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Study claims '4,000 forced marriages in UK every year'

11/03/2008

The number of women forced into marriage per year in the UK could be as high as 4,000, a study has claimed.

Previous government estimates stated the figure stood at around 300 but a new report published today claims the official number is dramatically higher.

The study carried out by Dr Nazia Khanum and set up Labour MP and Commons home affairs select committee member Margaret Moran focused on the Luton area.

Ms Moran criticised the government's official national statistics, calling them "woefully inadequate".

"This report is living proof that the government's figures on forced marriage are woefully inadequate," she said.

"If you multiply the statistics up and down the country, we're talking about 3-4,000 cases per year rather than 300.

"This is the only study in the while of the UK that uses research at a local level, presenting cases as they occur in a community... the results are startling."

Concerns have been raised recently regarding the number of children disappearing from schools with fears rising that many have been forced into marriages against their will.

Baroness Warsi, Conservative shadow minister for community cohesion and social action, called for forced marriages to be treated as a crime.

"As a society we draw a line in the sand," she said in an interview on GMTV.

"This is not a culturally sensitive issue, this is an abhorrent act which we must stand together on."

The home affairs select committee is expected to report on forced marriages and domestic violence in two months time.