Help Nordic children return from forced marriages

The Nordic Council Welfare Committee recommends that the Nordic governments’ foreign ministries work together to co-ordinate their activities in order to quickly and effectively help Nordic citizens who are lured abroad and then subjected to forced marriage. 

“Although prevention is better than cure, that’s not always possible, so we must help them return home. Helping children and young people who are forced into marriage return home requires good local knowledge, and contact with local authorities. This needs co-operation and co-ordination between the Nordic embassies or consulates,” says Kaisa Juuso, member of the Welfare Committee and the Conservative Group.   

There is broad support for the proposal in the Nordic Council, as this is an issue that all the Nordic countries are grappling with. 

“Combatting honour-related violence is about freedom. In simple terms, the freedom to decide over one’s own life. The lives of too many people are being restricted on the basis of culture and religion. I know that many people still fail to understand the seriousness of this. Honour-related violence and oppression exist in all the Nordic countries, regardless of what you call it,” says Arman Teimouri of the Centre Group, who is also backing the proposal.