end$child$marriage$ australia$ - naclc 33_2 ahram choi.pdf ·...

END CHILD MARRIAGE Australia

July 2013

Ahram Choi

/lawstuff.australia www.ncylc.org.au | www.lawstuff.org.au | www.childrights.org.au | @Lawstuff_Aus

Acknowledgment: photo on cover page from UK Forced Marriage Unit: hJp://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-‐and-‐living-‐abroad/when-‐things-‐go-‐wrong/forced-‐marriage/

•  The NCYLC is a naPonal legal and human rights centre for Australian children. We provide an email advice

service for young people (@ www.lawstuff.org.au/lawmail), as well as a legal informaPon website called Lawstuff (hJp://www.lawstuff.org.au and hJp://www.facebook.com/lawstuff.australia).

•  The website received over 1,000,000 page hits this year and the email advice service, accessed through the Lawstuff website, responds to approximately 1000 legal advices per year. As a largely online legal service we are able to provide preliminary assistance and referral to those young people who cannot access tradiPonal legal assistance. In the 2012-‐13 financial year, over 520,000 unique visitors received informaPon, referral and advice.

•  We also complete a number of advocacy projects each year and are responsible for project managing the

NGO report to the United NaPons regarding Australia’s commitment to the UN ConvenPon on the Rights of the Child.


‘Child marriage cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethniciPes. It is a worldwide phenomenon: girls under 18 are forced to marry in South Asia, in sub-‐Saharan Africa, in LaPn America and the Caribbean, in the Middle East and North Africa, and in communiPes in Europe and North America too.’ From the joint statement by the UN CommiJee on the Rights of the Child, UN CommiJee on the EliminaPon of DiscriminaPon against Women, the UN Special RepresentaPve of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sale of children, child prosPtuPon and child pornography, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Slavery, including its causes and consequences, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children and the UN Working Group on DiscriminaPon against Women in Law and PracPce.


The need for the End Child Marriage Project

•  Child marriage is a violaPon of children's rights and a direct form of discriminaPon against the girl child who as a result of the pracPce is ohen deprived of her basic rights to health, educaPon, development and equality.

•  At the Pme of the applicaPon for funding for this project, there was no Australian research

regarding best pracPse procedures, no factsheets or online resource aimed at educaPng children about their rights and no recommended guidelines for service providers on this subject.

•  There is very liJle informaPon regarding the extent or impact of forced marriage in Australia to date.


Project Aims •  To build the capacity of community service providers to respond to children (under the

age of 18) who are at risk of child abuse due to proposed or actual forced marriage, and to create educaPonal resources for children on the topic.

•  To create Australia’s first significant evidence base on child marriage which will inform

mulP-‐agency early response guidelines. •  To render child marriage more visible to young people, their workers and advocates. The project is naPonal and will be launched in the next month.


Project Methodology: 1.  NaPonal quanPtaPve and qualitaPve research

undertaken with community services providers and stakeholders

2.  A literature review of internaPonal approaches.


Project outputs: •  Literature review •  MulP-‐agency early response guidelines •  Research report for community service providers,

government and other relevant organisaPons •  Factsheet for young people •  AnimaPon for community workers and young people


DefiniDons •  The legal age for consent to marriage in Australia is 18. Children are incapable of exercising the right of refusal

or consent. Child marriage is an offence under the Marriage Act 1961.

•  Forced child marriage is the marriage of a person under 18 who does not or cannot consent to the marriage, and coercion is involved.

•  Under the new Criminal Code provisions, a forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both spouses do not freely and fully consent to the marriage because of the use of coercion, threat or decepDon. (Criminal Code , secPon 270.7A)

•  The offence relates to adults as well as children who are forced into marriage by either the person they are

marrying or another person, such as a parent or family member. •  The law applies to marriages that occur in Australia, as well as to marriages that occur in another country if the

offender is Australian. There is a penalty of seven years imprisonment for forcing a child into marriage.


Abusive and criminal nature of child marriage The behaviours associated with child marriage consPtute harm to a child, and a child at risk of forced marriage is in need of protecPon. Child marriage may also involve numerous other disPnct offences. The literature and internaPonal research establish that culpable behaviours associated with the forced marriage of children include the following: •  sexual assault, including rape and sexual intercourse without consent •  physical assault •  psychological and emoPonal abuse •  kidnapping •  abducPon •  threatening behaviour •  removal from educaPon •  false imprisonment


Context of child marriage •  There are many moPvaPng factors behind families forcing children to marry, and parents

ohen believe that they are building stronger families, protecPng their children and/or upholding perceived cultural or religious tradiPons.

•  Child marriage occurs within families within all major religions, as well as in families that are not religious. However, all the major religions require full and free consent to marriage, and marriage customs across and within countries and cultures are highly variable and subject to class and economic and structural changes. In spite of this, individuals and some families use religious or cultural arguments to impose marriage on vulnerable individuals.

•  Forced marriage is a form of violence against women and girls, and effecPve responses to it

will be situated within the framework of protecPon from violence and exploitaPon.


Key findings •  Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights and a form of domesPc violence, and,

where it affects children, child abuse. It can happen to girls and boys although in most cases (approximately 85%) it involves young women and girls.

•  There may only be a single opportunity to intervene and protect a vicPm. If vicPms

are not given appropriate support and referrals there is usually no opportunity for follow-‐up – important role for the community lawyer/CLC!

•  The consequences of not receiving adequate referrals are ohen dire for vicPms.


•  Forced marriage happens in all communiPes and across many different cultures. Our research has idenPfied cases of forced child marriage in each State and Territory in Australia.

•  Community service providers surveyed by us frequently indicate

that they are unsure of the legal status of child forced marriage as a putaPve child protecPon maJer.

•  There is no single situaPon that typifies the experience of a forced

marriage vicPm.


Key findings cont. In terms of best pracPce, the steps that have so far emerged as most important in the first instance are: •  Do not contact the child’s family •  See them immediately in a secure and private place •  See them on their own •  Engage child protecPon authoriPes and facilitate appropriate referrals, including emergency

accommodaPon if necessary •  Leaving home, for example into crisis accommodaPon, is a legiPmate response.

These steps are non-‐negoPable in the internaPonal literature, and our research so far corroborates their importance in an effecPve response.


Case study: Sarah’s story

*While the case studies in these Guidelines are based on real Australian cases, the names and iden;fying details of the circumstances have been omi?ed and/or changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved*


Sarah’s Story The Lawyer’s Role:

-‐  Informing the client, Sarah or her legal rights and opPons.

-‐  Making a court applicaPon to prevent the parents from sending her overseas and placing her on the Airport Watch list.

-‐  ContacPng child protecPon authoriPes and making sure that she has access to emergency accommodaPon

-‐  ContacPng AFP

-‐  Liaising with other services including:

-‐  Counselling and support -‐  AccommodaPon -‐  Health services -‐  DomesPc and family violence services



For further informaDon contact Ahram Choi Email: [email protected]

Phone: 02 9385 9588

NCYLC will provide support and help with any legal quesPons a child or young person has about forced child marriage and get them in

contact with other organisaPons that can help them. www.lawstuff.org.au/lawmail

end$child$marriage$ australia$ - naclc 33_2 ahram choi.pdf ·...

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