Many British girls of Bangladeshi descent are being forced into marriage in their country of origin to sponsor men to enter the UK on spouse visas.
Rubie Marie, who was born and grew up in Wales, has spoken out about how she was “dressed up like a doll” on a visit to Bangladesh during her school holidays in 1998 as her uncle took bids from men who wanted to marry the 15-year-old for a British visa.
“When I go back to my old community I see this is still happening. Young girls are married off and then trapped because it’s too easy for the man to come over,” said Marie, who was able to escape her forced marriage.
Her story emerged as the UK government came under fire on Thursday for allowing many foreign nationals to enter the country despite concerns that they had forced British women into marriage for a visa.
An investigation by ‘The Times’ newspaper found that dozens of women who were sent overseas to mostly South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and India to marry tried to block visas for their new “husbands”. However, according to records uncovered by the newspaper, of the 88 cases in which victims wanted to block visas, 42 were still granted by the UK Home Office despite attempts to prevent them.
While charities working with victims of forced marriage have accused the government of “turning a blind eye” to the exploitation of British women, the UK Home Office “categorically denies” the allegation.
“Even when officials know it’s a forced marriage, they see tradition, culture or religion and they’re reticent to deal with it. They are turning a blind eye,” said Jasvinder Sanghera, herself a former forced marriage victim who set up Karma Nirvana charity to help other victims.
Laws making it illegal to force someone into marriage in England and Wales were introduced in 2014 and anything found guilty of the crime can be jailed for up to seven years. There have so far been two convictions under this law, including a Bangladeshi-origin couple from Leeds who were jailed for a total of eight years for forcing their daughter into marriage with a first cousin and a British Pakistani mother was jailed for forcing her daughter to marry a relative almost twice her age earlier this year.
According to the UK government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), the four countries with the highest number of cases of British nationals being forced into a marriage against their will last year were Pakistan (439), Bangladesh (129), Somalia (91) and India (82).
Charity workers have revealed that many of the victims are made to stay overseas until they become pregnant and returned home to give birth because a child is believed to strengthen the foreign spouse’s visa application. Their husbands then apply to join them in the UK, using visas sponsored by the British family. Women can apply to block the visas but have to sign a public statement to the effect, something the charities warn results in many cases going unreported.
The Home Office said that the UK was a world leader in tackling the “horrendous crime of forced marriage”.
A spokesperson said: “Work to combat it is an integral part of our cross-government violence against women and girls strategy, published in March 2016.
“We take our safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. If an individual refuses to act as the sponsor for a visa application then under the immigration rules, that visa should not be issued.
“There are a number of reasons why cases are referred to the forced marriage unit, not all of which are the result of a reluctant sponsor getting in contact. In some cases it will be decided, following inquiries, that no further action is necessary and a visa will be issued.”