinese manufacturing</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia such cases are relatively uncommon. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342024/original/file-20200616-23227-dsm2g6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The first conviction under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00006/Html/Text">forced labour laws</a> enacted by the federal parliament in 2013 was in April 2019. The case involved a Brisbane couple, Isikeli and Malavine Pulini, who <a href="https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/case/id/342697">were sentenced</a> to five and six years’ jail respectively for forcing a Fijian woman to work as their domestic servant for eight years. </p>
<p>The woman had previously worked for the Pulinis in Tonga from 2001 to 2006. In 2008 they enticed her to Brisbane on a tourist visa, then took her passport from her. They manipulated her desire to stay in Australia and made her work long hours as nanny, cook, maid and cleaner. They paid her $150 to $250 a fortnight. She fled in 2016.</p>
<p>As the crown prosecutor Ben Power observed, this was “a secret hiding in plain sight” for eight years.</p>
<p>The majority of victims remain hidden for a long time. Commonly contributing to their invisibility are language barriers, a fear of immigration authorities, and an ignorance of Australian laws. Thus, while we can make estimates of the numbers of people caught in these situations, there might be more cases than we think.</p>
<h2>Sexual exploitation</h2>
<p>More common in Australia than labour exploitation, according to the AFP numbers, is sexual exploitation, which represents about 30% of slavery cases. </p>
<p>Sexual exploitation involves a person having to perform sex work due to coercion, threats or deception. To the extent this is done for the exploiter’s commercial gain, the International Labour Office considers sexual exploitation a form of forced labour.</p>
<p>One such case to end in a successful sexual slavery conviction is the <a href="https://www.cdpp.gov.au/case-reports/prosecuting-%E2%80%98insidious-trade%E2%80%99-woman-who-helped-force-thai-women-sex-slavery-jailed">November 2019</a> sentencing of Rungnapha Kanbut to eight years in jail for keeping two Thai women as slaves.</p>
<p>The two women came to Australia to do sex work. The man who made their travel arrangements took naked photos of them. The threat of these being posted on the internet was later used to deter the women from fleeing. </p>
<p>When they arrived in Australia, Kanbut took their passports and told them they needed to pay off a $45,000 debt. They worked up to 12 hours a day at multiple Sydney brothels. Most of their earnings went to Kanbut.</p>
<p>They were, as the judge put it, effectively kept “in a prison without bars”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/human-trafficking-and-slavery-still-happen-in-australia-this-comic-explains-how-112294">Human trafficking and slavery still happen in Australia. This comic explains how</a>
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<h2>Forced marriage</h2>
<p>Forced marriage appears the most prevalent form of modern slavery in Australia. It involves being tricked, forced or coerced into a marriage without full consent. Of the estimated 15.4 million people in such arrangements globally, 13 million are female. </p>
<p>Research suggests victims of forced marriage in Australia are mostly the children of first-generation migrants <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/getmedia/ad745e1b-c62f-4831-b8c3-a389b3037c34/Forced-Marriage-Community-Voices-Stories-and-Strategies-Australian-Red-Cross.pdf.aspx">from places such as</a> Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Fiji (though it should be noted the practice is in no way limited to specific nations or cultures). </p>
<p>An <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FamCA/2011/22.html">example</a> is the case of an Australian-born teenager whose strict Indian-born parents tricked her into travelling to India on the premise of marrying the man she loved but then extorted her into marrying someone else.</p>
<p>The teenager had angered her parents by conducting a long-distance relationship then moving from Sydney to Melbourne to live with her chosen boyfriend. </p>
<p>They finally cajoled her into agreeing to a wedding in India as part of a reconciliation. But once the wedding party was in India, they took her passport and threatened to have her boyfriend’s mother and sister kidnapped and raped if she didn’t do what they said. So she did.</p>
<p>This case has a comparatively happy ending. The Family Court of Australia <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FamCA/2011/22.html">declared the marriage void</a>. </p>
<p>But for many women there are many barriers to getting to court. These are <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbULawRw/2013/5.html">complex situations</a> compounded by social stigma, family pressure, fear of violence and cultural and gender expectations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dowry-abuse-does-exist-but-lets-focus-on-the-wider-issues-of-economic-abuse-and-coercive-control-112288">Dowry abuse does exist, but let's focus on the wider issues of economic abuse and coercive control</a>
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<h2>Complex problems, complex responses</h2>
<p>Each form of modern slavery is complex. Each requires a different policy response.</p>
<p>Forced marriage needs more of a “<a href="https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/39334/Flinders_Slavery_Report_2019_ibsn.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y">soft approach</a>”, including <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbULawRw/2012/24.html">consultation and education strategies</a>, and <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/getmedia/ad745e1b-c62f-4831-b8c3-a389b3037c34/Forced-Marriage-Community-Voices-Stories-and-Strategies-Australian-Red-Cross.pdf.aspx">prevention and empowerment opportunities</a> that engage whole communities. </p>
<p>Sexual exploitation requires addressing the reasons that lead women into sex work and then to become part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-traffickings-tragic-paradox-when-victims-become-perpetrators-115706">cycle of exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>With forced labour, Australia’s Modern Slavery Act provides a focal point to promote <a href="https://www.australianethical.com.au/blog/parliament-passes-modern-slavery-act/">accountability</a> in business supply chains.</p>
<p>That wouldn’t have helped the victim of the Pulinis, though. In her case, as is uncounted others, the ability to hide in plain sight is slavery’s first defence.</p>
<p>So, along with policy measures, there’s also a need to heighten community awareness. We all have to be able to better spot the signs of slavery even without chains and bars.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Baxter is affiliated with ACRATH. </span></em></p>Slavery and slavery-like practices exist in Australia, in the form of forced marriages, sexual exploitation and forced labour.Alexandra Baxter, Human trafficking and modern slavery researcher, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1070782019-01-07T11:42:08Z2019-01-07T11:42:08ZFact check: How many people are enslaved in the world today?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249758/original/file-20181210-76974-1ek4i73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burmese fishermen raise their hands as they are asked who among them wants to go home. Human trafficking sometimes occurs in the seafood industry.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Seafood-From-Slaves-Sentencing/852ba88570864e68947d70d41523bd46/21/0">AP Photo/Dita Alangkara</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern slavery is a crime against humanity. Although some types of enslavement, like sex trafficking, are widely known, others hide in plain sight. <a href="https://polarisproject.org/typology">Enslavement happens</a> in many industries – including restaurants, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/">domestic work</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/21/malaysia-forced-labour-casts-dark-shadow-over-electronics-industry">electronics</a>, construction, textiles, steel and <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/">seafood</a>.</p>
<p>But exactly how many people live in slavery today? Whether it’s measuring modern slavery in the U.S. or across the globe, there are different, inconsistent, estimates.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en/">As someone who researches modern slavery</a>, I know that calculating its prevalence is like finding a needle in a haystack. A valid figure is elusive – and yet essential for better policies to free enslaved persons and help them make <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3402%2Fgha.v8.29267">the difficult transition</a> to liberation. </p>
<h2>Defining modern slavery</h2>
<p>Definitions of modern slavery have shifted over time. </p>
<p>In 1926, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/slaveryconvention.aspx">the League of Nations</a> defined slavery as the “status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.” The U.N. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/supplementaryconventionabolitionofslavery.aspx">broadened this definition</a> in 1956 to include forced marriage and more protections for women’s rights. </p>
<p>Things changed again in 2000. The U.N. introduced the term “trafficking in persons” and omitted references of forced marriage from the widely adopted <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/protocoltraffickinginpersons.aspx">Palermo Protocol</a>. But by 2013, the U.N. General Assembly recognized <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/764369/files/A_RES_68_148-EN.pdf">forced marriage as a form of enslavement</a>. </p>
<p>Definitions matter because they influence how the public and policymakers interpret the issue. In a court of law, for instance, the term “human trafficking” might be more persuasive to jurors than a term like “slavery.”</p>
<p>For researchers, nuances also matter when it comes to estimating the number of people enslaved. Some organizations include forced marriage in their estimates of modern slavery; others do not. </p>
<p>Still others disagree about when harsh labor conditions merit the label “enslavement.” <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_234854/lang--en/index.htm">The International Labor Organization has said</a>, “Not all children who are exposed to hazardous work are ‘slaves,’ and not all workers who don’t receive a fair wage are forced.” </p>
<p>Among published estimates of forced marriage, the numbers are staggering. Based on its calculations, <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/child-marriage-latest-trends-and-future-prospects/">UNICEF estimates</a> that approximately 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. </p>
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<h2>Slavery in the US today</h2>
<p>Researchers have struggled to estimate the number of people enslaved within the U.S. </p>
<p>For over a decade, <a href="https://humantraffickinghotline.org">Polaris</a> has operated a hotline for any tips related to trafficking within America’s borders. In 2017, they documented 8,524 human trafficking cases, mostly in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Sex trafficking was the most common type of enslavement reported.</p>
