Article By David Lindfield
At least 100 girls aged 11 or younger were flagged as suspected victims of forced marriage in Britain over a five-year period, including 27 children who were under the age of five, according to government data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The disturbing figures cover referrals made to the British government’s Forced Marriage Unit between 2021 and 2025 and include cases reported by relatives, friends, police officers, teachers, and social services.
Campaigners warn that the official figures may represent only a fraction of the true scale of the problem because many cases are never reported to authorities.
The revelations are fueling renewed scrutiny of Britain’s failure to eradicate forced marriage and a political fight over the role that years of mass immigration have played in importing cultural practices fundamentally incompatible with Western values.
27 Suspected Victims Were Under Five
The Forced Marriage Unit received information concerning at least 100 girls aged 11 or younger who were believed to have been forced into marriage between 2021 and 2025, according to figures disclosed by the Home Office.
Twenty-seven of the children were under five.
Forced-marriage campaigner Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who fled a forced marriage herself at 14, described the ages involved as “deeply disturbing.”
Sanghera has previously warned that some children can be promised to future husbands from birth.
The official statistics capture cases that came to the attention of authorities.
They cannot account for children whose circumstances were never reported.
RAIR Foundation argues that the figures represent “just the tip of the iceberg” and ties the problem directly to mass migration and Islamic forced-marriage practices.
The British government, however, maintains that forced marriage crosses religious and cultural boundaries.
A government official said forced marriage is “not a problem specific to one country, religion or culture; there is no archetypal victim or perpetrator, and no two cases are the same.”
“Sleepwalking Through This Nightmare”
The issue has provoked outrage among human rights campaigners and decent-minded British citizens.
During an appearance on GB News, journalist Khadija Khan warned that the figure of 40% of forced marriage cases in the UK involving children is “likely just the tip of the iceberg.”
“We can no longer pretend that we have been sleepwalking through this nightmare,” Khan asserted.
WATCH:
'We can no longer pretend that we have been sleepwalking through this nightmare.'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 31, 2026
Journalist Khadija Khan says that the figure of 40% of forced marriage cases in the UK involving children is 'likely just the tip of the iceberg'. pic.twitter.com/t1kVDuUvhw
In a separate GB News interview, Dr. Taj Hargey, the founder of the Oxford Institute for British Islam, argued that the British public is being prevented from demanding action due to the nation’s so-called “anti-hate” laws.
Such crimes should be “condemned without fear of upsetting anyone,” he told GB News.
“This should be totally condemned by the Muslim society up and down the UK,” Hargey added.
WATCH:
'This should be totally condemned by the Muslim society up and down the UK.'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 31, 2026
Founder of the Oxford Institute for British Islam, DR Taj Hargey says forced marriage involving children in the UK should be 'condemned without fear of upsetting anyone'. pic.twitter.com/h6ONbn9LaW
Reform UK Links Rise to Mass Immigration
Reform UK Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf pointed directly to Britain’s unprecedented immigration levels when addressing the increase in forced-marriage cases.
“This sudden rise in forced marriages tracks almost perfectly with the Boriswave, which saw the Tories import four million new people into the U.K.,” Yusuf said.
The “Boriswave” refers to the massive increase in legal immigration following post-Brexit reforms introduced under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government.
RAIR Foundation similarly argued that the rise cannot be separated from Britain’s mass-migration policies.
Political commentator Collin Rugg warned that fear of being branded racist could also discourage people from reporting suspected abuse.
“U.K. residents are worried about reporting child marriages for fear of being accused of ‘racism,’ as children under 5 are reportedly being forced into marriage,” Rugg said.
“Some U.K. leaders are concerned that five-year-olds will return from school break married or engaged,” Rugg continued.
“According to Home Office data, forced marriages in the U.K. are on the rise.
“Some children have been promised to older men from birth, according to charity founder Dame Jasvinder Sanghera.”
Forced Marriage Is a Crime in Britain
Forcing someone into marriage is illegal in the United Kingdom, with additional protections applying to children.
Yet the latest government figures show authorities are still encountering suspected victims at extraordinarily young ages.
UNICEF data shows that South Asia contains some of the world’s largest populations of child brides, with India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan among the countries accounting for enormous numbers of cases. Sub-Saharan Africa also has a significant prevalence of child marriage.
The newly disclosed British figures do not establish the religion, ethnicity, immigration status, or national origin of each of the 100 suspected victims.
What they do establish is alarming enough: British authorities received forced-marriage referrals involving at least 100 girls who had not even reached their 12th birthdays in just five years.
Twenty-seven were not even five years old.
And because those numbers include only cases that reached the attention of the Forced Marriage Unit, campaigners warn the true number of vulnerable children caught in the practice could be considerably higher.
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