Author: Tahirih Justice Center

Original Publication: July 2013

Updated: September 2022

This document provides an overview of state criminal codes that address forced marriage in the United States, including those of California, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as Washington DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It also provides information on Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota’s laws addressing abduction for the purpose of marriage.

Author: Interights – The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights

Publication: 1st Edition 2011, 2nd Edition 2014

This Handbook brings together expert commentaries by lawyers and activists working on the issue of forced marriages and interference with choice in marriage in four different countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The Handbook is intended to assist those seeking legal remedies in such cases, and in particular to prevent forced marriages, and protect those affected. While aimed primarily at lawyers, we hope that it will also be useful for voluntary sector workers, social workers and women’s rights advocates and activists seeking to identify available legal remedies.

This webinar features Heather Heiman and Casey Swegman from the Forced Marriage Initiative at the Tahirih Justice Center. The webinar presents an overview of the nature and scope of forced marriage in the United States, as well as a discussion of the complex social and cultural dynamics and the unique challenges of problem-solving and safety-planning in such cases. The webinar also provides guidance on how to better screen for and identify potential warning signs and indicators of forced marriage within the populations you serve and best practices for providing culturally responsive services.

This webinar features Bushra Husain and Sayoni Maitra from Sanctuary for Families and Jamal Alsarraj from the Arab American Family Support Center. The webinar provides an overview on how to identify and respond to forced marriage situations in your current caseloads and outreach work. The presenters revisit commonly accepted definitions of “forced marriage,” “arranged marriage,” and “love marriage,” and explore shifting dynamics in intimate partner relationships in existing legal and social services cases. The webinar also covers best practices for addressing forced marriage situations that occur alongside or arise in the context of other forms of violence, such as domestic violence, trafficking, sexual assault, and crimes against LGBTQ persons.
This webinar was first presented as part of the Forced Marriage Initiative’s Quarterly Webinar Series on February 26th, 2015.

Author: Council on Foreign Relations

Publication Date: September 25th, 2013

This article outlines the reasoning behind and the goals of resolution A/HRC/24/L.34, requesting a report to guide a panel discussion at the twenty-sixth session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, on the challenges, achievements, best practices, and implementation gaps for preventing and eliminating child marriage.