IG

Rani is a 17-year old girl from a high school in Melbourne. When her parents said they were taking her overseas to marry a man she had never met, she thought she had no option but to comply. But after hearing an ACRATH person speak at her school, she learnt about her legal right to choose her own husband and to avoid a forced marriage. Thousands of students around Australia have heard presentations by ACRATH members, including information on forced marriage.

These presentations are underpinned by 2013 legislation which criminalised forced marriage in Australia. The law states Rani has the right to choose if, whom and when she will marry. Armed with this information, and support from her school, Rani was able to negotiate with her parents so she could stay at school and complete her secondary education.

ACRATH, along with many other organisations, advocated for five years to have forced marriage outlawed. The advocacy involved annual trips to Canberra to meet politicians and the development of resources for schools, celebrants and priests and community organisations.

According to the Government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare forced marriage has been the most reported form of modern slavery to the Australian Federal Police in every year since 2015–16, with 90 reports in 2022–23. In 2020–21, of the 79 reports of forced marriage, about half (51%) involved people under the age of 18 and 70% related to marriage overseas. In response to almost 50% of the reports, disruption or intervention strategies were used that stopped the offence from occurring. In January 2024, the AFP – as part of its focus on disrupting human trafficking across Australia – called on school communities to learn the signs of forced marriage as students prepared to return to the classroom this year.

AFP Commander Human Exploitation Helen Schneider said the AFP looked for any opportunity to disrupt and prevent human trafficking offences. “By educating the community of the prevalence of forced marriage and building awareness – particularly for those involved in school communities – we hope more people are empowered to seek help and report their experiences or suspicions to the AFP,” she said.

“Those closely involved with school-aged children are often best placed to identify the warning signs and indicators of human trafficking.”