Denmark's former immigration minister is JAILED for ordering asylum seeking couples to be separated if one was a minor in a bid to stamp out child marriage

Even for kids with a small age difference you have to consider whether either one of them (but primarily the girls) had a say. I think in syrian camps girls were being married off as they were then seen as protected as a married woman. Ultimately we don’t believe in the UK that a child can fully consent to marriage.

I imagine some of the girls were happy to have some breathing space form a husband not of their choosing and the possibility of exiting a marriage. Womens prospects from more traditional societies are drastically curtailed upon marriage, can I go to uni, can I get a job etc.some of these girls would need their husbands, in-laws consent. I wouldn’t want that, if i had left syria and landed up in a society like denamrk damn right I’d want a life of my own and I’d want what Danish women have,

I have no idea of whether she deserves to be in prison but i agree with the policy. I come from a background where arranged marriage was normal for a long time (not so much now) men wield enormous power within their families.

I thought the problem was that they weren't applying discretion when circumstances deemed it necessary. So they were seperating families, eg 17 year old with a baby would be seperated from her 18 year old husband. Also the motivation wasn't protecting child brides it was the far right punishing refugees for daring to seek asylum.

I wasn’t sure whether I agreed with you or not OP but much of the reportage does seem determined to shape the narrative.

The NYT’s headline is she was prosecuted for separating ‘underage couples’ which seems especially egregious. The girls were aged 15-17 the boy/men 17 - 32. Denmark’s age of marriage is 18.

As far as I understand she was prosecuted (as it relates to the issue of separating couples) for applying the policy in the general rather than interviewing the couples and deciding individually.

It does seem remarkable that media organisations will not acknowledge (and worse hide) that there may be issues with underage girls being forced into marriage in their coverage of this.

It's not quite as straightforward as OP is making out.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/13/danish-ex-minister-inger-stojberg-given-jail-sentence-for-separating-couples-seeking-asylum

I think that’s not the whole story - I was astounded by the headlines but I think the actual problem was her misleading a committee.

Awful. I don't agree with making immigrants give up the dew valuables they have (I assuming it is small amounts) but am right with her on this.