Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson described forced marriages in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community as a "despicable, inhuman and an uncivilised practice" after Nahamu - a Jewish counter-extremism charity group - issued a report calling, among other things, for a ban on marriages for those under 18.
The report called on the British government to "ensure that education around forced marriage will be included in mandatory relationship and sex education", and to bring criminal prosecutions against those conducting only religious ceremonies, especially for children under 18 years old, the Jewish Telegraph reported.
Our position paper on forced marriage is here https://t.co/NiLAmAH1YY
— Project Nahamu (@PNahamu) February 9, 2021
Nahamu founder Yehudis Fletcher said that while many arranged marriages “bring love and joy to families”, forced marriage is forbidden under Jewish law and a criminal offence.
Boris Johnson has rightly condemned forced marriage – there is no ambiguity inhis statement. We condemn all coercive practices that fly in the face of the liberty that allcitizens should enjoy.https://t.co/AhoqslQLFv
— Project Nahamu (@PNahamu) February 12, 2021
“We want to ensure that everyone partaking in an arranged marriage has the full capacity to consent to it, so that there is no coercion or force,” Fletcher added.
Reacting to the report, a spokesman for the British prime minister told the Jewish Telegraph that forced marriages have "no place whatsoever in Britain or anywhere in the world".
"There have been significant steps since 2010 to tackle the despicable practice and the government has already significantly strengthened the law on forced marriage, and introduced lifelong anonymity for victims,” he added.