FORCED MARRIAGE · CONSENT · SAFEGUARDING
Forced marriage
Forced marriage is when the freedom to choose is taken away.
It can affect women, men, children, disabled people, LGBT+ people and people from many communities and faiths. Pressure may be physical, emotional, financial or psychological.
Arranged marriage and forced marriage are not the same
In an arranged marriage, both people remain free to say yes or no. In a forced marriage, that freedom has been taken away. A person should not have to be beaten before we recognise that they are being forced.
Can this person make a free and genuine choice without fear of what will happen if they say no?
COERCION CAN BE QUIET
Pressure does not have to leave a bruise.
It may include threats, isolation, surveillance, deception, financial control, emotional coercion, fear of family rejection or responsibility for somebody else’s threatened harm.
A person may be told that a parent will become ill, harm themselves or die if they refuse a marriage or go against family expectations. A threat of self-harm may reflect genuine distress, but where it is used to make another person comply it can also function as coercive pressure.
Can somebody really choose freely if they believe a person they love will be harmed because of their decision?
Consent, capacity and identity
Silence is not consent. Giving in because you are frightened is not consent. Agreeing because you believe you have no realistic choice is not free consent.
Nobody can consent to marriage on another person’s behalf. Forced marriage can also be used against people with mental-capacity concerns and against LGBT+ people, including transgender people.
ENGLAND AND WALES
What the law protects
The minimum age for marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales is 18. The forced-marriage offence also protects children under 18 where action is taken to cause them to marry, including in ceremonies that are not legally binding. Law differs in Scotland, Northern Ireland and other countries.
In 2025, the UK Forced Marriage Unit provided tailored assistance in 406 possible forced-marriage or FGM cases, including 391 forced-marriage cases. Forty per cent involved people aged 17 or under and 75 involved mental-capacity concerns. These are cases referred to the unit, not a measure of prevalence, and recording categories changed in 2025.
ANEETA PREM · PUBLIC RECORD
Prevention, education and public protection
In June 2013, Aneeta Prem, as founder of Freedom Charity, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee considering legislation that would criminalise forced marriage in England and Wales. Her evidence addressed criminalisation, prevention, education, vulnerable victims and practical safeguarding.
Her work formed part of the wider public and political movement around forced marriage before and after criminalisation.
The Five Freedoms
Forced marriage makes the Five Freedoms question especially clear: can this person choose, refuse, leave, learn and be?
This page provides general public information. It is not individual legal advice and Aneeta.com is not a casework or emergency service.