British Somali teenagers are being lured back to their parents’ homeland under the pretence of family holidays then forced into marriages.
The teenagers were taken to the east African country and kept in detention centres, The Guardian reported. The centres promote themselves as schools for Somali cultural values and centre on “re-education”. It was claimed that staff routinely subjected young people to physical, sexual and mental abuse.
In some cases, it is believed that the children are held against their will and their only way out is to get married.
There has been a 100 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of forced marriage cases handled by the Home Office involving Somali children and teenagers. Last year the figure rose to 91.
David Myers,