Aneeta Prem London 8 April 2026
The debate around forced marriage UK law has shifted. The Government has moved to introduce a legal definition and statutory guidance on so-called honour-based abuse, and the Crown Prosecution Service has widened its guidance to reflect forms of coercion that were too often missed. That is real progress. But victims still face a system that is better at naming abuse than prosecuting it.
That is the real problem now. The question is no longer whether the UK understands these crimes more clearly. It does. The question is whether the law captures how they actually happen. Too often, it still does not.
Forced marriage, FGM and what the state calls so-called honour-based abuse, which I call dishonour abuse, are rarely the work of one isolated perpetrator. They are often enforced through family pressure, wider community expectation, shame, surveillance, immigration control, spiritual manipulation and fear. A victim may be controlled by several people at once. The law still tends to respond as if the abuse is simpler, narrower and more private than that.
There has been genuine movement. In August 2025, the Government announced a crackdown on so-called honour-based abuse, including a legal definition and new statutory guidance aimed at improving identification, safeguarding and accountability. In February 2026, government amendments referred back to that commitment and provided for guidance to public authorities about honour-based abuse as defined in the new framework.
The CPS then expanded its guidance in February 2026 to include dowry abuse, immigration-related exploitation, transnational marriage abandonment, and spiritual or ritual abuse linked to beliefs in witchcraft, spirit possession or demonic influence. Virginity testing and hymenoplasty were also added to reflect changes in legislation. That matters because these are not marginal details. They are part of how coercion is exercised in real cases.
This is why better language matters. Police, teachers, social workers, health professionals and prosecutors need to understand that these crimes are not simply domestic disputes with a cultural label attached. They may involve extended family, cross-border pressure, threats to immigration status, or abuse wrapped in religion or reputation. Better guidance makes those patterns harder to dismiss. https://freedomcharity.org.uk/dishonour-abuse/
This is the central point. Forced marriage UK law still sits within a wider criminal framework that often assumes abuse is private, contained and carried out by one person. In reality, these cases are frequently collective, layered and sustained over time.
One person may control travel. Another may keep documents. Another may make threats. Another may invoke religion. Another may police silence through gossip, shame or reputation. The victim experiences one coordinated system of coercion. The law often breaks it up into separate incidents.
That is where justice begins to fall away. https://freedomcharity.org.uk/forced-marriage/
The clearest example is coercive control. Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 created the offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 amended that framework, but it remains rooted in the idea of personal connection. In plain terms, it was designed around intimate partners and family relationships, not wider religious groups, community structures or collective actors.
That gap matters. Forced marriage and dishonour abuse do not always fit a neat domestic-abuse script. Some victims are controlled through a network. Pressure is shared, reinforced and normalised. Responsibility is spread across several people, which can make accountability harder to pin down even when the pattern of coercion is obvious.
Other offences may still apply, depending on the facts. But the structure remains fragmented. A victim experiences one pattern of abuse. The criminal law often sees pieces.
FGM exposes the same weakness even more starkly. The civil courts continue to use protection orders. Ministry of Justice data shows 61 new FGM protection-order cases in 2024. That figure has now remained flat for three consecutive years. The same data series shows 306 forced marriage protection cases in 2024. The state plainly recognises continuing risk in both areas.
But protection is not the same as criminal accountability.
That is the uncomfortable truth at the centre of this debate. The system is willing to intervene civilly. It is still far less effective at delivering criminal justice outcomes proportionate to the scale of harm. That is why it is not enough to celebrate better definitions and broader guidance. If the legal framework still struggles to prosecute collective coercion and deeply embedded abuse, victims are left with partial protection and incomplete justice. https://freedomcharity.org.uk/female-genital-mutilation/
The UK has become better at describing these crimes. That matters. Clearer language, better guidance and stronger professional understanding all help.
But the law still does not fully match the lived reality of these abuses.
Victims are controlled collectively, reputationally and sometimes across borders. They are coerced through fear long before there is visible violence. They are silenced by family systems, community pressure and the threat of exclusion. A legal response built around narrower assumptions will continue to miss too much.
Until that changes, the system will remain better at recognising forced marriage, FGM and dishonour abuse than delivering justice for those who live through them.
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Laws can punish abuse after it happens. Preventing dishonour abuse requires something harder: educating children early, supporting victims safely, and challenging the beliefs that allow coercion, fear and control to thrive behind closed doors.
A Child Cannot Consent to Marriage. The Nottingham child marriage case shows why UK law had to change. Since February 2023, under-18 marriage has been a criminal offence in England and Wales, including some overseas and religious ceremonies, even where coercion is not proved.
Capacity, Consent and Dishonour Abuse: Why “no capacity means no consent” is the safeguard the world is still failing to apply