forced marriage prevention initiative

We’ve Moved!

GJI — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:05:09 +0000

Calling all advocates and supporters – GJI’s Forced Marriage Prevention Initiative has moved to the following address: www.globalinitiative.org to rejoin our parent organization’s website. We hope that you’ll rejoin us there!

International Day of the Girl Child

GJI — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:08:06 +0000

According to Thompson Reuters’ AlertNet, the UN General Assembly is considering designating October 11 as the ‘International Day of the Girl Child’ to highlight the unique challenges and issues faced by girls in developing countries, such as forced and early marriage, gender-based violence and so-called “honor” crimes. Plan International has led the call for this world day as part of its ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign.

USA: Violence Against Women Act Reintroduced!

GJI — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:47:11 +0000

This week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) and Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced S.1925, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). According to Advisor Lynn Rosenthal of the White House Council on Women and Girls, “First championed in 1994 by then-Senator Biden, VAWA [has] transformed the nation’s response to domestic violence and sexual assault. VAWA has provided funding to states and local communities to develop specialized law enforcement units, provide services to victims, and improve prosecution of these crimes. Since the passage of the Act, the annual incidence of domestic violence has dropped by more than 50%.”

Pakistan criminalizes gender-based violence, forced marriage

GJI — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:14:36 +0000

READ MORE: Pakistan passes law to stop ‘anti-women practices’, Trustlaw (November 16, 2011).

Tahirih asks, “would you know a forced marriage if you saw one?”

GJI — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:59:13 +0000

WATCH VIDEO: Fleeing Forced Marriages, Tahirih Justice Center (November 16, 2011).

Awareness grows of forced marriage in the U.S.

GJI — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:46:56 +0000

According to journalist, Saroj Iyer, “Although forced marriages are known to take place…the U.S. government has, so far, not taken steps to recognize and address the problem.” GJI co-founder and director, Julia Alanen, told Iyer that, ”Forced marriage cases implicate conflicting rights, for example, a group’s right to preserve its cultural traditions and practices versus the right of every individual to be free from domestic violence, rape and trafficking and the right to choose freely whether to marry, when to marry and who to marry. Anti-forced-marriage instruments typically draw a bright line between respecting a cultural group’s right to perpetuate the practice of arranged (mutually consensual) marriages and forced (nonconsensual) marriages; in reality, that line is easily blurred.”

READ MORE: Bring forced marriage out of the shadows, Baltimore Sun (November 2011).

Have you volunteered lately…?

GJI — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:46:23 +0000

Kudos from GJI to all of the pro bono lawyers and other skilled volunteers whose service improves access to justice for victims of forced marriage.

NPR addresses forced marriage in the USA

GJI — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:50:54 +0000

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO ADDRESSES FORCED MARRIAGE IN THE USA: Study: Thousands of Immigrant Women Forced into Marriage, NPR (September 19, 2011).

13-year-old Washington DC girl forced into marriage

GJI — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:15:15 +0000

According to Mail Online, a “13 year old girl arrived in the U.S. only to be forced into a marriage where her new husband enrolled her in a school in the Washington D.C. area by saying he was her father, only to rape her every night when she came home.” READ MORE: Harrowing tales of sex slaves in NYC, Mail Online (October 4, 2011).

Kenya: teen girls escape child marriage

GJI — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:01:30 +0000

KENYA: Two teen Masai girls at a rescue center recount how they escaped female circumcision and child marriage. READ MORE: Kenyan Masai seek to end female genital mutilation, Taipei Times (October 8, 2011).