Forced marriage victims told to hide spoons in underwear in UK

A Derby-based charity group advises women and girls who are victim of forced marriage to hide a spoon in their underwear to set off the airport alarms.

London: A Derby-based charity group, that supports victims of forced marriage, advises women and girls who are victim of forced marriage to hide a spoon in their underwear to set off the airport alarms and get one last chance to seek help from the authorities.

According to the Guardian, the charity group, Karma Nirvana, advises people who ring its helpline to hide a spoon in order to set off metal detectors at British airports and the group said that its recommendation has indeed prevented some women from being spirited overseas. Young people in the UK are at the highest risk of being taken abroad for a forced marriage during the school holidays and although no one is sure of the number of cases, estimates range from 1,500 to 5,000 each year out of which more than a third affected are thought to be under the age of 16. Karma Nirvana`s operations manager, Natasha Rattu, explained that the object in a private area of someone 16 or above will make the airport authorities take the individual to a safe place where they can have one last opportunity to disclose that they are being victimised. The report said that the UK government wants teachers, doctors and airport staff to be conscious of the issue of forced marriages over the summer break. Founder and president of Freedom Charity, Aneeta Prem, said that children may think they are going away to a family wedding not knowing it is actually their wedding and when they go for a long time, they don`t come back until they are pregnant. Campaigners fear official statistics on the number of forced marriages of UK citizens are just the tip of the iceberg, partly because children do not want to report their parents to the authorities or have little idea where to go for help, the report added. ANI