Forced marriages are increasing in the UK - what can Christians do about it?

’If forced marriage is thought about at all it is often conflated with arranged marriage and particular cultures,’ says Ben Ryan of Medaille Trust. There are an estimated 22 million people worldwide in forced marriages, here Ben gives shows how to know the signs.

Part and parcel of working for a charity that supports survivors of trafficking and modern slavery is that you regularly encounter heartbreaking stories. At Medaille Trust we have a safe house for survivors, and staff have recently been supporting a young woman called Emina (not her real name).

Emina was twenty years old on her wedding day. It was not a joyous occasion. She knew little about her new husband, and her objections to the marriage had been met with physical violence and emotional abuse from her family. Nor was it destined to be a happy marriage. In her home country Emina had hoped to go to university, but her husband instead brought her to the UK and forced her into unpaid labour with his relatives. She was told that she needed to work to repay the cost of bringing her to the UK.