Forced Marriages as a Security Threat: A Case Study of the United Kingdom
Purpose:
The paper deals with the analysis of forced marriages as a security threat to the United Kingdom. The focus is on the Great Britain and on the following indicators: what are the types of forced marriages, their intentions, and what are the mechanisms and tools of the state and society to combat this phenomenon. The paper also explains forced marriages as a human trafficking problem and as national-security problem.
Design/Methods/Approach:
The paper is based on the analysis and interpretation of primary (legislature) and secondary sources (scientific and journalistic works) as well on descriptive and historical methods.
Findings:
The paper shows that the issue related to forced marriages is relevant to the security policy of the United Kingdom, as forced marriages represent security threat on several levels (individual, state, world). As result of this, several specialized state institutions were formed, and the legislature was changed. An analysis also reveals that ethnic-culture based forced marriages make most of the cases, but in recent time there is a rise in cases of intra-ethnic marriages with the goal of violating the migration law. There is also focus on actual wider-societal response to this problem, showed by the formation of non-governmental organizations, working on this problem.
Research Limitations / Implications:
The paper has a limitation due to restriction of the available sources on this subject, but nevertheless forms a basis for future research.
Originality/Value:
Slovenian scientific corpus on forced marriages is small and this article contributes to expand it by offering an alternative view (from another country) on the subject and self-reflection on domestic matters.
UDC: 343.43:342.7
Keywords: forced marriages, human trafficking, international crime, organized crime, national security, United Kingdom