Girls escape forced marriage by concealing spoons in clothing to set off metal detectors at the airport

[SEWER RAT]

 

Teenage girls who fear they are being taken abroad to enter into a forced marriage are using a simple trick to escape: hiding a spoon or any other metal object in their underwear to set off the metal detector at the airport and avoid the flight at the last minute.

 

A charity has said it knows of many girls who have escaped what they fear awaits them in their family’s old homeland, by using the ruse to be separated from their parents.

 

The revelation follows a Government warning to teachers, doctors and airport staff to be alert to the problem that school age girls who are seemingly being taken abroad on holiday may actually be on their way to a life of enforced servitude.

 

Forced marriages are particularly common during the summer holiday break, when there is a minimal chance of a child’s absence being noticed. The Foreign Office’s Forced Marriage Unit received 400 reports in the three months up to the end of August last year, though it is feared that many more cases go unreported. More than a third of those affected are under 16.

Karma Nirvana, a Derby-based charity which runs a helpline for victims of forced marriages, has been encouraging desperate teenagers to try the spoon trick. Its founder, Jasvinder Sanghera, was disowned by her Sikh family at the age of 16 after she refused to marry a man in India. She set up the charity in 1993, when she was 27.

 

The charity takes about 600 calls a month. “When youngsters ring, if they don’t know exactly when it may happen, or if it’s going to happen, we advise them to put a spoon in their underwear,†charity spokesman, Natasha Rattu, said.

 

She added: “When they go through security, it will highlight this object in a private area and, if 16 or over, they will be taken to a safe space where they have that one last opportunity to disclose they’re being forced to marry.

 

“We’ve had people ring and say that it’s helped them and got them out of a dangerous situation. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do with your family around you – but they won’t be aware you have done it. It’s a safe way.â€

 

Almost half of the 1,500 cases a year handled by the Forced Marriage Unit involve Pakistan. Bangladesh counts for 11 per cent, and India eight per cent, the remainder being spread across about 60 countries, including Afghanistan, Somalia, and Turkey. The youngest victim they have come across was aged two, the oldest was 71.

 

Sameem Ali, a Manchester city councillor, was forced into a marriage in Pakistan when she was 13, and was brought back to the UK months after she became pregnant, aged 14.

 

She told BBC Breakfast: “I did not know I was going to get forced into a marriage until a week before the marriage actually occurred. I had never seen the guy before. I was in the middle of nowhere and I did not know where I was.â€

 

Another woman, whose identity was protected by Essex Police, told AFP that her father forced her into a marriage in India, after threatening to find her and kill her if she tried to run away.

 

“I was shipped off with a total stranger. That night I was raped by my husband and this abuse continued for about eight and half years of my life,†she said. She later escaped.

 

source

 

 

Wow as I type this a young girl somewhere is being forced into marriage with some old hag in his 50s. 

 

Can't help but wonder if releasing this article is counter-productive.

 

What if an elder member of the family read the article and beefed up on checking the girl. Then again younger peeps are more likely to be online and come across such articles rather than older people.

[AngelLoveCake]

How horrible.

[SeeYaWithYou]

It's just awful that they are in such a situation that they have to resort to hiding spoons in their underwear. Poor girls :(

[QuackingDuck]

an old friend of mine was forced into a marriage at 16. it's sickening. 

[Delincious]

 

The youngest victim they have come across was aged two, the oldest was 71.

[0211]

I don't know how I feel about the media talking about the spoon-thing since the parents now might check if she is hiding a spoon. 

[gno]

Wow as I type this a young girl somewhere is being forced into marriage with some old hag in his 50s. 

 

Can't help but wonder if releasing this article is counter-productive.

 

What if an elder member of the family read the article and beefed up on checking the girl. Then again younger peeps are more likely to be online and come across such articles rather than older people.

