Number of forced marriages much higher than recorded

The number of forced marriages taking place in the Netherlands is higher than recorded, according to research by the Verwey Jonker Institute for tv programme Nieuwsuur.

Government figures record 181 forced marriages between 2010 and 2012, while care workers and family doctors estimate the figure at at least 674.

The latest statistics come from a survey carried out for the social affairs ministry among over 500 health care workers and doctors. They were asked to estimate how often they were faced with a forced marriage.

The result is that the number of forced marriages is somewhere between 674 and 1,914.

During Monday’s Nieuwuur, two women will talk about their forced marriage, one in Somalia and the other in the Middle-East, and how they received no help from the Dutch embassy when they tried to flee.

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