This week, the Storting adopted changes to the Marriage Act, which prohibits marriage between cousins or closer relatives than this. The Storting has also decided that marriages between cousins entered into under foreign law shall not be recognized if one of the parties was a Norwegian citizen when the marriage was entered into. Jasmina Holten is a subject expert in the police on the investigation of crimes of honor. – We see a clear connection between forced marriage and whether they are married to their cousin, she says. – This is therefore very good news. She says the stories about cousins who marry cousins and which end in violence are many and strong. – Some of them are completely incomprehensible, that it has happened in a country like Norway, says Holten. Read also: When the family becomes the enemy Risks ostracism from the family Holten says that the police experience that cousin marriage makes it easier for perpetrators to maintain honor in families, and that marrying within the family is a contributing cause of honour-related violence and abuse. Jasmina Holten in the Oslo district court, in a case about honor killing that news followed. Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud / news She has assisted in investigations all over the country, in cases that have to do with honor killings and honor violence. Holten says these are the recurring issues, and hit the victims of cousin marriage hard: They often find themselves in an extreme conflict of loyalty and cross-pressure. They have a lot to lose, and often see no way out. They risk total ostracism from the family. They have few options. They are often psychologically, socially and financially dependent on the community. They risk extreme social control, and limited freedom of movement. They have a higher risk of sexual abuse. Long debate The debate surrounding the ban on cousins marrying has wavered back and forth for over 20 years in Norway. Already in 2020, the Progress Party put forward a proposal in the Storting for such a ban. The purpose of the ban is primarily to prevent health damage in children. In 2007, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) published a report on arranged marriages in Norway. Among the authors was Camilla Stoltenberg, former director of FHI. The report shows that children of first-cousin couples have an increased incidence of stillbirth, congenital malformations and infant death, and that they have a lower average birth weight. Camilla Stoltenberg, former director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, FHI, has been central in mapping the health damage caused by cousin marriage. Photo: Håvard G. Hagen / news But in the public debate, the most important argument has been the danger that such marriages can take place under duress. Forced marriage is prohibited in Norway. A legal ban on cousin marriage has been repeatedly proposed to discourage forced marriage, but has been voted down. Read also: The red shoe. – Appearing in various criminal cases Jasmina Holten, who works at the Oslo police district, says there are large dark figures when it comes to honor killings and negative social control in marriages between cousins. – We see that the problem arises in various criminal cases, but they are coded for violence or mistreatment and end up across sections, and therefore it is difficult to identify the cases, says Holten. – We have dragged young, vulnerable people off the plane 20 minutes before departure to their home country to marry off their cousin. The stories are many and strong, and some of them are incomprehensible in the world’s best country. Many of the victims were born here, and have been connected to Norway for several generations, says Holten. Facts about cousin marriage Intermarriage, defined as close kinship between parents (triplets or closer), is widespread worldwide, and common in many countries in North Africa, the Middle East and West Asia. In Norway, such marriages were relatively common until 150 years ago. It has long been known that kinship between parents increases the likelihood of illness in the children, primarily because the parents are then genetically more similar to each other than random couples, so that the risk of hereditary conditions increases. In the period 2013 to 2017, the number of children born to cousin couples was between 340 and 380 each year. Among parents with a Pakistani background (the largest group with cousin marriages), before the turn of the century there was up to 40-50 per cent occurrence of such marriages in Norway. In the period 2010–17, it was 24 per cent, while the proportion of Norwegian-born of Pakistani parents who entered into cousin marriages was 17 per cent. The figures for other minorities who frequently practice cousin marriage (Turkish and Moroccan rural background) show an even greater reduction. Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Health consequences for children when the parents are close relatives – Given away to her cousin when she was 4 years old Holten says that children in questioning have explained that they were betrothed and given away at a very young age. – In one of the cases, the victim said that she was given away to her cousin when she was 4 years old. In another case, a boy in his late teens said that he was 8 years old when he was given away to his cousin. In both cases, they were subjected to violence and mistreatment when they tried to oppose these marriages, she says. Jasmina Holten is a specialist in the investigation of crimes of honor in the Police, and teaches police students. Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud / news – Children and young people in these situations in reality have little opportunity to choose a partner other than the predetermined one, without being exposed to reprisals. Pressure can be ingrained as part of upbringing throughout childhood, says Holten. She hopes a ban will give such victims a freedom in Norway they have not had before. Prohibition of human rights violations? It has been part of the debate that banning cousin marriage violates the right to marry whomever you want. The UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Article 23, and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 12, provide a right to marriage and to found a family. Commissioned by the government, the Norwegian Institution for Human Rights, NIM, investigated the issue in 2022. The conclusion was that if a ban was introduced to limit health damage, then NIM believed that it is – without doubt – not a violation of human rights to introduce a ban. But if a ban is introduced to prevent forced marriage and negative social control, then NIM believed that they did not have a good enough basis to make a statement. Holten is stationed at Stovner police station in Oslo. Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud Jasmina Holten says she understands the ethical and human rights objections to a ban, and that there are people who marry their cousin out of love. – But through many years of operative work in the field of investigation, I have seen the dark side of this. The costs for the victims, and society, are far too great, says Jasmina Holten. Published 23.06.2024, at 21.58
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The Storting passed a ban on cousin marriage – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
