As the school holidays get under way, efforts to crack down on forced marriage are being ramped up. The period after schools break up is a peak time for the government’s Forced Marriage Unit, as young people can often be taken abroad and forced into marriage under the guise of a holiday.
Statistics show that from January to May this year, the unit, a joint initiative between the Foreign and Home Offices, dealt with 594 cases in which they gave support or advice related to a possible forced marriage. Of these, 14 per cent of calls involved victims younger than 15, 31 per cent 16- to 17-year-olds and 35 per cent 18- to 25-year-olds.
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