Forced Marriages Of People With Disabilities

EDM number 1568 in 2007-08, proposed by Annette Brooke on 14/05/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Asia, Equality, Human rights, Marriage and Special educational needs.

That this House notes that the majority of cases of forced marriage reported in the United Kingdom involve South Asian families; further notes that the Department of Health's report Learning Disabilities and Ethnicity found that learning disabilities are up to three times higher in South Asian communities than in other communities; further notes that the Director of UK Visas has stated that of the 250 `reluctant sponsors' for visas dealt with by the consul in Pakistan in 2007, 86 involved adults with severe disabilities; expresses concern that limited information on forced marriages of people with disabilities may hinder effective responses to this problem; and asks the Government to commission research into the prevalence and causes of forced marriages of people with disabilities.

This motion has been signed by a total of 83 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.