Australia’s frightening record of forced marriage cases rise as AFP investigate two a week

Police are investigating almost two cases of forced marriage a week in Australia – but authorities say it is just the tip of the iceberg. See the warning signs and video.

Police are investigating almost two cases of forced marriage a week in Australia – but authorities say it is just the tip of the iceberg with the crime being “chronically under-reported”.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the practice of forced marriage – where one person is not able to freely and fully consent to the ceremony occurring – is being detected by human trafficking teams in every state and territory.

The vast majority of victims are vulnerable underage girls or young women and the level of incidents is frighteningly returning to record pre-pandemic levels.

“Out of all the human trafficking offences that the AFP investigates, forced marriage is the number one most reported allegation that we receive,” Detective Superintendent Stephen Jay, head of the force’s Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), said.

Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Stephen Jay is head of the force’s Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation.

“We recognise as an organisation that these figures are chronically under-reported. 

“We are under no illusions that incidents of forced marriage greatly exceeds that and a big part of what we do is working with state and territory police to build a joint approach to tackle the issue.”

The AFP has devised a training program – Look A Little Deeper – teaching other agencies like state and territory police and Border Force what signs to be on the lookout for.

“We recognise that the numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. We recognise that the amount of people living in forced marriage situations around the country greatly exceeds 91 a year,” Supt Jay said.

“We train our top line agencies, agencies that may interact with members of the community and teach them what the indicators are for human trafficking and forced marriage so that if they do see something, they’ll look a little deeper and go hang on, this might not just be a domestic violence matter – obviously domestic violence is a significant issue – but this might be something that extends beyond that. This might be a vulnerable woman who is living in circumstances where she has no freedom and she has been forced into a marriage.”

Force marriage cases are complex and often there is a reluctance from the victim to give evidence. Picture: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

He added: “The program is designed to raise a national awareness … to make sure … we all have a similar understanding of what forced marriage looks like, so if it does present at a regional police station, the members who speak to that person have an awareness of it.”

Forced marriage has been a crime in Australia since 2013, but it was not until July this year that the first conviction for the offence was recorded.

A second conviction was recorded on Friday when a NSW father tried to wed his two children aged 15 and 17. He was jailed for three years and four months with a non-parole period of one year and 11 months.

Supt Jay said cases were complex and often there was a reluctance from the victim to give evidence as sometimes “the victim and offender are closely engaged if not directly related”.

“It’s an extremely challenging crime. It’s hard. And it involves people who are vulnerable.”

However, Supt Jay did expect more convictions in the future.

“I can’t go into details for operational reasons but I can tell you there are a number of matters under investigation at the moment and there are a number of matters currently before the court,” he said.

“We want to arrest and prosecute offenders, that’s our job, but ultimately we recognise we need to make victims the centre of all decision making, and that’s what we do.”

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Originally published as Australia’s frightening record of forced marriage cases rise as AFP investigate two a week