Over 100 children aged 12 & below in UK may have been forced into marriage | Gravitas
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Over 100 children aged 12 & below in UK may have been forced into marriage | Gravitas")
Forcing someone to marry in UK carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Photograph: (AFP)
According to data obtained through freedom of information requests, at least hundred children aged 12 or under were referred to UK's forced marriage unit from 2021 to 2025. This government unit provides advice and support to potential victims of forced marriage.
Imagine five-year-olds facing the prospect of marriage. Fresh data from the UK home office indicates that this crisis is brewing in Britain as well.
According to data obtained through freedom of information requests, at least hundred children aged 12 or under were referred to UK's forced marriage unit from 2021 to 2025.
This government unit provides advice and support to potential victims of forced marriage.
What is startling is that this list included 27 children aged five or below.
It is worth noting that forcing someone to marry in UK carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison.
In 2023, the legal age of marriage in England and Wales was raised from 16 to 18.
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While every referral to the forced marriage unit does not imply a forced marriage has taken place, the cases are on the rise.
According to UK home office, 406 cases were referred to this unit in 2025, marking a 69% yearly increase in the number of cases.
This is not all.
40% of these cases involved victims aged 17 and below.
Pakistan was the destination of forced marriage in 165 of these cases.
This drew a fiery reaction from Nigel Farage's party, who largely held the Conservative Party's tenure in power responsible for a rise in forced marriage cases.
Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf claimed, "This sudden rise in forced marriages tracks almost perfectly with the Boris wave, which saw the Tories import 4 million new people into the UK."
He added that Tories won't be forgiven for this betrayal.
Reacting to this, UK's home office asserted that the problem of forced marriage was not specific to one country, religion or culture.
Activists though found the data deeply disturbing and warned that actual forced marriage figures are likely to be higher as many victims cannot even reach out to the authorities.