Via the Local:
Sweden's Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni agrees with Sweden's National Migration Board's (Migrationsverket) assessment, saying that new laws are needed.
The board's director general Dan Eliasson compiled data on forced and child marriages for the first time at the request of the government.
After examining the number of forced, child and proxy marriages that occurred from September to December last year, the agency has observed a number of shortcomings.
(...)
For example, the board sees a risk that under current practices, underage girls who are pregnant can obtain residence permits through a loophole in the law, creating a situation "where young girls are forced to become pregnant."
In the last four months of 2010, the board handled two applications for permanent residency from individuals who were involved in forced marriages with Swedish residents, five cases concerning child marriage, two of which were forced, and 29 so-called proxy marriages.
In total, the board dealt with 53 cases of cases concerning marriages with minors, forced marriages and proxy marriages. There were 19 arranged marriages, of which five were also proxies and two involved minors.
(source)