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<p>These hotline data are useful because they detail more of where and who is trafficked in America today. But the figures are not from a national survey. Anyone can call and report a tip. So, after a movie like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/">Taken</a>,” there may be a spike in tips about sex trafficking from an anxious public. </p>
<p>In 2004, <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2004/34021.htm">the U.S. State Department</a> reported that, at any given moment, there were 14,500 to 17,500 people trafficked in the U.S. But this research <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/22/AR2007092201401_5.html">could not be replicated</a> and verified.</p>
<p>Some organizations suggest there could be upwards of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr0rv1zVZJ4">100,000 youth</a> at risk for trafficking in the U.S. at any moment, but the National Academies of Sciences <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18358/confronting-commercial-sexual-exploitation-and-sex-trafficking-of-minors-in-the-united-states">has debunked this</a>. </p>
<p>Backing away from national figures, other researchers have begun to focus on trafficking hotspots, like <a href="https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/human-trafficking/Pages/labor-trafficking-san-diego-county.aspx">along the U.S.-Mexico border</a>. In one detailed study of <a href="https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-issues/human-trafficking-study">641 homeless youth and human trafficking in the U.S.</a>, more than 14 percent had been trafficked for sex. Another 8 percent had been trafficked for other types of forced labor. </p>
<h2>Inconsistent data</h2>
<p>For a long time, global and regional players that track this sort of data – often competing for the same funding or prestige – would seldom share their data. </p>
<p>This lack of cooperation explains how independent organizations may come up with different estimates.</p>
<p>For example, in 2005, the International Labor Organization estimated that <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_081882/lang--en/index.htm">12.3 million</a> persons were enslaved. Then, in 2012, it adjusted this figure to <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/publications/WCMS_182004/lang--en/index.htm">21 million persons</a>. The International Labor Organization has rarely published country-level results, instead focusing on regional figures. </p>
<p>In a desire to generate country-level estimates, <a href="https://www.walkfreefoundation.org">the Walk Free Foundation</a> launched <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org">The Global Slavery Index</a> in 2013. The first index estimated <a href="https://www.walkfreefoundation.org/news/resource/the-global-slavery-index-2013/">29.8 million</a> persons enslaved. But this was later updated to <a href="https://www.walkfreefoundation.org/news/resource/the-global-slavery-index-2014/">35.8 million</a>, and then <a href="https://www.walkfreefoundation.org/news/resource/the-global-slavery-index-2016/">45.8 million</a>.</p>
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<p>Each iteration of the Global Slavery Index and International Labor Organization figures reflected changes in their methods. Although these changes often reflected stronger methodologies, the changing estimates invited <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112506">criticism</a>. </p>
<h2>Global estimates</h2>
<p>Through new partnerships, more nonprofit organizations and countries are beginning to meet and share their data. Walk Free, the International Labor Organization and dozens of other state and nonstate actors came together in 2016 to form <a href="https://www.alliance87.org/partners/">Alliance 8.7</a>. In 2017, the coalition jointly estimated there were some 40 million people enslaved worldwide. </p>
<p>However, scholars from the outside don’t have access to the coalition’s raw data. This makes a critical analysis of the methodology a challenge. </p>
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<p>Alliance 8.7 also held a conference in October of this year that established <a href="https://www.alliance87.org/news/guidelines-on-how-to-measure-forced-labour/">clearer guidelines</a> on how to measure instances of enslavement. </p>
<p>Prior to this, researchers did not always agree on when a moment of enslavement should be counted. For example, a researcher might interview respondents about their prior experiences of forced labor. During that interview, a respondent might say that he had been a victim of forced labor in 1997. Should that be counted at the time of the survey or not counted since it happened so long ago? </p>
<p>Scholars are also getting more involved and applying <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2015.00824.x">novel estimation techniques</a> that are cost-effective. There are also new data resources – like the Gallup World Poll, which now includes questions about modern slavery in its surveys in some developing countries. These surveys are based on random sample surveys – some of the best data collection methods around. </p>
<p>A valid estimate of slavery and trafficking worldwide remains the holy grail of modern slavery studies. The public may never know the true number of persons enslaved today, because modern slavery is a hidden crime. But more precise estimates can begin to shed more light on who is enslaved and where. If the public doesn’t know who today’s enslaved are and where they are, their presence will remain invisible. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify which organization manages the U.S. trafficking hotline.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monti Datta was a consultant with the Walk Free Foundation from 2013 to 2016.</span></em></p>Estimates of modern slavery vary widely, whether they try to pin down numbers in the U.S., across the globe or just in certain industries.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/972662018-06-11T11:49:49Z2018-06-11T11:49:49ZIf people with learning disabilities can’t consent to marry, they’re at risk of forced marriage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222570/original/file-20180611-191951-2rudy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/home"> Zapylaiev Kostiantyn/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent landmark case, a mother <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/22/birmingham-woman-guilty-of-duping-daughter-into-forced-marriage">received the first conviction</a> in England for forcing someone to marry. She had tricked her daughter, then aged 17, into travelling to Pakistan to be married as soon as she turned 18. The girl had a learning disability, but this was only very briefly reported in press coverage of the case. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mymarriagemychoice/documents/summary-full.pdf">My research</a> has shown how people with learning disabilities may be vulnerable to being tricked or coerced into forced marriage. They need more support to ensure they are protected from harm.</p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/709954/2017_FMU_statistics_FINAL.pdf">Statistics</a> from the government’s Forced Marriage Unit show a rise in the number of people with learning disabilities being reported who may have been subject to forced marriage, or at risk of it – from 53 cases in 2010 to 125 in 2017. </p>
<p>Cases of people with learning disabilities make up approximately 10% of all those reported. More cases of men with learning disabilities than women are reported. This is in contrast with cases of people without learning disabilities, where about 80% of cases reported are women.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-marriage-convictions-are-welcome-but-for-many-victims-stigma-is-still-judge-and-jury-97635">Forced marriage convictions are welcome but for many victims stigma is still judge and jury</a>
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<p>The act of forcing someone to marry was criminalised in 2014 through the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/12/contents/enacted">Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act</a>. A forced marriage is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage">defined</a> by the British government as one: “where one or both people do not (or in cases of people with learning disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used.” Being able to understand and consent to marriage is a requirement of all marriages – this is often described as having capacity to consent. Under the 2014 law, any marriage of a person who cannot consent for themselves is a forced marriage. </p>
<p>Forced marriage should not to be confused with arranged marriage. In arranged marriages, the family of both spouses take a leading role in arranging the marriage but the decision to accept the arrangement or not remains with the prospective spouses.</p>
<p>Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights and my research shows it often results in a range of abuse include physical, financial and sexual abuse and emotional harm. In some cases, both the person with the learning disability and their spouse are victims and experience abuse from extended family members. </p>
<p>My research has also shown that it’s difficult for social workers and other professionals to recognise when someone is at risk, particularly as the specific vulnerabilities of people with learning disabilities are often not recognised in this context. </p>
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<h2>Consent is key</h2>
<p>We interviewed people with learning disabilities, their parents and other family members, as well as faith leaders and practitioners such as social workers, health workers and the police. We found that the motivators for forcing someone with a learning disability to marry can be very different to the reasons why people without learning disabilities are forced to marry. In many cases, family members are looking for a carer for their relative. One carer told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s something that every parent wants for their child is for them to be happily settled in life with someone who’s going to look after them when we’re not around.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many parents of people with learning disabilities might not realise they are committing an offence if their son or daughter does not have capacity to consent. However, if the person is unable to consent this would be a forced marriage, even if the person with the learning disability appeared happy about it. </p>
<p>The concept of capacity to consent to marriage was often misunderstood. Some of those we interviewed believed that as long as the person with a learning disability could say yes to the marriage this was enough for it to go ahead and that parents are the best judges of a person’s capacity. But this isn’t always the case.</p>
<p>People with learning disabilities may not feel able to go against their parents wishes, particularly if they rely upon them for support. A person with a learning disability told us about saying “no”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s hard isn’t it? Because you could lose everything, you could lose your
family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s lots of people who I know who wouldn’t be able to say no to their mums and dads.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most often families are looking for a long-term carer for their relative and as such believe they are doing the right thing. It is crucial that the rights of people with learning disabilities to marry are not thwarted where they have capacity to consent, but it’s also crucial that people are protected from harm where they do not have capacity to consent. For some families, the news that their son or daughter cannot marry will create difficulties in terms of how they are viewed by their community and so they may continue with plans to force them to marry.</p>
