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3,000 women a year forced into marriage in UK, study finds

the scale of the problem far bigger than originally thought,

The first study ever conducted in the UK into the prevalence of the custom shows that there are far more victims, spread across different ethnic minority communities, than official figures suggest

The Home Office-funded study calls on authorities to take the institution more seriously, so that it is treated as an issue of illegality, domestic violence and bullying

Luton

with a large south Asian community, found at least 300 cases where victims had contacted community organisations. Yet the government's forced marriage unit, set up to tackle the problem three years ago, handles only 300 cases a year nationwide

The report concludes that at least 10 times that number, and possibly far more that, are taking place, without any agencies ever finding out, although forced marriages are illegal under British law

Teachers should be given a key role in talking confidentially

coerced