We are delighted to announce Naomi Wiseman of Garden Court Chambers Family Team has been shortlisted at the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO)'s True Honour Awards.
Our Mukhtiar Singh is a long standing co-sponsor of the awards. Please click here to find out how you can also support the vital work IKWRO does.
Naomi has been a dedicated part of the Right to Choose campaign and the Girls Not Brides campaign using her considerable experience, skill and determination. Naomi balances her busy practice with assisting these vitally important campaigns selflessly and with great enthusiasm. Naomi is also a visiting research scholar at the University of Cambridge Family Law Centre.
For the Girls Not Brides campaign, Naomi has been providing legal advice for the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) on a new Bill that could close a loophole allowing child marriage in England & Wales. She has been relentless with her efforts to change the law. The campaign was just yesterday featured in The Guardian.
Naomi has also been quoted in a previous Guardian article about the Girls Not Brides campaign:
“The UK has no legitimacy with respect to international human rights when we are allowing child marriage to take place in this country.
Currently the onus is on the victim to say they have been forced into marriage. A ban on child marriage would take away that pressure.
The other concern is girls who have been groomed won’t believe they have been forced. If there is no element of force, then you must examine the fact we are talking about children who do not have the capacity to consent. Put simply, it is a child protection issue.”
IKWRO is part of the Girls Not Brides Global Partnership seeking to end child marriage around the world. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a 16 and 17 year old can marry with parental consent and in Scotland the minimum marriageable age is 16. Activists believe consent can mean coercion. Naomi is working alongside IKWRO on this campaign.
To protect children, Girls Not Brides are calling for the minimum marriageable age to be raised to 18 in Scotland and parental consent in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to be abolished.
To find out more about the campaign and how you can support these organisations, visit IKWRO and Girls Not Brides' websites.
This acknowledgement of Naomi's contribution and effort to these campaigns is greatly deserved, well done Naomi!
