History

Due to many tragic cases of murder in the “name of honor” which have become public, a nationwide political and social discussion about forced marriages and values in migrant families living in Germany has begun in 2005.
On May 18, 2005 the Lower Saxony parliament asked the State government to develop a plan of action on the topic of “despising forced marriages – avoiding forced marriages” until the end of 2006 at the latest.
On May 24, 2005 by way of resolution by the State government an inter-ministerial Working Group (IMAK) was founded, named “Plan of action: forced marriages”.
The plan was developed by the IMAK in 14 meetings and within the framework of many other working groups and meetings initiated and managed by the Ministry.
Besides the inter-ministerial meetings, there were many different meetings with institutions and committed people. Some of them were:

• Local central organizations
• The working group of the youth welfare offices of Lower Saxony and Bremen
• Meeting of all heads of the foreigners’ authorities in Lower Saxony
• Representatives of the police
• Representatives of schools
• Representatives of youth welfare offices and family court judges
• Representatives of counseling centers
• Representatives of the Community consisting of representatives of migrant associations and religious groups

Within the framework of the implementation of the plan the Lower Saxony Telephone Hotline against forced marriages was established. It is an important part for putting the plan into practice. The Telephone hotline started its work for the first time in December of 2006.