Forced marriage activist: 鈥渃hange is really slow鈥�
Jasvinder Sanghera has been disowned by her family because she refused a forced marriage
A campaigner against honour-based abuse has told HARDtalk that more needs to be done to 鈥渟hift a culture and a mindset鈥� which enables forced marriages. Jasvinder Sanghera successfully campaigned to make forced marriage a specific offence in UK law, having fled her home aged 16 to avoid one.
Speaking to Stephen Sackur, Sanghera spoke of how she is still seen as having 鈥渟hamed the family鈥� and remains disowned more than four decades later. Her sisters 鈥渟till refuse to acknowledge鈥� her and she only learned of her brother鈥檚 death via social media. Sanghera insisted that honour-based abuse 鈥渋s not part of somebody鈥檚 culture鈥� and urged British schools to do more to tackle the issue.
Sanghera says that when she started campaigning 鈥渘obody was talking about this鈥�, but that the legislation which has been passed is 鈥渁cting as a deterrent鈥�. Despite this, so-called 鈥渉onour killings鈥� still occur in the UK, such as the murder of Somaiya Begum despite her supposed protection under a forced marriage prevention order.
Nevertheless, Sanghera insists that legal changes, such as raising the age of marriage to 18 in England and Wales, send out a 鈥渟trong message鈥�. She describes the 鈥渢he younger generation鈥� being emboldened by the law when they 鈥渘egotiate with family members鈥�, warning them that they could 鈥済o to prison鈥�. Even so, she acknowledges that 鈥渃hange is really slow鈥� and that her late mother, who was her family鈥檚 鈥済atekeeper of abuse鈥�, could not be convinced to alter her views.
