General Article Child marriage is still legal in the UK. At last, the first step has been taken to ban it

Topic Selected: Child Abuse Book Volume: 388
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Not many Britons know that in England and Wales, 16- and 17-year-olds can marry with parental ‘consent’. For ‘consent’ read ‘coercion’.

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Periodically, the small screen makes such a massive impact on viewers it spurs political action and social reform. Did you watch Honour on ITV last week? Please do, if you didn’t.

The two-parter was based on the truly tragic, brief life of Banaz Mahmod, a British-Kurdish girl who was forced to marry at the age of 17.

Her older husband ...

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