|TOP|The Church of England has reported that it fully supports plans to create a new specific criminal offence if a person “forces someone to marry”. The Church has given its backing in the form of a submission to the Home Office review on the issue.

The submission was made on behalf of the Church by the Bishop of Southwark, Rev Tom Butler, who said, “We strongly affirm the principle reflected in the consultation that forced marriages are wrong legally and morally. The idea of consent is key for the Christian understanding of marriage, and the very foundation of the concept of marriage in English law.”

A consultation was held to look into whether the longer term benefits of introducing new primary legislation would in fact help bring about change to the attitude of some on the issue. In particular it looked to focus on whether the legislation would aid young people who face being forced to marry a person against their own wishes.

Rev Butler made his submission founded on the principle that “non consensual marriage should be dealt with on the same basis as non consensual sexual relations, as an issue of fundamental human rights.”

|AD|The Church of England reject the existing legislation as it stands, and states that the current measures are not sufficient to prevent forced marriages.

In coming to its conclusion the Church highlighted approximately 250 cases that are dealt with by the Government’s Forced Marriage Unit every year. The Church also comments that “many more such abuses take place without being brought to the attention of the authorities.”

Also contained within the submission was the importance of an integrated communications campaign that would support the introduction of any further legislation on the area that might take place in the future. The Church says that this would “help alleviate concerns that new legal powers could be misinterpreted as an attack on one section of the community.”

Bishop Butler concluded, “It is also important that marriage based on consent, whether arranged or chosen by the couple, is not unintentionally undermined by legislation in this area.”