• Drafters should consider the legal options for the victim to end a forced marriage. It is important to ensure that victims understand that a protection order or criminal sanction does not automatically annul or dissolve the marriage but provides the basis on which to do so.

• Laws should guarantee to women the same rights and responsibilities at the dissolution of a marriage as men. Laws regarding annulment of a marriage should safeguard both parties’ rights to property and guarantee them information regarding the proceedings. Any options for ending a marriage should protect her rights, including those related to property, child custody, immigration status and support.

• Laws may annul a marriage as void or voidable. Voiding a marriage does not require a formal decree and will render the marriage as though it never existed. Statutes generally void a marriage under certain fundamental conditions, for example, an absence of voluntary consent, a party is already married, a party is not of legal age, or the parties are related within a certain number of degrees.

• Drafters should be aware of civil laws that may negatively impact the status of children or property rights when a marriage is automatically voided. The Newham Asian Women’s Project noted that children borne of voided marriages will be regarded as illegitimate in the UK unless both parties held a reasonable belief that the marriage was legitimate and the husband’s residence is in England or Wales. In contrast, a voidable marriage requires a formal court decree for termination. Laws should not impose time restrictions upon when a party may seek to annul a marriage, but may instead increase the presumption of the marriage’s validity with time.

• Drafters should eliminate any compulsory waiting periods for divorce aimed at facilitating reconciliation between parties in a forced marriage. Laws should not grant legal recognition to religious traditions that deny women due process in divorce proceedings. Divorce should only be recognized through formal legal mechanisms. For example, by saying “talaq” or “I divorce you” three times, a man can divorce his wife under Sunni Muslim tradition. Women who have been so divorced lose their home and financial support. Laws should establish a legal process and legal aid resources for women to assert claims for marital support, child custody and property claims against husbands who have divorced them in this manner.

Examples of Laws:

• Norway Act 47 of 4 July 1991 provides that either spouse may apply for annulment in cases of forced marriage or abuse. Section 23 states that a “spouse may also demand divorce if he or she has been forced by unlawful conduct to contract the marriage. This applies regardless of who has exercised such force.”

• The UK Matrimonial Causes Act of 1973 voids a marriage if “either party to the marriage did not validly consent to it, whether in consequence of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise.” A party seeking to void the marriage must seek the annulment through civil proceedings within three years of the marriage.

• The Hindu Marriage Act provides for both automatic annulment and voidable marriages. In the former case, a marriage is automatically annulled upon petition if: a) either party already has a living spouse at the time of the marriage; b) the marriage is between relatives, except where custom governing each of them permits their marriage; c) The parties are sapindas--or descendants from the mother or father’s lineage--of each other, except where custom governing each of them permits of a marriage between them. The law states that an “annulment may be granted when a marriage is automatically void under the law for public policy reasons or voidable by one party when certain requisite elements of the marriage contract were not present at the time of the marriage.” In cases where consent was not present, annulment is not automatic, and the party must seek annulment. Valid grounds for annulment include consent due to unsoundness of mind or consent that was given due to force or fraud. The law imposes a deadline within which a party can seek annulment: the party cannot seek annulment if she presents her petition more than one year after the force had stopped or the fraud discovered, or the petitioner has lived with the spouse, with her full consent, after the force has stopped or the fraud discovered. Also, child marriage is subject to annulment, but the law differentiates between the minimum age for marriage for boys and girls. The minimum marrying age for boys is 21, whereas the minimum age for girls is 18. Establishing a lower age for girls discriminates against women, and the age should be equal for both men and women. The parties lose standing to annul the marriage, however, once the underage party voluntarily cohabitates with the spouse past the age of consent. Drafters should extend or remove the period of annulment. It may take the party time to access resources or gain the capacity to leave the marriage. Drafters should also remove the bar for annulment when parties have cohabitated past the age of consent.