Most young women in the free world, feel it is their absolute right to pick and choose their partner, the only risk is in the marriage could end up in divorce. Yet for millions of women who live in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the right to choose their own partner is a highly dangerous alternative, that threatens their lives. For these women â€No’ is not an option, as they are pushed into the grossly unreported global terror of forced marriages, imposed by their families. In some instances it is reported that men are also coerced into a forced marriage. It was reported in a recent survey In England revealed that 3000 women are victims of forced marriages, with little or no rights once married, in Britain alone. Pakistan In a recent report it was disclosed that Umrani tribesmen took three girls to a desert and buried them alive, as a testimony of punishment for attempting to choose their own partners . The young girls were kidnapped by six men, at gun point, in {{[the |a}}} remote village of Bab Kot. The teenagers were thrown into a Land Cruiser jeep, bearing the number plate of the Balochistan government and taken to a field, beaten, shot and then flung into a ditch. When the mother and aunty objected and {{{attempted |tried}} to stop the proceedings}}}, the two older women were also thrown into the ditch. Though seriously injured the five women were alive and still breathing when they were covered with mud and rocks, in what relatives claimed as â€honour killings’. The graves of the victims have not been yet been able to be located and very few of the culprits of these killings are apprehended or convicted. In other areas of Pakistan, it is believed hundreds of women are killed by male relatives every year for endeavouring to make their own destiny. It is believed that 174 women were victims in 2005, 270 in 2006, and 280 in 2007. The figure stood at 107 in 2008, in just the first five months of the year. Bangladesh Doctor Held Captive By Her Family Aged 32, and a British trained doctor, who has resided in Britain for the past six 6 years, Humayra Abedin found herself held captive by her own family, in an effort to force her into marriage with a total stranger. Humayra returned to Bangladesh because the family told her her mother was {{{gravely |seriously}} ill. Humayra was manhandled on her arrival and her travel documents and credit cards confiscated . Humayra was locked in a room and constantly watched over by four or five guards. Injected with what she believed were mood stabilizers and anti-psychotic drugs, Humayra was forced to enter into a marriage ceremony against her will. Being a resident of Britain, Humayra came under the ruling of the recently passed Forced Marriage Act. A Bangladesh court ruled that Humayra was being held against her will and she should be {{{set |free freed}}. After four months in captivity, Humayra returned safely to Britain.| Four months after being captured by her family , Humayra returned to England.}}} The British High Commission in Dhaka reports that it assisted in 56 forced marriage cases between April 2007 and March 2008. Saudi Arabia: An 8 year-old Saudi Arabian girl was married off by her father, to a 58 year-old. A judge made the ruling that the young girl cannot apply to divorce her husband until she reaches the age of puberty. The girl still lives with her mother, but the estranged father had set a verbal condition that the marriage could not be consummated until the child reaches 18 years of age . However, there is no guarantee this will be honoured . No figures are available of how many pre-adolescents have been forced into arranged marriages, but the number is believed to be considerable. Turkey: When a 23 year old woman succeed in divorcing the man her parents forced her into marrying , her brother shot her three times in the head. India: In India, young girls are married off as young as eight years of age. Education is having only limited success in cutting across these customs and traditions, as the victims are usually emotionally, socially and economically dependent on their family. It also needs legislation and most countries do not have any rulings on forced marriages.
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