GUARDIAN COMMENT: Criticising forced marriage is not racist (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

GUARDIAN COMMENT: Criticising forced marriage is not racist

5:29pm Monday 21st December 2009 in

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THE case of Mehmet Goren is as shocking as murder cases come.

To murder any 15-year-old is a heinous crime.

But to kill your own daughter for the sake of “honour” is inexplicably evil.

But whereas honour killings remain, thankfully, relatively rare, the wider issue of forced marriage and women being intimidated and threatened to follow the wishes of their family is all too prevalent.

Shaminder Ubhi, director of the Ashiana project, in Waltham Forest is correct to hope that the Goren verdict will prevent perpetrators from thinking they can hide behind their culture and religion.

As is the case with female genital mutilation, there is evidence to suggest that politicians and police officers have in the past been reluctant to tackle forced marriage as they are afraid of being dubbed “racist” or culturally insensitive.

This is nonsense.

When it comes to violence, abuse and the subjugation of women, no excuse is acceptable.

We can only hope that Tulay's death raises awareness of the problem of honour-based violence and forced marriage, and that the 15-year-old's death will not have been entirely in vain.