Legal and Social Response to Forced Marriage
Critical Review
Introduction
Adhering to one's cultural beliefs is important although some cultural activities are controversial and destructive in the face of the modern civilization. However, paying attention to the complexities of the social constructs and the cultural makeup of a community is essential before placing any critic on the cultural behavior of such a community. Additionally, governments and other organizations should have positive motives when they intervene in communities they deem to have unacceptable cultural behavior. Sometimes, western societies view their ways of life as superior to those of the Third World countries. Some cultural activities such as wife beating, forced marriages, and female circumcision are viewed as a primitive cultures that characterize uncivilized communities (Huntington, 1997). However, in some communities, some cultural activities are exploitative and are opposed by the majority of the community members. As a result, some people tend to migrate to other countries to escape the subjectivity of cultural activities in their communities. The issue of forced marriage among the Muslims has attracted the interests of most researchers, particularly the encounters of the Muslim immigrants in European countries due to cultural crashes. This paper presents a critical review of an article whose main contents are the responses to forced marriages in the Muslim community.
Key issues raised by the author
Forced marriage among Muslims is one of the issues that the author highlights. The Muslim community upholds some cultural practices that are uncommon to other cultural groups. Muslim women tend to have little power over their male spouses in marriage relationships. The community protects its name from being spoiled by unacceptable cultural behavior by ensuring that community members observe the customs and those who fail to adhere to them are killed through the so-called ‘ honor killing.' Men exercise patriarchal over women which result in domestic violence (Kurkiala, 2003). As a result, some people migrate to seek refuge to other countries which are less strict in the observance of the culture.
The perpetual violence that Muslim women face entirely emanates from the cultural values (Grette, 2004). As such, the European countries criticize some of the cultural activities practiced by the Muslim and term them as uncivilized and pre-modern. However, the western countries have little understanding of the complexities around the Muslim culture, and they only view culture- based issues are the only causes of violence. Because of this limited knowledge, countries like Norway perceive Muslim immigrants as an inferior cultural group that is stuck so much to traditionalism that it cannot embrace civilization (Grette, 2004). Furthermore, Muslim immigrants are viewed as plotters who migrated to West to multiply there and later take control of the western countries.
The fear of multiplication of the Muslim community in the western countries has prompted most of them to enact strict immigration policies to control the entry of the Muslim immigrants (Kurkiala, 2003). In addition, these countries conduct regular surveillance and policing in the areas where immigrants reside to ensure that possible attacks that immigrants would plan are well managed. According to the report of Danish immigration ministry (2001), the bombs attacks of September 2001were associated with a terrorist group that is affiliated to Muslims. As a result, the Muslim immigrants have been put at the center of attention in most western countries. I tend to agree with the author at this point that countries need to be particularly attentive on matters of insecurity and immigration of Muslim groups since terrorist groups with Muslim affiliation have executed the majority of fatal terrorist attacks across the world like Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaida.
The Muslim community tends to be very strict on marriage issues. They only allow their women and young girls to marry men who uphold their culture. The community and families force young girls into marriage to protect the culture. The Muslim immigrants have their marriage partners mostly from their home countries. They uphold their culture in the foreign countries, a practice that has been particularly criticized by the majority of the European States (Grette, 2004). However, the solution to the violence against the Muslim women and the need to eliminate some of their cultural activities that are perceived harmful has been the cause of colonization of some countries particularly those dominated by Muslims. For example, the invasion of Afghanistan by the USA was not mainly to resolve violence, but some economic benefits like oil were tied to the motives (Wikan, 2002). Thus, it cannot be entirely claimed that the fight against terrorism has been the major cause of the invasion of the Muslim dominated communities since most of the western countries have other motives behind.
The issue of cousin marriage is another practice that is common among Muslims. This marriage has been condemned for various reasons. One of the critics of cousin marriage is that it is a forced marriage and usually results in children with disabilities. The rate of cousin marriage is high among the immigrants due to strict immigration policies as well as reunification laws. For example, Denmark enacted reunification laws that only allowed immigrants over 23 years to control forced marriage of young girls (Danish Ministry, 2001). The implementation of western policies does not seem to be effective in controlling the patriarchal violence. Instead, it nurtures some conditions that make men to be more violent to the women.
The theme of forced marriage and imperialism tend to overlap in some instances. The fight against forced marriage leads to some countries to use forced authorities to invade others. Some countries have been under foreign controls in the account of rooting out unacceptable cultural activities such as forced marriages. For example, the generosity of Norway in accepting Muslim immigrants has many inner motives tied behind. The Norwegians want to create a good image of a country that does not have colonial past by welcoming Muslim immigrants (Kurkiala, 2003). However, the fact that Norway was involved in an imperial project in India in collaboration with Denmark suggests that it has the objective of extending its political authorities to the countries which are the origin of the immigrants it hosts (Grette, 2004).
The theme of neo-colonialism is evident as the immigrants are viewed as guests who do not receive a cordial welcome. In most European countries, Muslim immigrants are needed to provide cheap labor (Wikan, 2002). Racial discrimination is manifested in the way employment opportunities are offered. In Norway, the hosts expect the immigrant to comply with their cultural behavior and bear with new life conditions (Wikan, 2002). Thus, Muslim immigrants are put under colonialism in foreign countries. Therefore, the justice for the oppressed girls and women has not been found through immigration. Moreover, the solution to forced marriage and patriarchal violence cannot be sought effectively by migrating because countries that are expected to provide solutions are stuck to egocentrism and individualism.
