The ‘harmful custom’ of forced marriage

Following the report by a specialist Swiss website of 119 cases of forced marriages involving minors in the country so far this year, swissinfo.ch takes a closer look at that figure and the phenomenon of underage marriage in Switzerland. Anu Sivaganesan, the head of the Centre of Competence against Forced Marriages, told swissinfo.ch that it is difficult to say with absolute certainty whether forced marriages have increased, or if people are more aware of the problem – meaning that more people ask for help, or others are able to offer assistance to those involved in a forced marriage. Sivaganesan’s centre used to deal with “two cases per month” when it first opened in 2005. That changed in the last four to five years to around “five cases per week”. And, just before the summer holidays began in Switzerland, the number of cases coming into the centre went up to nine per week in June. Sivaganesan says this is because if a marriage is taking place abroad, ...