Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL]

My Lords, it is not really correct. The decision to seek civil protection rather than new crimes was not taken because I felt that that was the Government’s position; it was taken after the Government decided not to create new criminal offences. But I thought that they were right in reaching that conclusion. The tragic case to which my noble friend referred, that of Banaz Mahmod, who was murdered by way of what is called an honour killing, illustrates the problems of using the criminal process as the main way of tackling a major social evil. There is already plenty of criminal law to tackle murder, kidnapping, abduction, rape and all the other evil manifestations associated with forcing people into marriage against their will. Terrible things follow in some of these appalling cases. The problem with the criminal process is that, although there is plenty of existing criminal law, there is a criminal burden of proof and a criminal standard of proof; the court is a criminal court and is held in public, with police and a jury brought into play. It has not proved to be an effective way of tackling a major social problem. People who deal with these cases daily tell me that often the victim does not want to dishonour her family by having a public and punitive hearing. One of the great advantages of the family law approach is that the court can sit in private, sensitively and in a way that will, I hope, reconcile the victim with her or his family, while providing effective protection to put a stop to a course of conduct that may lead to real tragedy. It was originally my decision to move into the civil area, not because I thought that the Government could not be persuaded in any particular way but because I thought that it was the right approach. That approach was supported, not just by me—I am a white man, the least qualified person to make judgments of that kind—but by the Southall Black Sisters, a whole variety of women’s organisations, including Asian women’s organisations, and children’s organisations. If that had not been the case, I would not have pushed the Bill any further. I hope that is an adequate explanation. I am not saying it would be inconceivable to have a new crime; other countries have done that. Although female genital mutilation is a crime, there has not been a single prosecution, for all kinds of reasons. This shows that the criminal process is not the best process, even though, with forced marriages and honour killings, one needs to have serious crimes for serious wrongs. I hope that that answers the question.