<p>As part of our research, we produced a <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mymarriagemychoice/">range of free resources</a> aimed at people with learning disabilities and their families, including practical guidance and tools for assessing the capacity to consent to marriage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Clawson received funding from the National Institute for Health Research, School for Social Care Research for the research mentioned in this article. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR SSCR. The research was conducted by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with colleagues at the Tizard Centre, RESPOND and Ann Craft Trust. She is a social worker registered by the Health and Care Profressionals Council. </span></em></p>The number of people with learning disabilities reported as at risk of forced marriage has risen.Rachael Clawson, Assistant Professor in Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/976352018-06-08T11:17:35Z2018-06-08T11:17:35ZForced marriage convictions are welcome but for many victims stigma is still judge and jury<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222339/original/file-20180608-191959-hoq1f2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forced marriage is still common in some cultures, but younger generations reject it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/traditional-indian-hindu-marriage-various-rituals-712827676">Rahul Ramachandram/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the four years since a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/forced-marriage-now-a-crime">change in the law</a> regarding forced marriages in England and Wales, there have been two cases where parents have been convicted of forcing their daughters to marry by taking them out of the country to their countries of origin.</p>
<p>One case, in Birmingham in May 2018, involved taking a daughter to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44211541">Pakistan</a>, the other – in Leeds, also in May 2018 – involved a couple luring their daughter to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/forced-marriage-trial-parents-guilty-daughter-bangladesh-cousin-leeds-crown-court-latest-a8374071.html">Bangladesh</a> for a forced marriage. These were the first convictions of their kind in England. In 2015, a man was jailed for forced marriage (among other offences) after a Welsh court found he had <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11665908/First-ever-forced-marriage-conviction-in-UK.html">raped and blackmailed</a> a woman into marrying him. </p>
<p>These cases are remarkable, not least for the courage demonstrated by the young survivors in speaking out. But to what extent do these judgements represent justice in the eyes of those who have survived forced marriage – and what hurdles must they overcome to obtain it?</p>
<p>Our research team at the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/research/projects/current/justiceinequality/">Centre for Gender and Violence Research</a> at the University of Bristol have researched forced marriage as part of the wider work on justice, inequality and gender-based violence. A key issue that emerged from our interviews with survivors was that those escaping forced marriage felt a strong sense of injustice, often experienced as a sense of loss of identity, and loss of belonging with their family.</p>
<p>Earlier <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/wp-content/uploads/university-of-bristol-hbv-study.pdf">research</a> drawn up for a <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/the-depths-of-dishonour/">report into honour violence</a> by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary found that survivors of forced marriage are hesitant to approach the police and seek criminal justice relief due to fear of reprisals, particularly of being ostracised by their community. </p>
<p>Yet most victims of forced marriage are coerced into the marriage by parents, siblings and wider family members through a range of physically and emotionally abusive behaviours. Most significantly there is a lack of acceptance that young women have a right to self-determination, particularly in the choice of their partner. Our current research on justice lends further weight to this – survivors we interviewed explained that the lack of acceptance by the wider community of their right to their own life was itself a form of injustice.</p>
<h2>The voices of unwilling wives</h2>
<p>One survivor was a British woman of Pakistani origin, forced into marriage with a man, in and from her country of origin, who escaped the marriage and divorced her husband, but felt that she was still treated as married by the community before she managed to obtain a religious divorce. She stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just wanted that piece of paper [divorce] because that’s the way the community see it and I want it, you know .. He’s claiming I’m his wife … you see there’s technically no divorce so he’s continuing to claim that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also felt that the community’s stigmatising of her was unfair:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was blamed, I was seen as the bad one, I was being further targeted as somehow not doing what I should do as a dutiful daughter, wife or whatever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among British Asian women, the fear of and experience of isolation was a barrier in escaping forced marriage situations. A young British woman with Bangladeshi heritage, who was forcibly taken to Bangladesh for marriage reflected on her situation at the time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My friends [in the UK] were very concerned, they didn’t know what was going on … I did write to them but I didn’t know if my letters did got sent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another British Asian woman, who had escaped a forced marriage at age 13 and is now in her 30s, has had no contact with her birth family, due to her decision to refuse the marriage.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Because I was shunned I left home, it was a choice I had to make … Because you’ve taken away my culture, my identity away from me by not allowing me to be … in contact … I couldn’t have contact with my siblings … And I think that is unfair.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Earlier <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0261018309341905">research</a> has also indicated that while there are multiple factors that lead to forced marriage, immigration plays an important role – young women living in Britain are often forced into marriage with men from their countries of origin in order to make it easier for those men to immigrate to the UK. Forced marriage survivors argued that current marriage visa policy is discriminatory and, in addition, is a form of gendered discrimination, as one British Asian woman recalled:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And now he’s even got a visa on the backing of me … he should not have a visa, he’s got that falsely, using my marriage certificate … he forced me to go in and sign papers you know … why can’t that just go even if they can’t get him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What we’ve found is that survivors of forced marriage and other forms of gender-based violence value the involvement of the police and ultimately criminal intervention. Timely response from the police at the point of crisis is particularly appreciated – and can be what prevents a young woman from being forcibly removed from the country. But the fact remains that complexity – of these women’s ethnicity and feelings of identity toward their country of origin, of immigration laws, and of their place at the heart of a family and wider community – mean that, for many, justice eludes them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article draws on 'Justice, Inequality and Gender-Based Violence project' (ESRC-funded, Grant Number ES/M010090/1; PI Professor Marianne Hester)</span></em></p>Even for those that escape, the stigma of refusing a forced marriage separates young women from their family and community.Geetanjali Gangoli, Senior Lecturer in Policy Studies, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/804872017-07-12T14:18:13Z2017-07-12T14:18:13ZNigeria won’t end kidnapping without making risks outweigh rewards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176924/original/file-20170705-5202-1aw1yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian militants patrol the oil rich Niger delta region, the birth place of commercial kidnapping in the country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Stringer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kidnapping is an ancient crime dating back to 17th century Britain when infant children of rich families would be <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kidnapping">“napped” (caught in their sleep)</a> and taken away for ransom. The first major case of kidnapping reported in the US was that of four-year old <a href="http://origins.osu.edu/article/child-kidnapping-america">Charley Brewster</a> who was lured away in Pennsylvania in 1874 by two strange men with the promise of candy and fireworks. The men later sent ransom notes to the boy’s father through the post office. His father didn’t pay, the boy was never found.</p>
<p>Kidnapping has since evolved. Today it’s a well organised and highly sophisticated crime which occurs in many parts of the world. </p>
<p>In Nigeria it has <a href="http://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RHSS/article/viewFile/11987/12311">become quite common</a>, competing with crimes such as armed robbery, piracy and cattle rustling in frequency and in violence. It has <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/for-nigeria-criminals-kidnapping-remains-lucrative-trade/2846383.html">grown rapidly</a> over the years and is now entrenched as a dominant form of organised crime in the country. </p>
<p>The benefits of kidnapping far outweigh its costs in the country. The legal frameworks of criminal justice aren’t efficient enough to sanction crime and ensure proper deterrence. Opportunistic Nigerians rationalise that the benefits outweigh the risks. This probably explains the high incidence and apparent intractability of kidnapping in the country. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/arrested-kidnapper-evans-buys-170k-wristwatch/">recent arrest</a> of Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a Evans), who has become the poster boy for kidnapping in Nigeria, has once again raised questions about what lies behind the rise in cases in the country. And what can be done about it.</p>
<h2>History of kidnapping</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.academia.edu/32278765/AN_ANALYSIS_OF_THE_CAUSES_AND_CONSEQUENCES_OF_KIDNAPPING_IN_NIGERI">Early cases of kidnappings</a> in Nigeria were abductions mainly for ritual killing, slavery and forced marriage. There were also cases where individuals were abducted during communal wars and held as bait for strategic trade-offs. These types of kidnapping have been ongoing in various places in the country for years. </p>
