Child Marriage Survivor Fights to End Forced Unions in Spain

Serroukh was the first woman to denounce an arranged marriage in Spain. Since her escape, she has dedicated herself to the fight against this scourge which is gaining ground due, according to her, to the "permissiveness" of the State with the Islamic communities. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, at least 27 forced marriages have been recorded in Spain since 2015, the year in which this practice became criminally punishable (article 172 bis of the Penal Code).

But there are no exact data for this crime for which victims generally do not file a complaint, reports El Español. "In the 80s when I fled, we lived in a society where immigrants were more considered and protected. Today, things are much more difficult for those living the same situation. The communities have become real ghettos... Forced marriages take place under the cover of a misunderstood multiculturalism," laments Serroukh.

Serroukh was born in Barcelona in 1974, to Moroccan parents. After the death of her father when she was only six years old, her mother remarried another Moroccan, a religious extremist with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood group. When she was 14, the latter wanted to force her to marry a man of Pakistani origin to allow him to enter Spain legally. That’s when Serroukh fled Figueres (Girona) where she lived with her mother and stepfather to come to Barcelona where she was taken care of by the authorities.

Unfortunately, things have changed for the worse, she deplores. When a woman refuses an arranged marriage, the religious or home country community exerts strong pressure on the family who, to wash their honor, persecutes and harasses the woman to make her change her mind. In the worst case, the woman ends up being killed, explains Serroukh, denouncing a practice that is spreading in Catalonia. According to Interior statistics, 14 of the 27 forced marriages recorded in Spain were recorded in this autonomous community.