Bureau Recommends: Report reveals over 3,000 forced marriages in US
The Bureau Recommends a report by the Tahirih Justice Center on forced marriage in immigrant communities in the United States.
According to Tahirih, a non-profit organization that works to protect immigrant women and girls from gender-based violence, there were up to 3,000 known and suspected cases of forced marriage in the US during the past two years, with girls as young as 13 being affected.
Working with the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, Tahirih conducted a survey of 500 individuals and organizations across America, which might have encountered forced marriage.
Less than one in five respondents to the survey (16%) said that their agency was properly equipped to help individuals facing forced marriage, while almost half of respondents (46%) who provided information on particular tactics used against victims reported that victims had been subjected to actual physical violence.
13 respondents also reported murder attempts among the forced marriage cases they encountered, and 1 respondent reported an actual murder.
Responding to the results, Tahirih said that the United States… ‘has done little to recognize or address the problem of forced marriage. Domestically, there are no laws or policies in place specifically to help forced marriage victims, leaving young women (and some men) in crisis with few resources and options.’