<p>The rise of mercantilist kidnapping – or kidnap for ransom in Nigeria – is a recent development. It began in the 1990s with the activities of Niger Delta militants who engaged in hostage taking to press their demands for fiscal federalism, resource control and environmental rights for their communities polluted by decades of oil exploration. </p>
<p>The militants, who assumed the status of activists and agitators for their region, wanted to attract attention to the plight of the region and to compel the government and oil multinationals to clean up their environment, pay compensation for years of exploitation and bring investment and development. They targeted expatriate workers of the oil firms as well as principal government functionaries for hostage taking.</p>
<p>There was a significant drop in the incidence of kidnapping in the region following the deescalation of the Niger Delta crisis at the turn of the century. By this time though, the crime was already becoming a booming franchise in nearby South-eastern Nigeria, with Abia and Anambra States as critical flash points. These states, and others in the region, became hotbeds for kidnappers who often targeted the rich and the influential for criminal economic benefit. </p>
<p>In the years that followed, kidnapping for ransom quickly spread to different parts of the country, including states like Edo, Lagos, Ogun, and some northern states of Nigeria.</p>
<p>So why is kidnapping thriving in Nigeria? There seem to be three factors driving the crime today. </p>
<p>The first is the quest for material accumulation. The <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038038506067516">second is tough socio-economic conditions</a>. And the third is a sense of fearlessness and impunity on the part of perpetrators who feel that they will get away with the crime. </p>
<p>Kidnapping typifies a tendency towards criminal economic accumulation and social advancement which thrives in societies that have the following characteristics:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>People struggle to survive because of high levels of poverty, </p></li>
<li><p>Growing social inequality and deprivation</p></li>
<li><p>The prevalence of impunity</p></li>
<li><p>A lax and inefficient criminal code</p></li>
<li><p>Weak law enforcement procedures and capabilities, and </p></li>
<li><p>An ineffective criminal justice system. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>The fall of a kidnap kingpin</h2>
<p>The media and law enforcement agencies in Nigeria refer to Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a Evans) as the <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/233708-how-arrested-kidnap-kingpin-evans-made-millions-of-dollars-from-ransom-police.html">kidnap kingpin</a>. </p>
<p>His capture has some critical implications. First, it has exposed the level of sophistication that kidnapping has reached in the country. Second, it has revealed that kidnapping syndicates, no matter how sophisticated, are not invincible. Third, it has buttressed the argument that, armed with an effective strategy, the police can control the incidence of kidnapping in the country. </p>
<p>And lastly, it’s shown that a lot needs to be done to control crime in Nigeria. </p>
<p>The arrest of Evans doesn’t signify the end of the crime. Far from it. Rather it marks the dawn of a new era in Nigeria’s anti-kidnapping crusade. This is an opportunity – which if properly exploited – can reduce the attraction of kidnapping, and help the country move towards making the crime history. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Nigeria must strengthen its laws for combating crime if it truly wants to fight and reduce kidnapping. Efforts must be made to ensure greater efficiency in the operations of the law to achieve greater impact. </p>
<p>I believe, like the American Economist Bryan Douglas Caplan <a href="http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/06/the_strange_pol.html">that</a> “the kidnapping problem is not hard to solve” and that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>kidnappers kidnap because the benefits exceed costs. The obvious solution is to raise the costs by imposing harsher, surer punishments. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To arrest the rising spate of kidnapping, Nigeria must entrench stiffer penalties. Some states have instituted the <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/evans-may-get-death-penalty-life-imprisonment-ambode-signs-bill-law/">death penalty</a> as a punishment for the crime. I believe that the death penalty can serve as a great deterrence. </p>
<p>But first efforts must be made to tackle socio-economic conditions that make kidnapping attractive such as poverty, unemployment, deprivation, inequality. After all, sustainable criminal deterrence is scarcely possible under the atmosphere of material insecurity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chukwuma Al Okoli receives funding from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) in Nigeria.</span></em></p>Tough socio-economic conditions, among others, make kidnapping a thriving business in Nigeria. A strong justice system along with stiff punishment for the crime are needed.Al Chukwuma Okoli, Lecturer/Resident Researcher Department of Political Science, Federal University LafiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618762016-07-10T16:45:31Z2016-07-10T16:45:31ZGirls should be in school – not forced into marriage by powerful men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129700/original/image-20160707-30710-7ak492.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education can change girls’ lives: an extra year of education can raise a girl’s future wages by between 10% and 20%.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Albert González Farran – Unamid/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Naisiae⁺ is 15 years old. She belongs to Kenya’s Maasai tribe, is the first born in a family of six and her father died in 2012. In 2015, the teenager from Narok County graduated from primary school with slightly below average grades. </p>
<p>Naisiae was awarded a scholarship by a local civil society organisation so that she’d be able to repeat the year at a different school, improve her grades and move on to secondary schooling.</p>
<p>But Oloibon was having none of this. He had decided that Naisiae should be his ninth wife and, because he is the community’s chief priest, he’s allowed to do what he wants. And so Oloibon, who is in his 60s, married the teenager against her and her mother’s will.</p>
<p>Naisiae’s mother was devastated. She had no power to stop Oloibon from marrying her daughter – how dare she stop the chief priest from performing his “duties” in a society that measures a man’s wealth partially by counting his wives?</p>
<p>The girl’s education is finished. Her dream of going on to university and being able to support her family one day is just a mirage. And her story, sadly, is not unusual among Africa’s pastoralist and semi-pastoralist communities.</p>
<h2>Girls’ education benefits everyone</h2>
<p>African governments and civil society organisations have made huge <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-needs-to-be-done-to-keep-child-marriages-trending-down-43419">gains</a> in ensuring that girls go to school and complete their education.</p>
<p>This, of course, has enormous benefits for both individual girls and societies at large. Programmes like the <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/adolescent-girls-initiative">Adolescent Girls Initiative</a>, which evaluates economic outcomes among girls, have proved that education and training empowers girls to venture into non-traditional, non-farm employment. In some cases, their presence has bolstered employment figures outside a country’s farming sector by <a href="http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/11/18/090224b0831c9f8e/2_0/Rendered/PDF/Partnering0for00program0report02015.pdf">more than 14%</a>.</p>
<p>Research has also shown that one extra year of education increases a girl’s <a href="http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/files/file_GirlsCount.pdf">future wages</a> by between 10% and 20%. And greater investments in girls’ education <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-03-07/the-economic-benefits-of-educating-women">raises a country’s</a> gross domestic product by close to 0.2% annually.</p>
<p>Sadly, as the story of Naisiae and Oloibon reveals, much remains to be done. In pastoralist communities particularly, girls’ lives are still entangled within a culture whose custodians happen to be men. The traditional cutting of female genitals and early marriage are far more of a priority there than a girl’s education. In Kenya, about <a href="http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/kenya/">one in every five girls</a> is out of school because of forced early marriages that were preceded by genital cutting.</p>
<p>This is not merely a Kenyan nor even just an African problem. Globally, about 60% of girls with no or less education are married by their <a href="http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures">18th birthday</a>. That’s <a href="http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures">compared with</a> 10% of their peers who’ve completed secondary education. It’s estimated that if the trend isn’t arrested now, more than <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/3/child-marriages-39000-every-day-more-than-140-million-girls-will-marry-between-2011-and-2020">140 million girls</a> will become child brides by 2020.</p>
<p>What can be done to avoid this statistic becoming a reality?</p>
<h2>Time for action</h2>
<p>In Naisiae’s case, the civil society organisation in question noticed that she did not meet the cut-off points for admission to a secondary school of her choice, visited her family and persuaded her to repeat Grade 8 at another primary school. It helped her to get a place at an academy in another faraway county near the Kenyan capital.</p>
<p>She went missing the night before she was due to report to her new school.</p>
<p>Nobody knows who colluded with Oloibon in planning this forced marriage. The civil society organisation has tried to track him down, to no avail – at the beginning of the school term in May 2016 he was apparently on “honeymoon” with his child bride at a coastal resort. The authorities don’t want to pursue the case: Oloibon is, after all, a powerful chief priest.</p>
<p>By telling Naisiae’s story, the African Population and Health Research Centre – where I work – and civil society organisations hope to push those who bear a duty into taking action.</p>
<p>In the short term, it’s time for countries’ laws to be applied. Both Kenyan and international law have declared it <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kenyalawblog/highlights-of-the-marriage-act-2014/">illegal</a> to marry someone younger than 18. Those who break the law, as Oloibon has done, must be prosecuted.</p>
<p>Another way to start reversing this terrible trend is through education – the education of men, that is. Men in pastoralist and semi-pastoralist communities need to be taught about how important girls’ education is to everyone in a society. </p>
<p>For now, we wait for news of Naisiae. It’s time for her to come home and return to school. She is a child, not some man’s wife.</p>
<p><em>⁺ Not her real name</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Moses Ngware receives funding from African Population and Health Research Center. He is affiliated with the African Population and Health Research Center.