Consequences of racism in control of forced marriage
Racism has placed a significant barrier to the implementation o f anti- violence strategies. The western countries which have taken the charge to end forced marriages and unacceptable cultural activities incline more to their values and view culture as the only cause of the patriarchal violence and women perseverance to the oppressive culture. However, other factors such as lack of the understanding of human rights play a significant role. Additionally, the determination of other significant factors that promote forced marriage cannot be implemented effectively since the western countries believe mostly in the cultural approaches. In Denmark, various parties like Danish human rights services and the minister for national integration have tried to intervene in the matter, but have failed due to lack clear objectives in the matter. The human rights services have been accused of luring girls to give false information regarding the forced marriage because they want to gain popularity (Gullestad, 2003b).
The crash of culture between the eastern and western societies has been manifested as an area of conflict that significantly hinders the process of resolving the problem of forced marriage. The society of the west is inclined to the western values and it perceives the eastern culture as pre-modern. The efforts to integrate the Muslim immigrants into the western culture have been challenged by the rigidity of Muslims and inefficiencies of the strategies used by the European countries. For example, 26 European States signed a motion in a parliamentary assembly to support the fight against forced marriage in 2003 (Wikan, 2002). Some of the policies implemented included the adoption of strict immigration policies to protect the Muslim immigrant against forced marriage of young girls. This move was significant in ensuring that only mature immigrants were allowed and that young girls who cannot rebel the decisions of their families were protected against forced marriage. However, the policies only took affects in European countries, but the culture of forced marriage continued among the Muslim communities in other countries.
Legal responses to forced marriage
An interesting thing is how law enforcements have been deployed in the face of forced marriage issues. The European countries are particularly afraid of the Muslim immigrants in their countries and the alarming rate of increase in their population through family reunification. Social responses have not been effective in containing the issue of forced marriages, and the Western countries fear that the multiplication of the Muslim community may heighten the level of insecurity in their borders. Additionally, the level of surveillance is improved in areas which are occupied by immigrants to trace terrorists in their midst (Wikan, 2002). However, the tightening of the immigration laws and security in these countries contain some culture logic and has little to do with the problem of forced marriage and violence against Muslim women. In 2003, the Norwegian parliament banned the forced marriages among the Muslims following the failure of the 1995 plan of integrating them through social approaches like education (Grette, 2004). Denmark enforced reunification laws and immigration policy that allowed only those over 23 years because they could make independent decisions on marriage issues. However, although these laws were effective to some extent, the problem of forced marriage has not been fully solved because the policies implemented by the western countries do not consider what other approaches can accomplish (Gullestad, 2003a). Moreover, these policies do not foster a positive climate to support the fight against forced marriage and gender inequality.
Relevance of the issues raised by the author
The issues raised by the author are relevant to the understanding of the impacts of global interventions in matters that affect some communities such as forced marriages and domestic violence in the Muslim community. The article highlights the hierarchal structure of citizenship in the western society and shows how inassimilable immigrants are treated with regards to their cultural affiliations. The foreign interventions in issues of the minority groups have been portrayed as having hidden motives like economic benefits other than seeking the solutions to problems. The issue of the superiority of the European culture and the perception of inferiority of the Muslim culture is an indication of a cultural divide between the eastern and western countries, although each has its significance. Paying attention to the cultures of different communities is essential to the understanding of the complexities of their social structures.
Conclusion
Honor killing and forced marriages are cultural practices of particular communities, and foreign interventions should not be too harsh, even if they view such practices as unacceptable. The Western countries should understand the complexities of the social constructs of the Eastern culture and point out what the people in oppressed communities perceive as unfair. In addition, the Western society should not just focus on cultural issues but should also consider other significant factors that contribute to the problems of the East. The ironic and interesting thing is that violence is not only found in the Muslim community, but also in European cultures where women who rebel abusive relationship are killed. Therefore, more understanding is required on cultural issues, and no culture should be perceived as inferior.
References
Danish Ministry of Integration, Bill amending the Aliens Act, the Marriage Act and other Acts (2001). Retrieved June 9 from http// www.ft.dk/samling/20061/almdel/uui/spm/20/svar/290092/322973.pdf
Gullestad, M. (2003a). Mohammed Atta and I: Identification, Discrimination and the Formation of Sleepers, European Journal of Cultural Studies 6(4), 529– 548.
Gullestad, M. (2003b). Blind slaves of our prejudices: Debating ‘culture’and ‘race’in Norway. Ethnos, 69(2), 177-203.
Grette, L.(2002). Norway’s choice of direction in the work against forced marriage in seventh international metropolis conference ‘‘Togetherness in Difference’’, Oslo, Norway.
Huntington, S.P., (1997).The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. New York: Touchstone Press.
Kurkiala, M. (2003). Interpreting honour killings: The story of Fadime Sahindal (1975–2002) in the Swedish press. Anthropology Today, 19(1), 6-7.
Wikan, U.(2002). Generous Betrayal. Politics of Culture in the New Europe. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press.
