Forced marriage as a lived experience: Victims’ voices

Abstract

The official response to forced marriage in the majority of European countries has been to criminalise the practice. Based on racial stereotypes and outdated Orientalist perspectives, this overlooks the prior need for appropriate empirical analysis in order to better understand the reality of the practice being regulated, and fails to provide victims with the means of protection they need beyond the framework of criminal law. Devising a suitable and effective strategy to address this form of victimisation instead requires an in-depth understanding of the effects that victims of these practices endure, and of what the victims themselves would consider best practice in terms of assistance and protection. In view of these primary objectives, after the existence of forced marriages in Spain had been demonstrated by the corresponding quantitative research, a qualitative research study followed, which was conducted through interviews with victims of forced marriage. The results are presented here. The secondary aim of the study was to draw up the basic guidelines for an integrated programme of action to address this process of victimisation.

Centring migrant community voices in forced marriage prevention social policy: A proposed reframing

“…Quite opposite to the reasoning portrayed in the intractable forced marriage scenarios often used in professional training materials for response and prevention practitioners, Lina's parents wanted to ensure she would have a safe and happy future. Similar to others who experience familial pressure to marry (Villacampa 2019, 12), Lina recalled: "They think, wow, I have made the best decision for my daughter – this is the best way for her to find happiness and success in life". But while Lina knew her parents were trying to act in her best interest, she also knew she was not ready to be married.…”

“…Importantly, Lina did not seek support from law enforcement, but instead responded to the service providers in her life who sought to understand and support her to achieve what she considered to be the most appropriate way to remain safe and unmarried. Villacampa (2019) suggests that this survivor-centred response in terms of protection, as well as continued analysis around how individuals cope with the spectrum of experiences, is key to moving away from the limits imposed by a legal framework and moving toward the identification of community-led prevention strategies.…”

“…However, little research exists on how people are enacting these kinds of decision‐making processes within contexts that are directly targeting coercion into marriage, including Australia. Other studies that have focused on the experiences of those who are affected by the forced marriage law specifically in Australia (Muhleisen 2017; Villacampa 2019) have offered useful analytical tools to understand women's decision‐making processes, but have not explicitly laid out why this is important to consider in the prevention sector. Lyneham and Richards' study (2014) is the only one that has looked at the narratives of those who have been deceived into a marriage, but these studies focus mostly on women who came to Australia on a spousal visa, rather than women who are already living in Australia.…”

“…One of the reasons for this could be that to date, the legislative framework sets strict parameters for what counts as the type of coercion that requires social support. Primary prevention work, then, focuses on educating people about cases that reach this crisis point – those at imminent risk (Sowey 2014, 2) – rather than trying to give families the tools to think about other ways of navigating social, cultural and economic pressures together, and in ways that are culturally legible (Villacampa 2019, 17). We suggest that empowerment models must be agile enough to identify the unique prevention strategies people use, some of which can be seen in Lina's experience, and incorporate these into the broader prevention response.…”

Spanish criminal policy and the state pact on gender violence: a critical assessment

“…It has been expressed in subsequent criminal reforms after the law's passage. One such example is the sole recourse to criminal law to fight stalking and forced marriages provided for under the Spanish Criminal Code reform of 2015, when empirical evidence from Spain shows the inadequacy of failing to take into account victim protection measures in addition to the criminal justice system (Villacampa and Pujols 2019;Villacampa 2020). However, in light of the legislative measures it intends to implement, the SPGV seems unlikely to remedy this modus operandi.…”