</span></em></p>Girls’ lives are still entangled in a culture whose custodians happen to be men.Moses Ngware, Senior Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/555082016-03-11T00:15:06Z2016-03-11T00:15:06ZDespite positive steps, Australia still needs to do more to end forced marriage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114190/original/image-20160308-15302-1be3lfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The majority of people at risk of forced marriage are under 18 and female.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forced marriage was <a href="http://www.antislavery.org.au/images/stories/Factsheets/03%20-%20Forced%20Marriage.pdf">criminalised</a> three years ago in Australia. Since then, Australia has taken robust steps to respond to forced marriage by shaping legal, education and community engagement. But significant challenges remain.</p>
<h2>What is forced marriage?</h2>
<p>Forced marriage is a form of <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf">gender-based violence</a> that affects more women and girls than boys and men. </p>
<p>In Australian law, a forced marriage is where a person marries without fully and freely consenting to the marriage because of coercion, threat, deception or because he or she is “incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony”.</p>
<p>Coercion includes psychological oppression, abuse of power and taking advantage of a person’s vulnerability. The formation of full and free consent can involve <a href="http://www.mulr.com.au/issues/36_3/36_3_5.pdf">complex issues</a> of structure, cultural background, community expectations, gender inequality, and additional vulnerabilities <a href="https://www.plan.org.au/%7E/media/plan/documents/resources/plan_child_marriage_report_july_2014.pdf?la=en">associated with age</a> and unequal power relationships.</p>
<p>Since 2013, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has received notification of more than 50 possible forced marriage cases. The AFP has referred 17 people at risk of or in a forced marriage to the government-funded <a href="http://www.redcross.org.au/providing-support.aspx">Support for Trafficked People Program</a> administered by the Australian Red Cross. </p>
<p>Of the 17 referrals, the majority were young women or girls under the age of 18 who were Australian citizens or residents at the time.</p>
<p>The forced marriage offences in the Criminal Code extend to all forms of marriage. This includes cultural and religious marriages, registered relationships and marriages that take place in Australia or overseas where the person exercising the coercion, threat or deception is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. </p>
<p>The Marriage Act provides that 18 years is the marriageable age in Australia, with extremely rare exceptions. Recent reports of cultural or religious marriages involving minors resulted in a reassessment of the scope of the 2013 forced marriage offence provisions. </p>
<p>One such case involved a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/child-bride-case-man-jailed-for-marrying-12yearold-girl-in-backyard-ceremony-20150306-13xa99.html">12-year-old girl</a> in NSW who went through a non-legally sanctioned marriage to a 27-year-old man in a ceremony organised by her father. </p>
<p>The legislation was changed in late 2015 to expand the definition of forced marriage to include a rebuttable presumption that a person under the age of 16 cannot consent to the marriage.</p>
<h2>What does the research tell us?</h2>
<p>While there is little research into forced marriage, family law case reports highlight patterns of coercion and unequal power relationships. </p>
<p>In one such case, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCCA/2013/1525.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=essey">Essey & Elia</a>, Ms Elia (not her real name) made an application to the Federal Circuit Court for an order in relation to her six-year-old daughter. </p>
<p>As part of Ms Elia’s evidence to the court she described her own marriage at the age of 14 in a “non-legally sanctioned marriage ceremony”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My mother pushed me to get married. She would say to me, words to the effect, “You will have your fun. Your dad is strict. You can come and go as you please. You’ve always wanted to go out to Jamberoo and Wonderland. You get to go to movies, have popcorn, lollies, ice-cream and chocolate. You get to have fun and life. What you see of everyone having fun on the TV, this is what it is going to be like. You’re very, very lucky.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The court found that Ms Elia did not consent to the marriage. </p>
<h2>What is being done about it?</h2>
<p>Education and awareness-raising has been a major focus of the Australian government with the development of a <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/CrimeAndCorruption/HumanTrafficking/Documents/InformationAboutForcedMarriageForAgenciesCommunityOrgsAndServiceProvs.pdf">Forced Marriage Community Pack</a> and training resources for frontline government officers. </p>
<p>Community-based organisations such as the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights and the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans were funded to develop prevention strategies. Anti-Slavery Australia <a href="http://www.mybluesky.org.au">developed a website</a> on forced marriage including a national legal service.</p>
<p>The majority of those identified as at risk of forced marriage are under the age of 18 years, which raises issues of cross-jurisdictional responsibility. Child protection is primarily a state and territory responsibility. Greater co-ordination between all levels of government and service standard-setting would benefit those at risk of forced marriage.</p>
<p>Additionally, vulnerable young adults may require stronger legal protection. While the Family Law Act provides for protective orders to be made for the welfare of children, the court’s jurisdiction ceases when the child turns 18. </p>
<p>In Australia, recent cases have suggested that more needs to be done to protect young people over the age of 18 who are at risk of forced marriage. This could include broadening the Family Court’s jurisdiction or creating a system of civil protection, such as the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/2779/pdfs/uksi_20082779_en.pdf">UK Forced Marriage Protection Order</a> system. This can make a protective order on behalf of any person fearing forced marriage, regardless of their age.</p>
<p>In the last three years there have been significant steps to ensure better human rights protections for those facing forced marriage. But more needs to be done to ensure that vulnerable members of our community are protected by strong legal frameworks and better social support to promote a society in which, as the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anti-Slavery Australia receives funding from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department.</span></em></p>While some progress has been made in reducing instances of forced marriage in Australia, more needs to be done.Jennifer Burn, Professor, Faculty of Law and Director of Anti-Slavery Australia, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/433512015-06-17T13:22:38Z2015-06-17T13:22:38ZCriminalising forced marriage has not helped its victims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85367/original/image-20150617-23226-1bcdhn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another ordeal for victims of forced marriage. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the year since <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/12/part/10/enacted">forced marriage was criminalised</a> in the UK, only <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/10/34-year-old-man-first-person-to-be-convicted-under-forced-marriage-laws">one conviction</a> has taken place. In June, a 34-year-old man was jailed for forcing a 25-year-old woman to marry him under duress. Merthyr Crown Court in Wales heard that the man – who was already married to someone else – repeatedly raped his victim over a period of months, threatened to publish footage of her having a shower and told her that her parents would be killed, unless she agreed to become his wife. </p>
<p>The defendant was put on the sex offenders’ register and sentenced to 16 years in custody, to be released under an extended licence for another five years afterwards. This is an important case, which will raise questions about whether these offences – which also included rape, voyeurism and bigamy, alongside forced marriage – could have been prosecuted under the existing criminal law.</p>
<p>Before forced marriage was criminalised, the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/20/section/1">Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007</a> enabled courts to issue protection orders against those who attempt or conspire to force someone into marriage. Between November 2008 (when the act came into force) and September 2014, there were <a href="http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/03/06/how-fear-of-racism-meant-forced-marriage-went-unchallenged-i">762 applications filed for forced marriage protection orders</a>. During this same period, 785 forced marriage protection orders were issued (some of which may have been interim orders, issued during other proceedings).</p>
<p>Last year, the goverment’s Forced Marriage Unit <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412667/FMU_Stats_2014.pdf">provided support</a> and assistance for 1,267 possible cases of forced marriage. It is troubling, then, that there has been only one conviction since June last year under the 2014 act. </p>
<h2>An adversarial system</h2>
<p>Laws are only effective when properly enforced. Those who believe the new sanctions will eradicate forced marriage overlook the fact that criminal prosecutions require a high standard of proof. This standard will have a dramatic effect on the rate of successful prosecutions. </p>
<p>Failed prosecutions, and cases that do not proceed to prosecution may result in victims being discredited or shamed within their family and community, while those at fault may feel exonerated. This raises the risk that victims will suffer isolation and further abuse, because their family and community <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10901216/Outlawing-forced-marriage-will-not-work-say-campaigners.html">are likely to</a> ostracise them, or even seek revenge. </p>
<p>The adversarial British criminal justice system requires that victims and witnesses give evidence in court, and submit to being cross-examined. The rules of the court require that the prosecution must disclose all their evidence to the defence. This includes highly sensitive information gathered by the police, local authorities and other organisations when a complaint is made by a victim or information provided by a third party about a forced marriage. </p>
<p>If the case proceeds to court, the victim and any witnesses may, in some cases, face the sharing and discussion of this information in public. Apart from placing them at risk of harm, the impact of being made to participate in difficult, and often lengthy, public proceedings is likely to be significant. These practicalities demand further reflection from those who make the law. </p>
<h2>Access to justice</h2>
<p>Even if prosecution is successful, victims may still endure other challenges, and require extensive support from different services. For one thing, it’s often the case that the victims of forced marriage, and those at risk, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/aug/03/shafilea-ahmed-charity-honour-killings">need assistance</a> from specialist support services, in order to access justice in the first place. </p>
