The Government has decided to tackle forced marriage through its immigration policy. But such a measure has been argued to unfairly penalise those genuine couples and only extends the misery of those who are victims.

In 2008, the minimum age at which somebody could sponsor a spouse’s entry into Britain was raised from 18 to 21. Minister’s argued that such an increase would prevent young Britons from being forced into marriage.

However, two years have passed and campaigners are claiming that such a policy has had no positive impact on the situation. In fact, it is claimed that there has been a detrimental impact! By increasing the required age, you are only forcing victims to be kept abroad for longer. In addition to this, those couples that are genuine newlyweds are caught in the nets of this piece of legislation.

Approximately 370 cases a year are handled by the Forced Marriage Unit with 16.5% of those cases involving victims under the age of 16. A vast majority of cases (56% on average) are linked with Pakistan. Research indicates that many teenage brides are bullied and pressured into remaining in Pakistan until they are in their 20′s.

The JCWI or Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants is bringing an action on behalf of Amber Aguilar as a test case.

The Home Office have remarked that the increase in age was not in order to reduce numbers but based on the fact that a 21 year old may be able to resist the pressure of signing sponsorship papers better than an 18 year old could.

A spokeswoman from the Government refused to answer the question of the legislation being appealed but did remarked that: “In December 2009, the High Court ruled that the policy was rational and proportionate. Our key message is that forced marriage is a form of domestic abuse, a serious abuse of human rights, and where minors are involved, a form of child abuse. It can result in people being held captive, raped, and forced to have abortions, and has been linked to honour-based violence, and in extreme cases murder.”

If you are looking to immigrate to the United Kingdom, then finding an immigration solicitor is extremely important! QualitySolicitors can help you find a solicitor, no matter what part of the country you are in.

Antonia Torr is a graduate from the University of Leicester, with a degree in Law with European Union Law. Having enjoyed writing from a young age, Antonia has received numerous awards that act as a testament to her quality of writing. For the Best Solicitors near you, please visit our website at http://www.qualitysolicitors.com

If I were Prime Minister….

In a move that the general public are unfamiliar with, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister has asked the public to recommend laws and regulations that they would like to see abolished.

Clegg has launched the ‘Your Freedom’ website, where the general public can go and make suggestions as to what regulations and legislation they would like to see repealed.

These suggestions will be taken into consideration when the Freedom Bill is drafted this autumn.

But could Nick Clegg have bitten off more than he can chew when he asked the public for their opinion?

Not everyone will be happy, after all, one man’s civil liberty will be another man’s burden.

The more ironic aspect of this is that by wanting to curb the current laws in place ( such as the use of CCTV’s) he will have to create more laws to achieve this – something Clegg wished to avoid.

Yet another danger is that the public may ‘trash’ those policies that are close to the Liberal Democrat heart such as policies on Europe.

It does appear that initial response are centred around Health and Safety Legislation, old laws from the statute books and the smoking ban.

There has been some outbursts of anger though, claiming that Nick Clegg is ‘coping’ out and passing the buck. ‘It is after all what we elected the government to do’ is the popular outcry.

But is it so terrible that we have a government requesting our input and trying to truly follow the democrat model? Only time will truly tell.

In London, giving his speech, Nick Clegg said “real democracy is unspun – it is the raucous, unscripted debates that always throw up the best ideas”

“So be demanding about your liberty, be insistent about your rights. This is about your freedom and this is your chance to have your say.”

“The key thing about this is that, whilst ministers might be able to disagree with the suggestions, the suggestions will be out there. We won’t be able to control it, we won’t be able to control what the most popular ideas are, what the most numerous suggestions are.”

“This could release…maybe even a sense of fun as people think of silly rules that need to be scrapped.”

“I’ve discovered for instance, would you believe it, that there’s still an old law in the statute book that says it’s an offence if you don’t report a grey squirrel in your own back garden.”

“There is lots and lots of old stuff on the statue books that we should get rid of for starters”

Until that Freedom Bill becomes reality though, you will have to put up with those laws that most vex. Don’t forget to report those grey squirrels.

Antonia Torr is a graduate from the University of Leicester, with a degree in Law with European Union Law. Having enjoyed writing from a young age, Antonia has received numerous awards that act as a testament to her quality of writing. Let us put you in touch with the best Solicitors in London from our branches Nationwide. Or visit http://www.qualitysolicitors.com

Due to immense pressure from airline providers, the coalition Government is looking to revive plans that were scrapped by the previous labour government, in order to protect the consumer.

This protection refers to the nature of compensating travellers who are victims of holiday providers’ who have gone bust. At the moment, the current scheme known as the Air Travel Operators Licensing scheme (ATOL) scheme only compensates those who bought a package holiday.

Some of you may remember the recent incident of Goldtrail Holidays going bust. A significant number of passengers were left without compensation due to the fact that they had bought only air flights from the company and not a complete package. The suggestions made by the airline providers of today are attempts to remedy this situation.

It is not usually for families to have a ‘do-it-yourself’ holiday, by booking various services and products through different providers. And it is these holiday-makers that are suffering and paying the ultimate price.

Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, was very clear on the Government’s stance towards the ATOL scheme.

“We clearly have a problem with the ATOL scheme”, he remarked.

“Over the last few years the way in which people buy holidays has changed,” he said.

“The use of the internet, the use of a much more à la carte approach to purchasing flights and accommodation has made the clear distinct between what is a package holiday and what is not a package holiday much less clear”.

There is of course the option of extending the current ATOL scheme so that plane tickets would be covered.

But other suggestions have been made by the Civil Aviation Authority under the previous Labour Government. This includes the idea of adding a levy to plane tickets of £1. This levy would then be used to compensate those who are victims to airline collapse. But this levy would only apply to those passengers that bought tickets in the United Kingdom.

Goldtrail is not the only provider to cause holiday chaos. Zoom, XL, Maxjet, Silverjet and Eos are all airlines that have collapsed in the past decade. This combined with the fact that a staggering 200 million Britain fly abroad each year means that this is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.

“We believe there is a need for a universal scheme which would include protection for when a scheduled airline went bust. A levy would be the most practical way of doing this.” Says the Air Transport Users Council.

“Our own research has shown that less than a third of passengers even know they have any protection or not.

“It can lead to a pretty unpleasant shock and a hefty bill for a passenger when an airline fails.

“In the past when a carrier has failed, airlines have offered ‘special repatriation’ fares, but there is no guarantee they will next time.”

But not everyone is onboard. British Airways has condemned the proposed levy.

“We would resist any move to be included in such a scheme as charging passengers an additional fee will put up prices for everyone to protect the minority affected by scheduled airline failure,” a spokesman said.

“We are a well established airline and it would be unfair if our customers had to fund compensation for those who choose to travel on less established airlines.

“Due to our passenger numbers, our customers would pay a considerable share of the funding to provide protection against other airlines’ bankruptcy.”

Antonia Torr is a graduate from the University of Leicester, with a degree in Law with European Union Law. Having enjoyed writing from a young age, Antonia has received numerous awards that act as a testament to her quality of writing. For The Best Holiday Solicitors please visit our website at http://www.qualitysolicitors.com