A/HRC/4/23 page 10 24. In his 2006 in-depth study on all forms of violence against women, the Secretary-General stated that “[a] forced marriage is one that lacks the free and valid consent of at least one of the parties. In its most extreme form, forced marriage can involve threatening behaviour, abduction, imprisonment, physical violence, rape, and, in some cases, murder” (A/61/122/Add.1, para. 122). 25. The Governments of, for example, Austria, Canada, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom distinguish arranged marriages from forced marriages in that in an arranged marriage the parents/families take a leading role in arranging the marriage, but the decision whether to consent to the arrangement remains with the individuals getting married. The distinction is said to rest in the right to choose a partner, the ability to say no, and the supposition that the marriage is not entered into under duress. In addition, several Governments, including the United Kingdom, describe arranged marriage as a tradition existing within many communities and many countries for a long time.4 26. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that in some cases the difference between an arranged and a forced marriage is tenuous. Arranged marriages have been defined as “a form of social construction that informs the girl from a young age of her expected familial duties and her understanding of what constitutes bringing ‘shame’ upon the family. If a young woman is bodily kidnapped the force is obvious but when a marriage is ‘arranged’ by her relatives’ trickery and stealth, she does not realize, often until it is too late, that an arranged and forced marriage amounts to much the same thing”.5 A marriage imposed on a woman not by explicit force, but by subjecting her to relentless pressure and/or manipulation, often by telling her that her refusal of a suitor will harm her family’s standing in the community, can also be understood as forced. 27. The responses to the questionnaire on forced marriage, informed the Special Rapporteur that the main victims of forced marriages are women and girls. The French NGO, Mouvement français pour le planning familial stated in its response that boys are also concerned by forced marriages, but that this is rare. Other respondents, such as the Serbian NGO, ASTRA-Anti-Trafficking Action, mentioned that child marriages in some rare cases also may involve male children. Also, the United Kingdom Forced Marriage Unit stated in its 2005 report that “there is evidence to suggest that as many as 15 per cent of victims are male”.6 4 United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office, “Forced Marriage: A Wrong Not a Right”, 2005, page numbers not specified. Available at: http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/KFile/forcedmarriageconsultation%20doc.pdf accessed 20 November 2006. 5 Carole Olive Moschetti, Conjugal Wrongs Don’t Make Rights: International Feminist Activism, Child Marriage And Sexual Relativism, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Melbourne, Political Science Dept., Faculty of Arts, 2006. 6 United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Forced Marriage Unit, Dealing with Cases of Forced Marriage: Guidance for Education Professionals (1st ed.), 2005, p. 3.