Marital captivity is, as previously noted, a phenomenon that is not bound to a specific territory, nation or community. A great number of secular and non-secular countries have already had experiences with this phenomenon and have tried to resolve and prevent situations of marital captivity in various ways.

The extent and level with which religious authorities have been involved in redressing marital captivity, has also varied and is dependent on other factors such as the ongoing public discussion, the political climate and the State-Church arrangements which are characteristic to each country. This not only illustrates the variety in how countries have responded to end and prevent marital captivity, but it also shows that countries might adopt different approaches in their efforts to protect trapped spouses’ rights. Thus, country-specificities may also affect how human rights are protected and also the measures that States adopt within their territory to solve and end situations of marital captivity.

Using the Netherlands as an example State, the following subchapters provide an oversight of marital captivity as it occurs in the Netherlands. This exercise enables to bring clarity to the phenomenon and also allows to demonstrate how marital captivity is perceived in the Netherlands and what factors have contributed to this perception. It also enables to demonstrate examples of specific measures that have been adopted, the reasoning behind them and their respective advantages and limitations.