<p><a href="http://rightsofwomen.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Evidencing-DV-a-barrier-2013.pdf">Research by Rights of Women</a> reveals that many victims of forced marriage cannot afford to pay for the legal assistance they require. For instance, foreign nationals may require immigration advice and assistance, while British citizens may need advice regarding family law remedies like marriage annulments, or contact with their children.</p>
<p>Cuts to Legal Aid have had a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/sep/25/-sp-legal-aid-forgotten-pillar-welfare-state-special-report-impact-cuts">negative impact</a> on victims’ ability to obtain vital legal advice. As forced marriage cases are often extremely complex in a legal sense, it is crucial that advice is freely available to enable those in need to seek justice. And legal remedies are only one aspect of addressing forced marriage. </p>
<p>Legislation fails to address the day-to-day issues associated with protecting and supporting victims, and there have been no additional resources announced to meet these needs. This places the responsibility for supporting victims onto charities – particularly women’s charities, since the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412667/FMU_Stats_2014.pdf">vast majority of cases</a> involve female victims. </p>
<h2>The need for support</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85366/original/image-20150617-23256-ag5r93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Symbolic statue outside UN headquarters in Geneva, where Manjoo presented her report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aisha K. Gill</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rashida Manjoo – the UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women – has called for the UK government to “urgently evaluate the way women’s support services are funded and then act to ensure a network of women-centred services are available to all who need them”. In her report on violence against women in the UK, its causes and consequences – <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/newsevents/pages/displaynews.aspx?newsid=14514&">presented at</a> the United Nations on June 17, 2015 – Manjoo points out that funding for these charities often falls short. </p>
<p>Evidence <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/23/cuts-hurt-women-at-risk-of-violence">demonstrates that</a> actual and potential victims of forced marriage are far more likely to approach and trust specialist black and minority ethnic women’s services, rather than the state agencies. Yet few of these services <a href="http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/racism-blamed-decline-funding-ethnic-minority-charities/finance/article/988739">currently receive</a> adequate funding. And the limited resources available to local authorities often means that appropriate <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/03/domestic-violence-refuge-crisis-women-closure-safe-houses">accommodation is all but non-existent</a>. It is vital that these services are properly funded, <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/heather-mcrobie/austerity-and-domestic-violence-mapping-damage">even in times of austerity</a>. </p>
<p>The situation is even more urgent for the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412667/FMU_Stats_2014.pdf">11% of victims</a> who are under 16 years of age: they have little recourse to services, apart from overstretched and cash-strapped local authorities, many of whom are already <a href="http://www.safenetwork.org.uk/news_and_events/news_articles/Pages/child-sexual-abuse-cases-increase.aspx">overburdened</a> with cases of child abuse and <a href="http://www.coram.org.uk/news/children-are-becoming-homeless-due-local-authority-failures-says-children%E2%80%99s-charity-coram-voice">unable to</a> provide appropriate accommodation. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16266683">national shortage</a> of suitable foster homes, and the lack of specialist carers with appropriate training in cultural sensitivity adds to the challenges faced by victims of forced marriage. This kind of training is urgently needed to ensure that criminal and civil support systems – including child protection services – are working effectively. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the success of the stand-alone law on forced marriage will depends on how effective it proves for victims. At present, too little consideration has been paid to the practicalities of this legislation, and its effect on victims themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aisha K. Gill is Board Member of the End Violence Against Women Coalition </span></em></p>One year after new laws made forced marriage illegal, our expert reviews the progress made - or lack thereof.Aisha K. Gill, Associate Professor in Criminology, University of RoehamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/356972014-12-23T06:01:24Z2014-12-23T06:01:24ZWomen raped and enslaved by warped IS code that encourages widespread sexual abuse<p>In the late summer of 2014, the international community watched helplessly as <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/islamic-state">Islamic State</a> (IS) unleashed widespread human rights abuses against civilians across Syria and Iraq, with little standing in its way.</p>
<p>Among its actions were various forms of sexual abuse, initially directed against <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30573385">women from the Yazidi community</a> of Sinjar, but this was rapidly expanded to all women in the areas IS now controls. </p>
<p>These are not isolated outbreaks of bad behaviour by a few individuals; they are part of the sexual politics IS is deliberately implementing in all the regions under its sway. Justified by means of fatwas and radical theology, and deployed as both recruitment tools and theocratic law, the abuses are a stark and sobering example of the use of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war.</p>
<h2>Letter of the law</h2>
<p>IS’s rules on sex and women were first laid out in detail in the October 2014 issues of the group’s official journal, <a href="http://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/dabiq-strategic-messaging-islamic-state">Dabiq</a>, which is disseminated in both electronic and hard copy across northern Syria and Iraq. IS also circulated an explanatory booklet, entitled <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/12/world/meast/isis-justification-female-slaves/">Questions and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom</a>, in the larger cities and towns under its control, particularly Mosul and Raqqa. </p>
<p>First presented during Friday prayers, and distributed to the faithful outside mosques, the booklet offers a first-hand insight into IS’s new gender and sex policies.</p>
<p>It shows how IS’s leaders and propagandists have reactivated and reinterpreted a grab-bag of old legal rules and fatwas that were utilised from the Middle Ages until the 18th century. In particular, the principles they espouse have an underpinning in their interpretation of the law of war (fiqh al-harb) and laws dealing with non-Muslims living in Muslim territories. </p>
<h2>The spoils of war</h2>
<p>Under the medieval Islamic law of war, the mainstream position of theologians at the time was to consider captured women as spoils, mere booty to be treated as property. Ancient sources also emphasised the need to distinguish Muslim women from non-Muslim women, as well as differentiating married and unmarried women.</p>
<p>It was not permitted to enslave Muslim women, who were deemed free by definition. The sharia – moral code – requires their consent for sexual relations. </p>
<p>Identifying women as Muslim was relatively simple and fast: a commander would ask a “captured woman” to pronounce the Muslim profession of faith, then to recite at least three chapters (surât) of the Koran.</p>
<p>In the case of IS, which considers Shiites heretics, other tests have been added to establish whether captured women are Sunni or Shiite. Even a Muslim woman can be deemed a “concubine” or even a “slave” by IS simply because she is Shiite; only Sunni women are considered truly Muslim and therefore protected at all from sexual enslavement. </p>
<h2>Virgins in paradise</h2>
<p>In IS’s jihadist mindset, women’s virginity offers obvious advantages to men – in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5">some literalist interpretations</a>, the Koran promises “houris” (virgins) for Muslim men after death, especially if the death occurs on the “jihad path” to Allah.</p>
<p>A “quest for virginity” has led IS fighters to seek sex with <a href="http://rt.com/news/213615-isis-sex-slave-children/">increasingly young girls</a>, sometimes barely at the age of adolescence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67934/original/image-20141222-15646-1x3wgq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yazidi women in a refugee camp in Northern Iraq.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.epa.eu/politics-photos/refugees-photos/yazidi-refugee-camp-photos-51526355">EPA/STR</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, relations with non-Muslim women in IS-controlled territories are managed by giving them a status called “dhimma”, which literally means “protection”. Since the beginning of Islam, non-Muslims have been considered “dhimmis”, literally “protected residents” – but within IS’s theological system, dhimmi women can be used for a man’s own sexual pleasure or sold on the female slave market.</p>
<p>Many jihadist groups believe that the more non-Muslim women they capture, the more “points” they earn for faster passage to paradise; indeed, they see the action of converting a non-Muslim woman to Islam as the best possible guarantee for entry into heaven. Unsurprisingly, this can lead to forced conversions, forced marriage and rape.</p>
<h2>Do this, not that</h2>
<p>Over the past few months, the “theologians” of IS have attempted to clarify these practices by issuing a number of fatwas meant to guide fighters’ sexual practices in the field.</p>
<p>Examples include the pronouncement that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/12/12/the-islamic-state-issues-guide-on-when-its-okay-to-beat-your-sex-slave/">a “captive woman” may be beaten</a> to instill discipline, but that she may not be beaten “for the sake of pleasure” of her master. </p>
<p>There are also numerous legal statements and fatwas about the “types of unions” that are lawful to contract with a Muslim women, as well as with respect to the practical arrangements to “break the union” (divorce, repudiation, abandonment).</p>
<p>IS has issued a number of “theological innovations”, especially designed to attract and recruit increased numbers of young fighters and supporters. One of its most effective moves was to authorise the “distance marriage”, which involves a young woman and man uniting religiously and remotely over the internet. </p>
<p>This has attracted many candidates, male and female, originating mainly from European countries. It has also assisted IS with facilitating and accelerating the process of conversion of non-Muslim men, as, according to Islamic Law, it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to marry or to have sex with a non-Muslim man, while the opposite is permissible for a Muslim man. </p>
<h2>Thriving</h2>
<p>These new rules have helped IS to both attract new candidates and supporters while strictly controlling the sexuality and intimate lives of its fighters and followers.</p>
