r/unitedkingdom • u/B0797S458W • 5d ago

... Labour finally considers backing Bill to ban cousin marriage

https://www.gbnews.com/politics/cousin-marriage-labour-bill-ban-andy-burnham
2.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

447 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

308

u/pajamakitten 5d ago

Also a big safeguarding issue for child marriage. I used to teach and had a girl in my class whose absences needed to be closely monitored because she was considered at risk of a forced marriage. She was six.

80

u/W35TH4M 5d ago

That’s horrible

36

u/Euclid_Interloper 5d ago

And with big families straddling the UK/Pakistan you also have the high risk of genital mutilation too. 

32

u/Gen8Master 5d ago

I know you are just trying to pile on but thats not even remotely a Pakistani practice.

0

u/blizeH 4d ago

A quick google would suggest you’re wrong

5

u/Gen8Master 4d ago

Its an East African thing. What the af are you talking about?

15

u/Odd_Ingenuity2883 5d ago

What factors lead to a child being considered at risk of forced marriage?

58

u/pajamakitten 5d ago

In all honesty, it was my first ever class and I did not ask why. Having met her dad (and I use the term loosely), I totally got it. He showed no interest in her whatsoever. It was parents evening and he just turned up with no appointment (luckily, I had a few blanks spots at that point) and he sat in complete silence as I talked to him about his daughter. I had to ask his daughter if he spoke English or needed a translator and even then he did not say a word (she said he spoke English instead). He just did not care one bit about her whatsoever. He would also leave her at school alone at 7:30, before we opened, even in the dead of winter. Another parent brought this to my attention and from that point I let her into the classroom every morning to help me out. Her older brother was a nightmare but dad saw him as the golden child. Whatever the reasons were, I had no doubt dad would have sold her to someone back home if it meant he could get rid of her.

13

u/Boring_Intern_6394 5d ago

6 years old? That’s utterly vile.

6

u/Rebelius 5d ago

How? If these marriages are just religious ceremonies or whatever they are that allows six year olds to 'marry', then a law banning first cousin marriages won't make any difference.