Press Archives

Wednesday 22 September 2004

Response of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants to statement by Migration Watch on Asian marriages:

Habib Rahman, JCWI Chief Executive, said

"Asian people will be appalled at Migration Watch's attack on them. Asian people are here because they share British commitment to liberal democratic values and a free market. They are active citizens in supporting their local communities, playing their part in the professions and creating business success.

"Given the importance of religious faith to many Asian persons and the limited demographic pool of them in the UK, it is only natural that some of them will look to family and friends in Asia to expand their pool of potential partners. It should be recognised that people have the right to marry and found a family under international human rights law and that the UK immigration system, most recently with the marriage amendment of the new asylum and immigration bill, * already places significant and disproportionate barriers in the way of all people in the UK who wish to marry a non-EEA national.

"Migration Watch is clearly out of step with our globalised age. Not only Asian people but also many other people increasingly want the freedom to marry a person from another country, if that is the person of their choosing. Having said that the kind of rule-tightening that Migration Watch is proposing is also ill-informed, unnecessary and discriminatory in respect of a particular group of people."

*Notes to editors:

Under the new Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of
Claimants Act) 2004 all persons wishing to marry a non-EEA
national in England and Wales must attend a special
marriage registrar with their proposed partner to request
permission to marry which may be refused. In some
instances couples may be directed to request permission
from the Home Secretary. Couples wishing to marry in
Scotland and Northern Ireland and in the Church of England
are exempt from attending the special marriage registrar in
person.

Before AITOC was passed the Parliamentary Joint Human
Rights Committee advised the Government that the marriage
amendment was a disproportionate measure, risked being
discriminatory towards certain groups and risked breaching
people's right to marry and found a family under international
human rights law.

In declaring the exemption for Scotland Des Browne,
Immigration Minister, told the Commons he did not wish to
jeopardise the marriage tourism industry in Scotland.