<p>As I have found in my <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/f24-interview/20140714-sex-sharia-taboos-arab-world-spring/">research</a>, many sexually frustrated young men have joined the ranks of IS. The organisation facilities relations between the sexes and provides them an allegedly Islamic frame within which having “sex” – at least in very specific theologically defined circumstances that favour men and enslave almost all women – is not shameful or sinful. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, these practices and theologies are spreading to other continents. Following the example of IS, Nigeria’s Boko Haram has also <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/08/nigeria-rejects-boko-haram-caliphate-claim-20148251062176395.html">declared a Caliphate</a>, and invoking the same theological justifications to subject abducted and captured women to a perverse sexual order.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, despite protests from Muslim religious authorities <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/12/muslim-leader-condemns-islamic-state_n_5671572.html">around the world</a>, most of whom consider these practices un-Islamic abuses of theology, IS and its ilk continue to thrive – and their abusive, mysogynistic sexual order along with them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathieu Guidère does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the late summer of 2014, the international community watched helplessly as Islamic State (IS) unleashed widespread human rights abuses against civilians across Syria and Iraq, with little standing in…Mathieu Guidère, Professor of Middle-Eastern and Islamic Studies, Université Toulouse – Jean JaurèsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/327492014-10-10T14:39:14Z2014-10-10T14:39:14ZNobel Peace Prize win for Malala and Kailash is a beacon of hope for children’s rights<p>In a celebration of the rights of children, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2014-nobel-peace-prize-2014-10">2014 Nobel Prize for Peace</a> has been awarded to <a href="https://theconversation.com/malala-pens-and-books-can-defeat-terrorism-17853">Malala Yousafzai</a>, shot by the Taliban for going to school in Pakistan, and <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/who-is-kailash-satyarthi/1/395118.html">Kailash Satyarthi</a>, who has been campaigning against child labour in India for more than 20 years.</p>
<p>Announcing the award, committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland described it as a recognition of “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.</p>
<p>Coming the day before <a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/">International Day of the Girl Child</a>, the committee’s recognition of that struggle is an opportunity to reflect on a number of recent incidents – such as the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-bring-back-our-girls.html">mass abduction of nearly 300 adolescent school girls</a> from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram – that have highlighted the plight of adolescent girls in many parts of the world.</p>
<p>Development practitioners and donors are more than ever convinced that <a href="https://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/no-ceilings-full-participation-project">increasing opportunities, skills and resources for women and girls</a> will lead to measurable improvements across a wide range of development indicators and for all people, irrespective of their gender. The running assumption is that targeting adolescent girls is one of the most effective strategies available to achieve wider developmental outcomes. </p>
<p>In line with this thinking, myriad interventions around the world are being designed and trialled to specifically target the plight of adolescent girls.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61398/original/w756frjy-1412941362.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">…and her co-laureate, Kailash Satyarthi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/agenciasenado/10170090184/in/photolist-8CA4W6-a5JKiq-8CHJQT-9nQPvG-2Pvmi-guHDgr-guGnuu-guGk5Q-guGobE-guGfTU-guGkd5-8xjoZk-9mtfR3">Senado Federal via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But as the number of effective and successful adolescent development programmes multiplies, we are also likely to see an increasing number of contradictions in development indicators. We can expect opportunities and skills for women to improve noticeably in some areas – but they will also be constrained and circumvented in others.</p>
<h2>Two steps forward…</h2>
<p>The reason is that the lives of girls in patriarchal societies are defined and constrained by multiple norms, regarding education, marriage, childbearing, employment, and so on. That means that a “successful” change in one aspect of their lives (such as better access to schooling) need not automatically lead to changes in norms relating to, say, their marriage or employment.</p>
<p>A great example of this effect is the <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/IDA/0,,contentMDK:21227882%7EmenuPK:3266877%7EpagePK:51236175%7EpiPK:437394%7EtheSitePK:73154,00.html">female secondary school stipend programme in Bangladesh</a>, introduced in the 1990s to give girls incentives to remain in school for longer. Its introduction made it normal and acceptable for girls in rural Bangladesh to attend secondary school, a practice that previously was widely frowned-upon and resisted in more conservative communities.</p>
<p>Since the programme began, female secondary school enrolment has risen dramatically in Bangladesh, <a href="http://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Asadullah-Et-Al-2014-Working-Paper.pdf">overtaking the level attained in neighbouring Pakistan</a> and <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v45y2009i8p1360-1380.html">achieving parity with the male enrolment rate</a>, a goal which still eludes India. So far so good – and yet, Bangladesh remains one of the countries with the <a href="http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf">highest rates of child marriage</a> in the world.</p>
<p>While parents in rural Bangladesh are much more likely to send their adolescent daughters to school today than they were 20 years ago, a good marriage proposal can still bring an end to their schooling experience. The schooling norm has changed – but only to the extent that it does not conflict with the early marriage norm.</p>
<p>We have just completed a <a href="http://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/news/2013/AusAID-grant.html">nationwide survey of more than 6,000 women in Bangladesh</a>, funded by the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and we found that more than 60% of women between the ages 20 to 24 were married by age of 18 – little has changed from figures reported over the past 15 years. Nearly three out of every four who were married by 18 reported in our survey that parental pressure was the main reason for their early marriage.</p>
<p>During the survey, we travelled to the industrial city of Naranganj and met Rebeka, whose life story epitomises how strong entrenched gender norms remain – even as educational and work opportunities are expanding rapidly for Bangladesh’s women. </p>
<h2>Work to be done</h2>
<p>The youngest of seven children of a small farmer, Rebeka was forced into an early marriage, arranged by a distant relative, after just two years of schooling. She first came to Naranganj 12 years ago, and initially found work in the ready-made garment factories that export cheap clothing worldwide. But her husband disapproved of the work environment – and, as she put it: “People would say bad things’ about her working in a factory”. She quit her job after six months.</p>
<p>The social pressure she experienced while working in the garment sector has shaped her perception of it. Rebeka told us she would never allow her daughter to work there, even though the sector employs more than <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/bangladeshs-chance-to-get-it-right/">3m workers</a>, mostly women, and provides one of Bangladesh’s fastest-growing exports.</p>
<p>Rebeka’s life experiences in Narayanganj might seem far removed from the violent examples mentioned above. But just as Boko Haram’s kidnappings in Nigeria and the Taliban’s actions in the Swat valley in Pakistan drew the world’s attention to the strength and organisation of these radical groups, they should also remind us that archaic and powerful gender norms can lurk in the shadows – even in a world where opportunities for adolescent girls are opening up like never before. </p>
<p>Traditional views of the role of women continue to shape their life choices regarding education, marriage and employment, even though opportunities may have improved significantly compared to those of the previous generation.</p>
<p>The implication is that if we really want to improve the quality of life for adolescent girls in developing countries, we need a multi-pronged approach; we need programmes designed specifically to improve access to schooling, to discourage early marriage and childbearing, to help women develop income-generating skills, to improve security and safety in public spaces and workplaces and to change norms that make domestic violence socially acceptable.</p>
<p>Programmes and policies that focus on just one of these goals at the exclusion of others will fail to make a comprehensive difference in the lives of adolescent girls. Malala and Satyarthi have been deservedly recognised – but the struggle goes on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zaki Wahhaj receives funding from the Australian Development Research Award Scheme (ADRAS) for a project on 'The Role of Secondary Schooling and Gender Norms in the Long-term Opportunities and Choices of Rural Bangladeshi Women’.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>M Niaz Asadullah receives funding from the Australian Development Research Award Scheme (ADRAS) for a project on 'The Role of Secondary Schooling and Gender Norms in the Long-term Opportunities and Choices of Rural Bangladeshi Women’.</span></em></p>In a celebration of the rights of children, the 2014 Nobel Prize for Peace has been awarded to Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for going to school in Pakistan, and Kailash Satyarthi, who has been…Zaki Wahhaj, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of KentM Niaz Asadullah, Professor of Development Economics, University of MalayaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305432014-08-19T12:15:59Z2014-08-19T12:15:59ZCampaign against FGM exposes how differently we view our own obsessions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56599/original/rj8m7m4q-1408095439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C144%2C3208%2C2281&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are we being two-faced?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-210217876/stock-photo-woman-behind-the-mask-before-and-after-makeup.html?src=SZ0HkYcUh605HiYa277U3g-1-10">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Both forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are deemed to be human rights issues, and as such, should be universally applied. From such a viewpoint, they are simply wrong – legally and morally – and where they involve children or minors, they are a form of child abuse.</p>
<p>That <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014">so much attention</a> is now being placed on FGM and forced marriage is good news. But we cannot escape the possibility that there is a certain level of hypocrisy in the UK government’s drive. For one thing, child marriage is still, technically, legal in the UK; the minimum age to enter into a marriage in England and Wales is 16 and <a href="http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/briefings/definition_of_a_child_wda59396.html#law">in the eyes of the law</a>, at this age you are still considered a child. This is why if you want to marry at this age you need parental consent. So while the government champions the end of child marriage abroad, it actually remains legal for children between 16 and 18 to marry in the UK, under certain conditions. </p>
<p>The government has also highlighted the issue of forced marriage, which is often a complex one. For instance, arranged and forced marriage are sometimes conflated because it can be difficult to separate the two, given the family pressures that some girls are placed under. Most Westerners find “arranged” marriage difficult to comprehend, brought up in a culture which deems romantic love and choice of partner the paramount criteria for marriage. Yet it is crucial that we preserve the distinction between something that is arranged, to which the parties consent willingly, and a marriage which is imposed, most usually on girls but sometimes also on boys.</p>
