Easter Forced Marriage Risk

By Aneeta Prem MBE
London, UK
Published: 5 April 2026

For many families, Easter means chocolate, family time and a few quieter days together. For some girls, it means the opposite. It means being trapped at home, watched more closely, cut off from school and frightened about what is coming next.

This Easter, a girl contacted me after seeing me speak in her school. I have changed her name and removed details that could identify her, but her words need to be heard.

I will call her Saeeda.

Easter Sunday at home

On Easter Sunday, Saeeda was shut in her room and too scared to come out. She had overheard her parents and brother talking about her as if she had no voice at all. From what she heard, she feared they would stop her from going back to school after the holiday.

She is preparing for exams and has worked hard. Even so, her home life has never treated her education as important. When teachers offered extra classes after school, her family did not let her stay. She had to come straight home the moment the bell rang.

Meanwhile, other children were expected to study. Saeeda was expected to do housework, care for family members and make herself useful. She told me her mother wanted her to become what she had become. Not educated. Not independent. Not free. Useful. Obedient. Silent.

Now Saeeda fears something even worse. She believes her family are discussing marriage to her first cousin.

Why Easter matters

That is why Easter matters here.

People often talk casually about school holidays and assume home is where a child rests. Many assume a few days away from school are harmless. Others assume family always means safety. Cases like this expose how wrong those assumptions can be.

For some girls, a holiday means more pressure, more monitoring and fewer chances to speak to a trusted adult. A girl who teachers, friends or safeguarding staff normally see each day can suddenly disappear behind a closed front door.

Forced marriage cannot be brushed aside as private family business. It is a safeguarding issue. Government guidance makes that clear. The same guidance also warns professionals not to involve family members or use mediation in ways that could place a victim at greater risk.

The warning signs begin earlier

What struck me most about Saeeda was not only her fear, but how normalised that fear had already become around her.

Her family had already downgraded her education. They had already filled her life with domestic labour. They had already controlled her movements. By the time the threat of marriage surfaced, they had laid the ground for it.

That is how these cases often unfold.

Rarely do they begin with one dramatic announcement. More often, they begin with restriction. A girl cannot stay after school. Someone picks her up immediately. She becomes anxious about the holidays. She falls quiet when future plans come up. Gradually, her world gets smaller.

Around her, people may call it culture, strictness or tradition. In truth, the warning signs were there long before anyone said the word marriage aloud.

Why the law is not the whole answer

When a girl finally asks for help, people often want a quick legal answer. Should there be a Forced Marriage Protection Order? Sometimes the answer is yes. These orders exist for a reason, and they matter.

Still, no one should pretend the law solves everything. Protection on paper is one thing. Safety in real life is another. Courts in England and Wales continue to deal with Forced Marriage Protection Orders, which shows the issue remains current, not historic.

In the real world, a frightened girl may face a backlash for speaking up. Her family may take her phone. They may watch her more closely. They may move her. In some families, the pressure simply shifts and lands on another girl.

That is why these situations need careful safeguarding, not slogans.

Why schools and charities matter

Freedom Charity’s work in schools matters for exactly this reason. Saeeda contacted me because she had seen me speak. She knew my name. She knew there was a charity that would understand what she was describing.

That matters more than many people realise.

Children do not disclose because a leaflet exists. They disclose because something clicks. It may be a school talk. It may be a story they recognise. It may be one sentence that tells them the life they are living has a name, and that what is happening to them is wrong.

For years, Freedom Charity has gone into schools to speak plainly about forced marriage, FGM and abuse committed in the name of so-called honour. I reject that word when it is used to dress up coercion. There is no honour in cornering a girl until she believes her future belongs to everybody except her. There is no honour in taking a child out of education through fear. There is no honour in making a girl dread the school holidays because she knows what waits for her at home.

Why this should concern everyone

This case should concern more than specialists.

Teachers should care because a child’s sudden anxiety about a holiday may not be trivial. School leaders should care because a family’s refusal to let a girl stay for revision, clubs or extra classes may point to a wider pattern of control. Police and social care should care because the abuse has often been building for some time by the time a girl openly talks about forced marriage.

Neighbours and relatives should care too. Silence is one of the things that keeps these girls trapped.

The latest Forced Marriage Unit figures do not capture the full scale of the problem, but they do show that cases and enquiries continue to move through official channels. Those figures are a reminder that this is still happening in the UK and that many cases will never reach the statistics at all.

Saeeda’s fear this Easter *

Saeeda’s words stayed with me because they were so stark and so young. She was not talking about a holiday. She was talking about fear in her own bedroom. She was talking about listening to other people discuss whether she would be allowed an education, whether she would return to school, and whether they would marry her off to a relative.

That is not a misunderstanding. It is abuse.

This Easter, while many children are eating chocolate and enjoying a long weekend, some girls will be measuring risk. They will be listening at the doors. They will be calculating whether they can send a message, make a call or hold out until term starts again.

We need to understand reality far better.

School holidays do not place every child in danger. For some girls, however, those holidays remove the only public space in which adults can see them. That is why forced marriage must stay on the radar of every safeguarding professional, especially when a girl becomes more restricted, more fearful or suddenly uncertain about whether she will return to school.

For Saeeda, Easter is not a celebration.

It is time locked indoors, listening to her future being decided by other people.

FAQ

What is a Forced Marriage Protection Order?
A Forced Marriage Protection Order is a court order that can protect someone who is being forced into marriage or is at risk of it. Official guidance explains how agencies should respond and why safety planning matters alongside any legal step.

Why can school holidays increase risk?
During holidays, a child may be away from teachers and other trusted adults, more exposed to family pressure and harder for safeguarding professionals to see. Government warnings and statutory guidance have recognised this risk.

Why does school matter so much?
School may be the one place where a girl is visible, can speak safely and can be noticed before risk escalates.

What does Freedom Charity do?
Freedom Charity works to prevent forced marriage, FGM and related abuse through education, awareness and support.

*Name changed to protect identity