Government ministers are considering raising the minimum age for marriage in England and Wales from 16, as the phenomenon of children from minority communities being taken abroad for forced weddings intensifies. Equalities minister Baroness Williams of Trafford and the Home Secretary Sajid Javid are among those working on fighting abuse of minors, which takes many forms but can include forced marriage in ancestral homelands for young British residents
It is naive to think that raising the minimum age of marriage will have any significant effect on forced child marriage, which is considered to be an acceptable practice in keeping with Islamic teachings. Last month, a British police officer asked if it as “acceptable for an Iraqi man to date a 12-year-old girl because he wanted to be ‘culturally sensitive.'” Difficult to imagine a police officer asking such a question about paedophilia.
One wonders what the UK could have possibly expected with its wide-open borders, except the importation of normative Islamic practices that it is ill-prepared to contend with. The UK has a long way to go to correct its many colossal mistakes in dealing with this problem, beginning with scrapping Sharia courts, which operate beyond the reach of British law, managing its borders, and restoring free speech and the equality of rights of all people before the law.
“UK Could Raise Marriage Age to 18 to Tackle Forced Weddings,” by Oliver JJ Lane, Breitbart, September 6, 2018:
Government ministers are considering raising the minimum age for marriage in England and Wales from 16, as the phenomenon of children from minority communities being taken abroad for forced weddings intensifies.
Equalities minister Baroness Williams of Trafford and the Home Secretary Sajid Javid are among those working on fighting abuse of minors, which takes many forms but can include forced marriage in ancestral homelands for young British residents, reports The Times.
Normally the marriage age is 18, but 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to marry with parents’ consent — an important loophole because many forced marriage cases involve family pressure, and the consent of a parent. The newspaper report claims the issue is of particular interest to campaigners now because “the forced marriages of teenagers in Asian communities are often perpetrated by parents”.
Speaking at a House of Lords committee Wednesday, Baroness Williams responded to whether the government would review the law to make it easier to tackle forced marriages, saying: “I will certainly bring that point back because [it] is absolutely right to be concerned about it.”…
Ric says
One has difficulty believing the Teresa May government has the chutzpah to oppose Sharia Law. The mollycoddling, weak-kneed May and company has succumbed to Sharia underfoot of their Islamist masters. It has little likelihood of succeeding, and enforcement of the law fruitless. Moreover, the fascist government and it Gestapo are overloaded chasing down Islamophobes, not Jihad terrorists or Muslim pedophile gangs nor those marrying children.
Andy says
TREASON MAY has to be kicked out!!!
Brexiteers protest May’s betrayal at Westminster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlAqnER7y0Q
Susan B says
Putting a law in place does not mean that it will be enforced. This may be a ploy to make the Brits think that something is being done. We all know that mohammedans are above the law.
roberta says
+1 Just that simple.
StellaSaidSo says
You nailed it, Susan B.
I once had a leftie politician tell me that FGM can’t happen here in Australia, ‘because it’s illegal’. I asked her ‘Have you ever had a speeding ticket?’ She looked blank for a moment, then the penny dropped, and she got very angry and terminated the interview. The same politician had earlier been quoted in the local press, claiming that Muslim women are not oppressed.
gravenimage says
Crazy, Stella. She is definitely in denial.
John says
Just keep these barbaric SAVAGES out of Civilisation and the problem is Solved, Prevention is better than trying to find a half hearted cure.
gravenimage says
Agreed, John.
Buraq says
Raising the minimum age for marriage will only apply to secular law. Sajid Javid knows that well! He also knows that most people will not understand that Islamic law is considered superior to secular law among Muslim communities. He has even recently said that he will investigate the ‘cultural markers’ that led to the rape of infidel girls on an industrial scale in Britain by Pakistani Muslims. So, Islam is let off the hook every time by this guy.
StellaSaidSo says
WELL SAID, Buraq.
Javid is no more to be trusted than his diminutive little pal in the Mayor’s office.
Cicero says
Hear hear !
gravenimage says
True, Buraq and Stella.
Bev says
What, the Brits don’t like 3 yr olds being married to old men.
