"Teachers, social workers, women’s rights groups and local councils may be given the power to stop forced marriages, under government plans to protect vulnerable teenagers.

Ministers are preparing a list of third parties who would have the authority to go to court to try to prevent families from forcing children into marriage in Britain and abroad.

Eighty-five per cent of victims of forced marriages are women, most are aged 15-24, 90 per cent are Muslim and 90 per cent are of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage.

The plan is aimed at helping those who are too young, too unwilling or too frightened to go to court to stop their families from marrying them out.

...............In conjunction with the introduction of the forced marriage protection order, the Home Office plans to raise from 18 years to 21 the minimum age at which someone can sponsor a spouse or be brought to the UK as a spouse.

The Home Office has also outlined a plan that would allow young men and women who were sponsoring a foreigner’s trip to Britain for the purpose of marriage to make a confidential statement about the motives for the visa application. This would give the sponsor the chance to express reservations and allow immigration authorities to turn down a visa without other members of the family being alienated. ...................an application for a forced marriage protection order can be made by an “interested party” such as a teacher. "

TheOPINIONATOR continued:

So what is the response of the of so called "moderate muslims" that we are repeatedly told live amongst us? Aren't they pleased that the government and social organisations could prevent the needless suffering of a young muslim woman being forced into marriage?

Muslim leaders have given warning against “malicious” intervention by third parties into legitimate arranged marriages.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has welcomed plans to allow third parties to take legal steps to protect young people from being forced to marry a person. But it has urged the Government to ensure that cultural norms are safeguarded. Those given the new powers should receive training, the council said.

Muslims and other minority groups in Britain with a tradition of arranged marriage say that the issue is not one of faith, but of culture. Arranged marriages have long been practised in the East and among many religious groups, including some Orthodox Jews. The wide variety of practice ranges from introductions offered by relatives or others in the community to a mutually agreed union between strangers, sometimes from different countries. Forced marriage has totally different connotations.

Reefat Drabu, of the MCB’s family affairs committee, said that as marriage without consent was illegal in Islam, measures to prevent it were “a positive step. But to empower a third party to act on behalf of young people must carry accountability and responsibility. That third person must be aware of what is forced marriage and be aware of the general nuances of the culture.”

TheOPINIONATOR final comment:

Interesting that the immediate response was seeing any intervention into forced marriage as "malicious" - which of course was later tempered with demands that anyone who could point a finger at a forced marriage be inculcated into muslim culture and Sharia Law - Well now - who does that really help and isn't that just another avenue into spreading Islam into the UK non-islamic population? What they really want is a Sharia law court to be set up to deal with forced marriage issues. (pity the "complainers" if that happens)

I find it sickening that muslims wave the banner of cultural sensitivity when it comes to THEIR religion, the ideology of Islam and Sharia law yet expect Christians and other religions and the British culture to distort themselves to comply with muslims demands - or muslims play the Islamophobia and "I am offended" rattrap along with mass protests and riots in our streets.