According to recent estimates, there are more than 15,000 cases of bigamy and polygamy in Italy, where polygamy is a crime punishable under the Criminal Code; In the United Kingdom, in 2011, the Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Justice stated that no assessment had been made of the number of polygamous households, but unofficial estimates include more than 1,000 cases of legally recognized polygamous marriages and a much larger number of unrecognized marriages. Depending on the jurisdiction, a forced marriage may or may not be void or voidable. Victims can seek redress through annulment or divorce. In England and Wales, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 states that forced marriage is questionable. [43] In some jurisdictions, people who forced the victim into marriage can be prosecuted. [44] [45] [46] A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties are married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage if both parties enter into it with their full consent, if one or both are later forced to remain in the marriage against their will. See also Italian Supreme Court No. 1739 1999/02/03 In the 21st century, forced marriages have become an important place in European countries in the context of immigration from cultures where they are common. The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced marriages (see Article 37).
[38] A forced marriage is distinct from an arranged marriage, where both parties likely agree on the assistance of their parents or a third party, such as a matchmaker, in finding and choosing a spouse. There is often a continuum of coercion used to force marriage, from overt physical violence to subtle psychological pressure. [1] Although widely condemned by international opinion today, forced marriages still take place in various cultures around the world, particularly in parts of South Asia and Africa. Some scholars reject the use of the term „forced marriage“ because it invokes the language of consensual legitimization of marriage (as husband/wife) for an experience that is quite the opposite. [2] [page needed] A variety of alternative terms have been suggested, including „forced conjugal union“ and „marital slavery“. [3] [4] Having been examined, the practice of arranged marriages can (and very often is – really is) a violation of human rights. However, we cannot ignore that this practice is – to some extent – deeply rooted in the cultural and religious beliefs of foreign communities living in Europe, so that neither spouse really feels `forced` to marry the other, since the choice of spouse has been legitimately made by their families – who know best“. Historically, forced marriage has also been used to force a prisoner (slave or prisoner of war) to integrate into the host community and accept their fate.
One example is the English blacksmith John R. Jewitt, who held the Nootka captive on the Pacific Northwest coast for three years, from 1802 to 1805. He was ordered to marry because the council of chiefs thought that a woman and a family would reconcile him to stay with his captors for life. Jewitt was faced with the choice between forced marriage for himself and the death penalty for him and his „father“ (a fellow inmate). „Reduced to this sad extreme, with death on one side and marriage on the other, I thought it right to choose what seemed to me to be the lesser of two evils“ (p. 154). [35] In other words, the love diagram for the two types of marriages considered is likely to show two very different curves: one (Indian marriage), where love grows over the years and the curve increases, while the other (marriage with free choice), in which love can decrease through better knowledge of the other. And the curve often ends in divorce. Ask for confirmation from an Indian or Pakistani family! A marriage in which the man can legally disown his wife (wives) should therefore not be registered in Italy as a crime of public order (ordine pubblico). In challenging the decision, the defence argued that this was a case of „forced marriage“ that deserved protection and that the vulnerability to which the woman would have been exposed in Nigeria because of her situation if she had returned had not been taken into account. In Western countries, the nature of marriage has changed dramatically in recent decades – particularly with regard to the importance of marital procreation and the ease of divorce – resulting in less social and family pressure to marry and greater freedom of choice when choosing a spouse. [34] The highest degree of confusion between the two types of marriage (forced or fictitious vs.
arranged marriage) is probably found in a decision of the Tribunale di Torino (Lower Court of Turin) of 30 October 2015 refusing a visa for family reunification because „the two spouses did not know each other well before the date of the marriage“. Article 59 – Residence status 4. The Contracting Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims of forced marriages who have been taken to another country for the purpose of marriage and who have thus lost their residence status in the country where they have their habitual residence may regain that status. In 2016, at a festival that ended the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced that child and forced marriages would be banned. [97] [98] On March 5, the Italian Court of Cassation granted the appeal of a young Nigerian woman who had fled her homeland after being pressured by a relative to marry someone she did not want. The court ruled that migrant women fleeing „forced marriages“ can enjoy a form of protection that allows them to stay in Italy. Recently, Supreme Court 12169/2005/09/06 granted immigrant visa to a Moroccan child whose mother had been deported under Mouadawana`s law for reunification with his father living in Italy. This means that, to some extent, the refusal is not entirely illegal: otherwise, permission to reunite would probably have been refused and the child would have been left with his mother.
The traditional customs of dowry and bride price contribute to the practice of forced marriage. [50] [51] [52] A dowry is the property or money that a woman (or the wife`s family) brings to her husband at the time of marriage. [53] The bride price is a sum of money, property or property that the groom (or his family) pays to the bride`s parents at the wedding. Although forced marriage in Europe is most often associated with the immigrant population, it is also present among some local populations, particularly among Roma communities in Eastern Europe. [126] Forced marriages are widespread in Madagascar. Girls are married off by their families and often led to believe that they will be „cursed“ if they reject marriage. [76] [77] In some cases, the husband is much older than his wife, and if she becomes a widow, she is discriminated against and excluded from society. [78] What about Italy? The same UNICEF study showed the main non-European nationalities for arranged marriages in Italy. The highest percentage is made by Moroccan girls, since 75% of girls marry after 18 years. The highest percentage of miners comes from Bangladesh (32%).
Pakistan, Saman`s country, is on the list. In 2014, the study showed that 24% of underage Pakistani girls are victims of forced marriage and this figure drops to 7% for girls aged 18 and over. Saman Abbas comes from a Muslim family. Following tradition, his parents found him a groom. But Saman didn`t. It is a story of arranged marriages in Italy. And a possible crime. The above issues can be approached from different angles: sociological, anthropological and other. This article will try to clarify them from a legal point of view. In general, a couple entering into an arranged marriage simply does not know each other well compared to our free choice marriages.
Some say that expectations of each other will be lower in arranged marriages. Especially in Indian arranged marriages, many people put more emphasis on compatibility and financial security than romantic love, which helps lower expectations.
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