Those who applaud Angela Merkel for her new-found butt-kicking attitude should consider the law and basic liberties firs

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/germany-targets-muslims-in-push-to-criminalize-forced-marriage/article1774397/

Next to the fact that I would wish that Germany would appear in the global news because of something valuable we have achieved and not only because of our sudden facade of strict policies towards Muslims in general, this article is a bit naive when it comes to the facts.

First of all, there is a thin line between a forced marriage and an arranged marriage, whether one likes the idea of the latter or not. Arranged marriages are indeed pretty common in some parts of Germany´s immigrant society and protecting women that end up in Germany after an arranged marriage far away from home and the culture and language they understand could be a positive affect of a new law. Unfortunately, the new law does the opposite, in fact, people have to married a year longer before they get their own permanent residency status. Thus, the new law would not change anything for the better.

There is an undeniable problem with forced marriage and especially cases as mentioned in the article, girls and young women send abroad for a family vacation and never to return. These cases are, unlike the article hints at, the minority and a whole different story than arranged marriages.

Those who applaud Angela Merkel for her new-found butt-kicking attitude should consider the law and basic liberties first. Both in Canada and in Germany the state has repeatedly withdrawn and reduced his competencies and responsibilities regarding peoples´ marriage and bedrooms since the Seventies. It is a legal problem if the state wants to exert more control again - but just for one religious group in the population. And it would be a legally problematic matter to find a formula for the new law that helps judges to distinguish between forced and arranged marriage
to be implemented in a state under the rule of law.

What women in need really need are structures they can rely on. They need a resident status or at least a refugee status on their own. Are we really expecting women to speak out against an arranged or forced marriage when they know they will be send back home - just to be the disgrace of the family, eventually in poverty and separated from their children? They need a state that protects them against so-called honor killings - with police force if necessary. They need a state that makes sure her children can stay with her, safe and with a minimum of social security. They need places to turn to, shelters in case of abuse, rape or the danger of forced marriage. They don´t need us to exploit them in favor of our new-found hard-lining against Muslims for mere strategic matters.

If Angela Merkel thinks about this and tries to implement all this into a big package of new laws that might change the status of Muslim women in Western countries dramatically, then we can clasp our hands. But as long as we don´t see this law it is just populism, just mere boosting her own severely damaged popularity while riding the wave of en-vogue Muslim bashing.