The West Midlands Police in England is launching a special training scheme to help officers assist victims of forced marriage.

Fifty members of the force's safety bureau will take part in the training programme that seeks to raise awareness of the problem, help police recognise it and enable them to support victims who manage to escape; the scheme is scheduled to begin in May. Despite some girls being subjected to violence from their husbands, many of the girls are rejected by their families and, in some cases, killed for allegedly 'bringing shame' on their family.

Apart from this training scheme, police in the West Midlands and five other forces in the country, are working with Indian and Pakistani police in order to understand the scale of the problem and co-operate in working against it.

Forced marriage is most prevalent in the UK among girls from South Asian communities. They are sent to India, Pakistan or Bangladesh by their parents believing they are only going on holiday. Once abroad, however, they discover they are to be married against their will to a distant relative or family friend in order to strengthen links between the families.

Following several high-profile cases in the UK in which women had either been killed by their families or were in hiding following death threats, last August the Government announced a programme in order to protect its citizens from this abuse. It recommended the need for support for the victims, co-operation between British and overseas police forces, raised awareness among consular staff, compiling annual statistics and a help list small enough to be hidden for girls at risk.