 

 

it can be counter productive.....it may just make it harder for the girls trying to escape....wat if their spouse is on the internet and knows about this??? they could notify the family to check their daughter before they leave....

[Candykiss]

I really try to respect different cultural aspects of society but THIS HAS GOT TO STOP

 

Why do old guys want such young girls

 

GET SOMEONE UR OWN AGE 

[Little Red]

a 2 year old?      i feel so bad for these poor girls that get forced into things like this..what benefit do their parents even see from this apart from getting money or something..but even if it's a spoon setting off metal detectors at the airport, at least it's something and they still have a chance to get out of it....smh

[Spamer1MFK]

Wtf is wrong with almost half the fucking world?

Like for real, that's just crazy,

And the fact it's an accepted practice in some places is disgusting.

[Good People]

Well thanks to these idiots, now the families will know about the trick and will check the girls before taking them to the airport. Good job.

[SEWER RAT]

it can be counter productive.....it may just make it harder for the girls trying to escape....wat if their spouse is on the internet and knows about this??? they could notify the family to check their daughter before they leave....

 

That's what I'm thinking too. If not the parents or family members, members of the same community might stumble upon this and inform the parents.

[SAYAKA]

this is really sad. 

 

Like other commenters said, why is this revealed? This might have been one of the girls only chance to get out of this situation and yet there is an article on it and their family/or the scummy dude might tell the parents to check their daughters before they go to their homeland country.

[Hanah-]

All this happening in THOSE countries. No one does anything about it. Sooner or later they will come to the rest of the world and do the same to us.

[mayee]

its really horrible, They should put parents in jail for marryin little girls to 50+ men

 

There was a girl from irak @ my school and poor girl was only 15 and engaged to some dude,first her parent said they will wait till she turns 18. All her friends told her to report her parents but she was my parents wouldn't force me into marriage now and have 3 years to convine them. But few months later they took her to irak and she never came back.

At that time didn't knew about forced marriage and could't believe there were horrible parents like that.wish someone could have save her.

[Ada]

Oh wow :(

[cdebrux]

Well thanks to these idiots, now the families will know about the trick and will check the girls before taking them to the airport. Good job.

[BubbleGumPop]

glad she's safe, smh at forcing people to marry

[Leo's Candy Jelly Ho]

I don't understand why they gotta "buy" little girls... Like get a damn wife yourself. Do they not have any guilt when they're raping a young girl? Wouldn't it be better to have sex with someone who's willing, loves you and is closer to your age? Seriously these people are sick.

[koori]

I don't know how I feel about the media talking about the spoon-thing since the parents now might check if she is hiding a spoon. 

+1 

 

I really try to respect different cultural aspects of society but THIS HAS GOT TO STOP

 

Why do old guys want such young girls

 

GET SOMEONE UR OWN AGE 

I actually couldn't care about age difference (I mean, I do find it weird sometimes, but as long as ppl are happy...).

My main concern is about forced marriage, and getting rid or ur childs like they were merchandises

[Chunface]

thats horrible   

[SAUCY]

the people who do this are too backwards to go on the internet

[Naomi]

I knew a girl whose family told her they were going to Pakistan on holiday. Just before they left she found out from a relative they were palnning to marry her off to a first cousin she'd never met. In Pakistan they marry cousins, its part of their culture I think. At the time she was 16yrs old. She run away from home and her family didn't know where she was. At least she escaped because she found out what her family were palnning to do just before they left for Pakistan. She was very lucky. Unfortunately many girls find out when its too late and are stuck, sometimes for the rest of their lives in a loveless marriage bearing child after child and being servants not only to their husbands but to their husband's entire family. I don't know how parents can do that their own children.

[checkers]

This is terrible. I understand why the media reported this, but it definitely could have negative consequences. There will need to be something else the girls can do to escape the situation. Unfortunately, I don't foresee this practice of arranged marriage ending any time soon 

[YIXINGISM]

there's still forced marriage in this century? whyyy