Forced Marriage

A forced marriage is when a person gets married without freely and fully consenting,
because they have been coerced, threatened or deceived,
or because they are incapable of understanding
the nature and effect of a marriage ceremony,
for reasons including age or mental capacity.

Forced marriage is a slavery-like practice,
a form of gender-based violence and an abuse of human rights.

ACRATH remains committed to eliminating forced marriage by:

  • raising awareness leading to action
  • acting regionally and nationally
  • working for systemic change, locally and globally
  • advocating with government
  • collaborating with counter trafficking networks

In 2013 the Crimes Legislation Ammendment Act inserted forced marriage into the Australian Criminal Code.  During the 2022/2023 financial year, the AFP received 90 reports of forced marriage. (Source:  Australian Federal Police)

(Please note that the materials developed by ACRATH listed on this page have been specifically designed for an adult workplace context. ACRATH strongly recommends that these materials not be accessed by school-aged students. Thank you.)

MY RIGHTS MY FUTURE - FORCED MARRAGE

Forced Marriage School resource ACRATH 2024

My Rights – My Future is a curriculum resource about forced marriage for Australian Secondary schools.

The purpose of this resource is prevention-focused awareness-raising and education – vital components of Australia’s strategy to combat forced marriage.

It contains key information for teachers, referral pathway information, and Australian Curriculum-linked lesson materials on a range of topics related to forced marriage.

 


Click on the following links to access resources on this page

ACRATH AWARENESS RAISING AND EDUCATION MATERIALS

ACRATH has developed supporting awareness-raising and education materials for workplace professionals including

Education –    Secondary school teachers, student welfare staff and support staff

Healthcare – Midwives, nurses and other healthcare professionals

Frontline Professionals –

Those who may encounter people in, or at risk of, forced marriage during their professional duties e.g., Child Protection professionals, police, multicultural agencies, settlement organisations


DO YOU NEED SUPPORT OR ADVICE ABOUT FORCED MARRIAGE?

ACRATH strongly recommends using  Anti-Slavery Australia's purpose-developed mybluesky.org.au website. This website is a go-to resource should you have questions about forced marriage in Australia . Spending time navigating the mybluesky website provides an excellent learning experience; familiarisation with the resources on the website is most important for those working with victim/survivors.

The MY BLUE SKY website also contains a guide for frontline workers - https://mybluesky.org.au/frontline-worker-guide


FORCED MARRIAGE COMMUNITY PACK

The Australian Government, in partnership with the National Roundtable on Human Trafficking and Slavery's Communication and Awareness Working Group, has developed a forced marriage community pack.

The pack provides information and resources on forced marriage and is available to download below:

To access these documents in other languages click here.


GUIDANCE FOR CLERGY AND MARRIAGE CELEBRANTS

On 27 February 2013 the Australian Parliament enacted legislation to strengthen the capacity of investigators and prosecutors to combat all forms of human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, including by introducing new offences of forced marriage.

The legislation includes two offences of forced marriage:

  • causing another person to enter into a forced marriage, and
  • being a party to a forced marriage (this offence does not apply to the victim of a forced marriage).

Both offences have penalties of a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment, or nine years’ imprisonment in the case of an aggravated offence (for example, where the victim is less than 18 years old, or the offender subjects the victim to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment). If a celebrant suspects that they may be involved in a forced marriage they should contact the Australian Federal Police or their local police immediately.

The Attorney General's Department of the Australian Government issued Guidelines on the Marriage Act 1961 for Authorised Marriage Celebrants. The most recent guidelines were issued in July 2018. Sections 8.6 and 12.4 have specific references regarding the responsibility of clergy and marriage celebrants with regard to forced marriage. Access the guidelines here.

Article Categories

Categories

Join Our Newsletter

Name(Required)
Select(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Latest Tweets