Abstract
This chapter examines the concept of child/forced marriages in the context of human trafficking for labor and sex. Empirical evidence suggests that most of the marriages that end up as forced marriages and may fall within the definition of human trafficking enterprise often begin as child marriages – where one (or both) of the partners (generally the female) is underage. It examines child/forced/servile marriages to determine whether such marriages fall within the definitions and measures set by the key treaties forming the international legal framework on human trafficking and slavery and whether they measure up to the confines set by the 1926 Slavery Convention and cover the subjection of individuals to force, coercion, control, ownership, and/or exploitation. Next the chapter discusses the dynamics of forced marriages which in essence are imbedded in the social fabric of many cultures. Then the chapter discusses how these cultural, economic, and structural factors facilitate perpetuation of such practices despite local and international laws prohibiting it. The chapter concludes with suggestions for controlling and preventing these practices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anitha, Sundari and Aisha Gill. 2009. “Coercion, consent and the forced marriage debate in the UK.” Feminist legal studies 17: 165–184 and Anitha, Sundari and Aisha Gill. 2011. Forced marriage: Introducing a social justice and human rights perspective. Zed Books.
Demand, N. (1994). Birth, death, and motherhood in classical Greece. JHU Press, 101–104.
Evans, C. (2015, September 23). Forced Marriage in Australia: Definitely Not the ‘Usual Suspects’. E-International Relations. Retrieved from http://www.e-ir.info/2015/09/23/forced-marriage-in-australia-definitely-not-the-usual-suspects/
Fight Slavery Now (2012). Retrieved from fightslaverynow.org, 2012.
Friedman, M. A. (1980). Jewish Marriage in Palestine: The Ketubba traditions of Eretz Israel (Vol. 1). Tel-Aviv University, Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies.
Greene, M. E. (2014). Ending Child Marriage in a Generation. What Research is Needed.
Gulnara, S. (2010). Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Its Causes and Consequences. Addendum: Mission to Brazil, New York: United Nations (UN). Retrieved from http://www.refworld.org/docid/4c96ff682.html
Huda, S. (2007). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Aspects of the Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Sigma Huda: Addendum: Summary of Cases Transmitted to Governments and Replies Received. UN.
Kakar, S. (2017). Human Trafficking. Carolina Academic Press.
Kakar, S. (2016) Servile/Forced Marriages in the Context of Human Trafficking in Broadening the Scope of Human Trafficking (edited book) Carolina Academic Press (Erin Heil and Heil Andrea J. Nichols, editors).
Kraemer, R. S. (1993). Jewish mothers and daughters in the Greco-Roman world. The Jewish Family in Antiquity, 89–112.
Laiou-Thomadakis, A. E. (1993). Consent and coercion to sex and marriage in ancient and medieval societies. 298. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Meyersfeld (2011). ‘Forced and Servile Marriage: A Proposal for Law Reform in the Commonwealth’. Commonwealth Law Bulletin 37:4.
National Geographic, (2011). “Too Young to Wed: The secret world of child brides,” National Geographic, June 2011, p.4, available at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/child-brides/gorney-text.
Raj, A. (2010). When the mother is a child: the impact of child marriage on the health and human rights of girls. Archives of disease in childhood, archdischild178707. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2009.178707.
Reiss Fraidy (2015, October 13). America’s Child-Marriage Problem The New York Times OP-ED. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/opinion/americas-child-marriage-problem.html
Sico, R. (2013). In the Name of “Love”: Mail Order Brides-The Dangerous Legitimization of Sex, Human and Labor Trafficking. Public Interest Law Reporter, 18(3), 199.
Thapa, S. (1996). Its Prevalence and Correlates. Contributions to Nepalese Studies, 23(2), 361–375.
The Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, Forced Marriage Unit (2016). Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/forced-marriage-unit-statistics-2016
The Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, Forced Marriage Unit (2017). Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/730155/2017_FMU_statistics_FINAL.pdf
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (2018). Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/# accessed May 18, 2018.
The United States Department of State (2010). Trafficking in Persons Report. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/index.htm
The United States Department of State (2014). Trafficking in Persons Report.
Turner, C. (2013). Out of the Shadows: Child marriage and slavery.
UNFPA. (n.d.). United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/
UNODC Model Law – Derived from the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, article 1. Derived from Slavery Convention of 1926 as amended by the 1952 Protocol, article 1, paragraph 1).
UNFPA Annual Report (2013). Realizing the Potential. UNFPA Annual Report, 2013.
UNFPA Annual Report (2015). For people, Planet & prosperity. UNFPA Annual Report, 2015.
United Nations (2009). Report of the Human Rights Council - Twelfth session (14 September - 2 October 2009). General Assembly Official Records, Sixty-fifth Session Supplement No. 53 (A/65/53). Retrieved from https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/A-65-53.pdf
United Nations Human Rights – the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (2012). The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: A Commentary, (Oxford University Press, 2012), 792 pp. -Edited by Marsha A. Freeman, Christine Chinkin and Beate Rudolf.
United Nations Population Fund (2012). Promises to Keep UNFPA Annual Report 2012.
UNICEF Annual Report (2013). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_73682.html
Somerset, C. (2000). Early Marriage: Whose Right to Choose? Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls.
Weissbrodt, D. (2002). Anti-Slavery International. Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms, 436–460.
“What We Can Do to Help,” Forced Marriage Unit (2009). Foreign & Commonwealth Office, http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1094234857863
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kakar, S. (2020). Child/Forced/Servile Marriages ⇄ Human Trafficking. In: Winterdyk, J., Jones, J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63058-8_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63058-8_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63057-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63058-8
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences