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British FO to tackle forced marriages in South Asia

LONDON: The British Foreign Office unveiled a new strategy on Friday to tackle forced marriages after dealing with an increasing number of Britons -- mostly women -- trapped in South Asia with unwanted spouses.

"We need to work with our communities and with them challenge the belief -- held by a minority of people -- that forced marriage is a legitimate cultural practice," junior minister Baroness Scotland said.

"It is not a legitimate cultural tradition, nothing to do with love and nothing to do with religious practice," she said in a speech to be delivered on Friday.

The issue was not arranged marriages but weddings without consent. The new initiative will involve working with community groups in Britain and overseas.

Hundreds of Britons were affected in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, she said.

"The victims we help have been forced into marriage, often held against their will and sometimes abused," Baroness Scotland said. "We deal with over two victims of forced marriages a week."

In her speech to unveil the scheme, which was released in advance to the media, she recounts the ordeal of a young British woman held against her will in a remote village.

In a letter to British officials, the woman initially said she was "very comfortable" but later smuggled out another note.

"I seriously need help. The letter I wrote was under pressure," the note said. "Please help me get out of this country."

The woman was eventually returned to Britain.-Reuters