Australian reform developments in the response to forced marriage
In the past decade Australia has cemented forced marriage in the Commonwealth Criminal Code in alignment with human trafficking and slavery-like practices. More recently there has been a range of proposed reform measure to support for victims and in relation how to frame the legal and policy response.
Read our commentary on why, Australia’s response to preventing forced marriage should begin with listening to the needs of young women
Also read our submission to the recent Consultation on Enhancing Civil Protections and Remedies for Forced Marriage (with colleagues from Canberra University and UWS)
Recent legal outcomes
The first conviction for a forced marriage offence was handed down in mid-2024. See commentary on this development:
Is Australia’s first forced marriage conviction a win for modern slavery efforts?
Forced marriage as a form of family violence in Victoria
Victoria is the only state in Australia recognising forced marriage as a legal form of family violence. Since 2013, forced marriage has been understood and responded to in Australia as a form of human trafficking and a slavery-like practice and is a Commonwealth criminal offence, and it is also under consideration as a legal form of family violence in the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children (2022-2032).
Despite these commitments and developments, little is known about the impact of legally recognising forced marriage as family violence in Victoria, and the implications for family violence and other
responses by practitioners and frontline service providers, the interaction between the state- and federal-based criminal justice and service response, and the success of Victorian services meeting the needs of persons coming forward to seek assistance and intervention for potential, threatened or formalised forced marriage/s.
This project seeks to contribute to:
(1) ongoing national commitments to ending violence against women, and
(2) the ongoing commitment to building a robust evidence base on modern slavery and human trafficking practices, under the National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery (2020-2025).
Research team: Dr Shih Joo Tan, Dr Laura Vidal (Canberra University)
Read the full report