The Dutch government plans to introduce measures to stem the influx of foreign brides and grooms. Would-be marriage migrants will have to be at least 18, and marriages between cousins, aunts and uncles will no longer be allowed. The measures are aimed at marriages between Dutch residents of foreign origin – particularly from Turkey and…
Rotterdam city council suspects that some girls may have been married against their will over the summer. The suggestion stems from a campaign instituted at the end of the last academic term to help girls avoid arranged marriages. In May, Telegraaf reported that the new measures would allow girls who are worried they may be…
Muslim women and their Christian fiancés from across Europe are travelling to Oxford to get married because imams in their own countries refuse to perform the ceremonies. Dr Taj Hargey, chairman of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford, said he had performed about 36 marriages in the past two years between Muslim women and non-Muslim…
The Rotterdam council has begun a trial to prevent girls from being forced into arranged marriages during religious and cultural holiday periods. It is reported that every year, dozens of Dutch girls with Moroccan, Turkish, and Pakistani backgrounds fail to return to the Netherlands after international travels during the holidays. Most of these girls, the…
For the first time in Iceland, a fully Icelandic Muslim couple was married. The occasion is an important moment for the Muslim community in Iceland, where previously, the country’s very small Muslim population had only seen converts married in the mosque. The country’s first “all-Icelandic” couple married at the Muslim Association Mosque. The had of…
