News

New forced marriage legislation

New legislation around Forced Marriage came into effect on 30 September 2014 - Section 122 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (the Act) came into effect on 30 September 2014 and makes it an offence to force someone into marriage in Scotland.

The new legislation will help protect victims of forced marriage from a practice which is a fundamental breach of human rights, and is frequently accompanied by physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional abuse.

The new legislation will:
• Ensure victims of forced marriage are protected;
• Send a clear message that forcing a person to marry against their will is unacceptable;
• Provide greater clarity for frontline professionals and communities that the practice of forced marriage is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated;
• Decrease the number of victims being forced into marriage, and;
• Deter offenders from actively seeking to force someone into marriage.

The main elements of the new legislation are:
• Criminalisation of forcing someone to marry against their will
• Criminalises the luring of a person to a territory of a state for the purpose of forcing them to enter into marriage
• Using deception with the intention of causing another person to leave the United Kingdom for the intention of forcing that person to marry.

There may be occasions when a victim requires the protection of a Forced Marriage Protection Order, whilst those who have attempted to force the victim to marry will be held to account using the new legislation.

You can find out more about forced marriage in Scotland and where you can seek help here.