<p>As an anthropologist who has lived and worked for many years in India where arranged marriages are the norm, I am aware that they can often be highly affectionate. People there often say “love comes after marriage, not before”, while the divorce rates in the West show that romantic love is not always forever.</p>
<p>Another point of hypocrisy is the idea that “we” would never carry out FGM. Yet clitoridectomy was practised in 19th and early 20th-century Britain and America <a href="http://jezebel.com/5914350/vibrators-and-clitoridectomies-how-victorian-doctors-took-control-of-womens-orgasms">as a way of</a> reducing female masturbation, hysteria and mental illness. Genital surgery is arguably also still being conducted, albeit in somewhat different forms and because of different societal pressures, by plastic surgeons up and down the country. </p>
<h2>Cultural relativism</h2>
<p>FGM was <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/38/contents">first outlawed in the UK</a> in 1985. The act that brought this into force has since been followed up by other pieces of legislation including the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003. Yet despite being illegal for almost 30 years, there have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-letting-down-victims-of-female-genital-mutilation-14867">very few prosecutions</a> – <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-first-fgm-prosecution-is-all-too-politically-convenient-25511">one</a> to be exact.</p>
<p>On the whole, the attitude of officialdom has been to turn a blind eye to FGM practises on the grounds that they are part of particular cultures and identity. In comparison, in France, where FGM is also illegal, authorities have been much more robust, and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/convictions-for-female-genital-mutilation-france-100-uk-nil-8722934.html">around 100 convictions</a> have been achieved. In the UK, it is thought all too often that condemning these acts carries the risk of a charge of racism, resulting in a widespread position of cultural relativism, which says: “It’s their culture, isn’t it?” Such a stance applies not only to FGM but to other cultural practises around women’s rights. </p>
<p>However, while such a concern appears to have been fairly pervasive among social workers, teachers, medical staff and even the police, this attitude now appears to be increasingly deemed unacceptable, as well as unlawful, in.</p>
<p>Humans are often quick to spot and condemn differences in others. It’s a way of saying who “we” are by highlighting what others do differently, in other words of constructing social boundaries.</p>
<p>So when it comes to FGM, “we do not practise it” is a good example of this boundary making. But it might be salutary to reflect that we used to and that we might still do in different ways.</p>
<h2>A shift in perspective</h2>
<p>If Victorian culture repressed sexuality, especially female sexuality, modern culture is saturated with it and women today suffer considerable anxiety about their bodies. So now we find plastic surgery being used to “improve” women’s genitalia. Curiously (or not, depending on your viewpoint) the World Health Organisation does not include cosmetic procedures such as labiaplasty (reduction of the inner labia), vaginoplasty (tightening of the vaginal muscles) and clitoral hood reduction as examples of FGM.</p>
<p>Accordingly, it can be argued that there is a double standard here, with girls and women subject to FGM being viewed always as victims, while Western women <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/pornography-linked-to-huge-rise-in-plastic-surgery-for-women-2342749.html">seeking cosmetic genital surgery</a> – so-called “designer vaginas” – are exercising their right to control their own bodies. In both instances, there are considerable societal pressures to conform to a particular standard of bodily acceptability. </p>
<p>While both national and international law view FGM as a form of violence against girls and women, one cannot help wondering why other forms get less discussion in the UK: domestic violence remains a major problem and there are few convictions, while rape and sexual assault are also prevalent but few perpetrators – <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/rape-convictions-myths-why-so-low-england">here</a> and <a href="https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates">the US</a>, for example – are found guilty and punished. </p>
<p>So while we may wish to support policies which aim to rid the UK of practices which affect girls and women negatively and which are deemed both unacceptable and illegal, we must ask why have these particular ones been picked out by the government? Is it a way of “othering” different cultures, and deflecting attention away from the hard work that still needs to be done to achieve gender equality in the UK? </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pat Caplan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Both forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are deemed to be human rights issues, and as such, should be universally applied. From such a viewpoint, they are simply wrong – legally and morally…Pat Caplan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/178272013-10-19T07:05:05Z2013-10-19T07:05:05ZPutting an end to forced marriage in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31450/original/7j6pp4wc-1379393579.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recent cases show Australia is not immune to forced marriage practices.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anti-slavery Australia.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to Human Rights Watch, <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights">14 million girls</a> are married, worldwide, each year - with some as young as eight or nine. While early and forced marriage appears most prevalent in countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, several recent cases have shown Australia is not immune to the practise.</p>
<p>If the global trend continues, Human Rights Watch <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights">estimates</a> that 142 million children will be married by 2020. </p>
<h2>Snapshot of Australia</h2>
<p>There is no Australian research on the prevalence of forced marriage but the issue was brought to the fore following several recent high-profile family court cases. </p>
<p>A 2010 case involving a 13 year-old Victorian girl began when her school alerted the state’s child protection service that she was not attending school. The school suggested the girl’s absence may be due to her parents preparing her for marriage to a fiance they had chosen for her – a 17 year-old living overseas. </p>
<p>Consequently, the Department of Human Services initiated proceedings in the Family Court that eventually resulted in the court ordering the girl not be removed from Australia before she turned 18. The court also <a href="http://www.familycourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/resources/file/ebac534c405d5c6/Family%20Court%20Bulletin_December2010_rtf.htm">ordered</a> that her passport be surrendered, that her parents be restrained from applying for another passport on her behalf and that her name be placed on the Australian Federal Police watchlist until her 18th birthday. </p>
<p>The next year, another <a href="http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/content.php?pid=316240&sid=2587941">prominent case</a> came before the family court. The girl (known as Ms Kreet) had just finished year 12 and had a boyfriend (known as “Mr U”) who lived in Australia. Ms Kreet’s parents told her she was to travel to their home country to marry Mr U there. But they deceived her and had another man in mind. </p>
<p>The court heard that on arrival, Ms Kreet was introduced to the man her parents had secretly chosen to be her husband. Her father told Ms Kreet that if she did not acquiesce to the marriage, he would have her boyfriend’s sisters and mother kidnapped and raped. Ms Kreet consented and the marriage took place. </p>
<p>But when Ms Kreet returned to Australia, she withdrew a visa application for her husband and applied to the Family Court for an annulment. </p>
<p>The court accepted that Ms Kreet believed that her father would carry out his threat and said that at the time of the marriage ceremony, Ms Kreet’s consent was not real because it had been obtained through duress. The court declared that the marriage was not a valid marriage and that the marriage was void.</p>
<h2>Australian law reform</h2>
<p>The latter case illustrates how coercion can overbear full and free consent to a marriage. When deciding Ms Kreet’s case, Judge Cronin concluded:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If a cultural practice relating to a marriage gives rise to the overbearing of a mind and will so that it is not a true consent, the cultural practice must give way. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Acknowledging emerging concerns about forced marriage in Australia, the Commonwealth government released a <a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Documents/Consultationonforcedandservilemarriage/Discussion%20Paper%20for%20Public%20Release%20forced%20and%20servile%20marriage.pdf">discussion paper on forced and servile marriage in Australia</a> in 2010 and called for submissions from community groups to inform potential reform. </p>
<p>Then, on March 8 this year, <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2013A00006">legislation passed</a> to specifically outlaw the practice. The amendment created new offences relating to slavery and slave-like practices including forced marriage. </p>
<p>Under the Act, a marriage is a forced marriage if – because of the use of coercion, threat or deception – one party to the marriage entered into the marriage without freely and fully consenting.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>Since the new law came into effect, there has been considerable community interest in the area of forced marriage; engagement in outreach and writing multilingual materials to raise awareness of the law. </p>
<p>In one such innovative program, the Victorian Immigrant Refugee Women’s Coalition (VIRWC) designed a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/push-to-train-teachers-to-help-deter-forced-marriages-20130903-2t39n.html">new campaign</a> for high school students called The Choice is Yours. The coalition is calling for training about the indicators of forced marriage among teachers, doctors and community workers.</p>
<p>The law is one part of a holistic and effective social response. But it’s also essential that comprehensive support services for those in forced marriage are available and that resources are put into community-based services and education to explain the law. </p>
<p>In the 2010 case, the court had the power to prevent the girl leaving Australia, but such protective powers cease when the person turns 18. In the United Kingdom, civil protection orders are available regardless of the age of the applicant. </p>
<p>This would be the next step to ensure those in forced marriage have all the support they need and can choose the extent that they wish to engage in legal processes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Burn is director of Anti-Slavery Australia, which has received an Australian government grant to develop an e-learning training program about slavery and slavery-like practices including forced marriage.</span></em></p>According to Human Rights Watch, 14 million girls are married, worldwide, each year - with some as young as eight or nine. While early and forced marriage appears most prevalent in countries of Africa…Jennifer Burn, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Director of Anti-Slavery Australia, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.