Sweden mulls jail term for forced marriage
Published: 21 Jan 12 08:26 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/38632/20120121/
Forcing someone into marriage against their will could soon carry a punishment of up to two years imprisonment, according to an inquiry tasked with formulating a law criminalizing the practice under Swedish law.
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"My view has always been that we need a law against forced marriage and that the child marriage dispensation needs to be removed," said equality minister Nyamko Sabuni to news agency TT.
"At the same time we have to be show humility. When an inquiry is ongoing we have to consider both the pros and cons."
Forced marriage and marriage among minors is already banned in Sweden, but Sabuni argues that a criminalization is required in order to underline the seriousness of the offence.
"It is important that people know that if they commit a crime then they will be punished for it," she told TT.
The minister explain that removing the existing dispensation for child marriages would be a protection for girls.
Dispensation is currently allowed if the girl is pregnant and if extra-marital pregnancy is not permitted within the girl's cultural group.
"This means that there is pressure to get pregnant. By taking a stand that no child shall be married off, not even if they are expecting a child, we can remove this type of pressure," according to Nyamko Sabuni.
Legislation is however not the only means by which to tackle honour-related crimes, Sabuni argued.
"It is even more important how we work in practice, within the social services, police and at schools. The individual victim has to feel able to report the matter and to feel secure when receiving support and protection."
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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I think that 'arranged marriages' should carry the condition that the 'resident Swedish spouse' be required to live in the intended spouse's country of origin for a period of two years after the marriage, funded at the expense of the 'rSs' swedish resident family.
We would son see if this 'tradition' is connected with 'ancient tribal customs' or is more to do with 'back-door immigration' at the Swedish taxpayer's expense!
Today it's the grim 10th anniversary of the "honor" murder of Fadime Sahindahl. A young and strong woman murdered by her father, the chickenshit that couldn't take that his daughter used her own free will to form her life. Never forget Fadime, Pela, Abbas m fl. And force the police and prosecutors to invstigate and prosecute all these "balcony falls"!
It is illegal that's the whole point of the article. Its illegal but no real punishment.
Also in general people should not confuse arranged marriages with forced marriages, they are not always the same thing.
I know some people who had an arranged marriage and there was no force involved at all, they were very happy with it all.
There should be a real punishment anyway. While that is true, it is difficult to tell whether it was forced or not. Some people meet their spouse on their wedding day. That seems crazy to me. Then there is that whole honour killing business.
If they add punishment to the crime, I wonder if jail sentence for father will include monetary damages to raise child. Like alimony. Otherwise the ordeal would be worse for the pregnant girl child.
Also, why do many Swedes on this newspaper classify immigrants and welfare together? Does Sweden only accept poor immigrants who they then decide not to educate enough to earn their own living? I find this confusing.
That mindset that you have is the source of many of the integration and immigration problems. The responsibility doesn`t lay with Sweden to educate immigrants, it`s the immigrants responsibility to educate themselves.
It`s not like Sweden forced them to come here, therefore the responsibility doesn`t fall on Sweden. Sure they should met them halfway but the responsibility is with the ones moving here.
it's disturbing to see how they can even think this kind of behaviour is even remotely acceptable.
And they serve a real purpose in my country at least. They do hard labor I wouldn't do (in sanitation, on farms, maid services, yardwork, gas stations, etc). Jobs that educated citizens choose not to do but need to maintain a standard of living. Sweden may be different.
I think it is ok only if they live in those countries. If they live in Sweden, the marriage should not be considered valid. However, if they truly love each other they should be able to get married under normal Swedish marriage.