Tom says
The laws can be changed to reflect an older age of consent for marriage but if there is no will to enforce such laws and if the police are afraid to challenge or question those from other cultures who blatently ignore the law, what is the point?
Laws must be enforceable or the government that passes them loses credibility with the public. Although it would be difficult for the May government to become any less credible than they currently are.
Only public pressure demanding enforcement of a contentious law will force some action by an otherwise wilfully ignorant government and a timid police force.
The Tommy Robinson affair and his motivation of the public outcry on Muslim grooming gangs is a perfect example of the result of laws that would otherwise have gone unenforced and perpetrators allowed to remain free to victimize young children. It was only Tommy’s persistence in calling out police inaction that prompted the government to order them to act.
The public has a huge role to play in ensuring oversight on how the police do their job and how government is held accountable.
Government wants apathetic citizens who say and do nothing to ensure their society runs well.
Mike says
Aren’t FORCED marriages already illegal? What will this change?
gravenimage says
Another law that is not being enforced.
Phil Copson says
If they won’t protect helpless children from genital mutilation, then there is no point at which they will enforce the law.
It pointless to pass laws that you have no intention of enforcing – it simply brings the entire institution into contempt and causes more – not less – lawbreaking.
As the Victorian clergyman William Ralph Inge pointed out: “It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.”
Marina says
When we will hear the good news that Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller have been invited to Britain and allowed to speak then I will believe that Britain might be doing something against the pisslims.
R Russell says
And Scotland? Have any changes to be made there?
gravenimage says
The UK includes Scotland.
StellaSaidSo says
@gravenimage
The UK does indeed ‘include Scotland’, and Scotland has MPs at Westminster, and MEPs in Brussels.
But Scotland also has its own Parliament, a devolved unicameral legislature with authority over domestic policy. The head of the Scottish government is not the UK PM, but the First Minister of Scotland (currently Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP).
It is therefore entirely reasonable for R Russell to enquire as to whether a different decision in relation to consent laws might apply in Scotland.
gravenimage says
I was in no way implying that R Russell’s question was not reasonable.
More here on whether this would be UK wide, including Scotland (or not):
https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/06/minimum-age-for-marriage-in-uk-should-be-raised-to-18-mp-says-7919107/
Right now, it seems unclear.
StellaSaidSo says
@ GI
It is fairly obvious that ‘The UK includes Scotland’ was intended to impart the message that what applied in UK also applied in Scotland. Which is not necessarily the case, as I explained. Had you known this, you would have realised that R Russell knew it too, and you could have avoided embarrassing yourself.
No Muzzies Here says
It won’t make any difference. They’ll just go ahead and impregnate them anyway, and the taxpayers will be paying the bill for the babies.
gravenimage says
UK considering raising minimum age of marriage to stop forced child marriage
…………………..
One could argue that the minimum should be 18 instead of 16–meanwhile, Muslims will continue marrying grade school girls. In terms of *actual* child marriage, this move is immaterial.
Muslims are not marrying children because of Britain’s laws, but *in spite of them*.
Michael Copeland says
“If you are a practicing muslim you are above the law of the land” –
Mustapha Carroll
CAIR Dallas
Jonny says
Even if you introduce a law into the U.K. to raise the age of marriage to 18 how do you enforce it? Underage Muslim girls will still get “married” in a mosque even in the U.K. itself and not have the marriage officially registered. The parents of the girl will not complain nor will the girl herself complain to anyone.The girl will believe it is a valid marriage, fully compliant with the teachings of Islam, which it is. To say otherwise is almost tantamount to blasphemy because the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) married his favourite wife when she was six. Therefore if you criticize a U. K. Muslim citizen for marrying a 16 year old girl (or even a 6 year old one) would be implying that Muhammad did something wrong and we know that that is impossible because the Koran says that he is the perfect exemplar for all Muslims.
It would be like trying to shut a gate after the horse has bolted.
Gjallarhornet says
The song now goes like this: “Let’s just raise the minimum age for marriage, but hey … nothing to do with islam”.
Right.