Spoons To Help Prevent Forced Marriage

[naomi24]

//A school is attempting to tackle forced marriages by handing out spoons to urge students to hide them in underwear to trigger metal detectors at airports.
Pupils at the Co-operative Academy in Leeds have been told to hide the cutlery there if they fear they are being taken overseas to be married.
It will trigger metal detectors at airports, allowing them to raise the alarm with security staff privately.//

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-44812530

Education is the answer …. Isn’t it?

[ummmm]

Naive. They don't think their parents would do it to them.

[Togo]

Bringing a whole new meaning to the concept of "love spoons". Oh the joys of Diver city.

[237SJ]

So, the detector goes off, the girl gets scanned by the wand detector and the metal is found. The child says that she is being sent overseas to be married and the parents deny it. The only outcome is for the police to be called as the security staff (probably G4S) can't do anything. When then? Family is offloaded, bags offloaded, flight is delayed while searching for said bags. Passengers were just going on an innocent holiday. They will then have to rebook and pay for another flight. Family sues airport authorities etc etc. It's not an ideal solution.

[emmie]

try anything i guess to stop this barbaric act from happening, however i can see the parents searching the child before they leave, perhaps heavy fines for those parents who attempt to dispose of their child in this way.
But how do you stop this archaic mindset, that is the biggest problem.

[dannyk13]

Sqad, I don't believe they would search a girls underwear at the head of a queue.

[-Talbot-]

Makes no sense.

A child brave enough to do this spoon thing would surely be brave enough to just say...
'I think my dad is about to sell me, please stop him'
(or words to that effect)

[woofgang]

I agree that from a practical point of view this may not help....I do think though that it is a talking point, may make a girl feel more supported and aware and may also make some of the parents think even if only for a minute.....sometimes with problems all you can do is throw everything you can think of at the problem and hope that something sticks

[mushroom25]

//Why would they care? I'ts not illegal to marry your daughter off. //

actually Spath, it is - at least, under the circumstances the "spoon placers" are attempting to guard against.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0102014-new-forced-marriage-offences

[ToraToraTora]

why sipp about, expell any parents who force their kids into marriage abroad, simples.

[Togo]

Ludwig.
//They're told they're going on holiday and then marched of to a ceremony to marry some old peasant when they land//

More likely to be their first cousin Ludwig. Or even a child of their father's other wife. Still the NHS can pick up the tab if any ensuing complications arise.

[Mamyalynne]

Exactly Woof, raising awareness and allowing discussion by those it affects the most - you might say symbolic as someone mentioned spoons have long been a symbol.

[sanmac]

"But how do you stop this archaic mindset, that is the biggest problem." (At 1313). The biggest problem is that the followers of islam do not consider it as either a problem or archaic. To them this practice, and numerous others, are quite normal and standard...Their god has said so. Attempting to educate them to adapt to our standards would be equivalent to attempting to teach a pig how to fly.

[Minkyme]

Dumbest idea and most dangerous idea EVER as now this gives the Ahmed’s and mustafas who are terrorists who want to hijack a plane a great idea to let their children hold sharpened spoons/forks or attempt to carry knives and if they’re caught they can just say they were carrying the weapons as they wanted to get caught asthey were scared they were going to be forced into an arranged marriage.

I would not like to be on the flight where the metal detectors have failed and we have large groups of terrorists armed with dangerous kitchen cutlery that could bring down a plane.

[fender62]

girl could go to british embassy in pakistan and say she has been or is going to be married off without her consent, make it illegal in the uk
if parent are found guilty, they cannot return to the uk all assets seized and given to the daughter who would be allowed to return - fake husband.

[woofgang]

Once the girl is out of the country how easy do you think it would be for her to get herself to an Embassy and prove that she is British?

[woofgang]

dangerous kitchen cutlery......hilarious

[Old_Geezer]

The problem is thst the potential bride has to be very sure. If they aren't they don't use the technique and get caught out, or if overcautious they can accuse innocent parents and cause a massive rift.

Maybe long gaol sentences for parents who inflict this might help change minds. But ultimately, yes, a change of culture is what's necessary. Maybe take more of the west's back home in preference to bringing their's here.

[scooping]

I'm sorry but I thought this was a wind-up. Am I the only one?

[sanmac]

Scooping, or a stir-up?:)