BTO’s Family Law team are again featured on the BBC, with the team being interviewed for the Scotland 2014 program that went out on Thursday 12th June, discussing the issues arising from the new law to criminalise forced marriage, that comes into effect on Monday 16 June.
You can watch again on the BBC iplayer for the next 6 days here (Starts at 8.30 mins in).
BBC Political correspondent Lucy Adams also covers the topic of Forced marriage: Families hire bounty hunters to find fleeing victims and quotes:
But some lawyers and specialist agencies in Scotland have warned they believe this will drive victims underground.
“This is a retrograde step,” said BTO Solicitors LLP.
“It will dissuade victims from coming forward because it means criminalising your family.”
“The Scottish government had no choice because the UK government signed the Istanbul Convention which meant forced marriage had to be criminalised across the whole of the UK.”
Read more on Forced Marriage on our blog.