An expert in forced marriages has backed plans to make the practice a specific criminal offence.
Jasvinder Sanghera, Asian affairs manager at charity Refuge, who ran away from an arranged marriage at 15, said people were "not being held to account" for forced weddings.
People who force others to marry can be charged with offences such as kidnapping and false imprisonment. But forcing someone to marry is not a specific crime.
A consultation launched this week by the Home Office and Foreign Office sets out the advantages and disadvantages of creating a new offence. It acknowledges that victims of forced marriage could be deterred from seeking help because of fears that their families could be prosecuted.
