New helpline and book to prevent forced marriage

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A new book has been launched to prevent forced marriage. “But It’s Not Fair” aims to help young people to spot the signs of forced marriages and what to do if it happens to one of their friends. The author of the book, Aneeta Prem, has also launched Freedom Charity. This is a helpline for those facing forced marriage or dishonour violence and aims to raise awareness about the issue in the UK. “But It’s Not Fair” has been given out to school children in the Tower hamlets area of London and the charity hopes to distribute it to every school in the country.

In 2009, 1682 cases of forced marriage were reported to the Forced marriage Unit, but the charity fears that many more cases go unreported. According to the Times Educational Supplement almost 12,000 children have missed school for a month, worse still 1,500 of those still cannot be traced.

Photo by stevendepolo, shared on Flickr under a Creative Commons License