Forced marriage is a crime

In early March, crowds packed into NSW Parliament’s Theatrette for an interfaith forum on forced marriage in Australia. The forum was the first of its kind in this country, and it took place exactly one year after forced marriage was deemed a criminal act in Australia.


You could sense both the urgency and gravity of the issue as women and men of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds brought the theatre to its full capacity. Forced marriage re-entered Australia’s media spotlight in February this year with reports that an imam in NSW allegedly married a 12-year-old girl to a 26-year-old man.

Coordinated by Anti-Slavery Australia and the Women’s Interfaith Network, the purpose of the forum was to initiate discussion about forced marriage between religious and ethnic communities and to strengthen support networks, both for victims and advocates.

Dr Eman Sharobeem, Director of Immigrant Women’s Health Service who was forced to marry when she was 15-years old, spoke of the important role that the media plays in bringing issues such as forced marriage to the forefront of public discussion. As an activist against forced marriage for many years, she has experienced constant tiredness and exhaustion, "For many years I have been speaking about the issue but no ears have been listening… But when the media began highlighting the problem of forced marriage, that is when more cases came forward, we could begin helping people out.”

Dr Sharobeem argued that the criminalisation of forced marriage is not enough. If men don’t know that what they’re doing is wrong, it is going to continue. Girls don’t want their fathers behind bars for acting out of a naive desire for the best for their child, "We need to tackle the issue at its core."

"Parents are moving from fear – fear that they will lose the honour of their family, fear for their daughters’ future, fear of what the community will think…"

Early intervention and community education is integral so that forced marriages can be prevented before they happen.

At one point during the forum, a young audience member stood up and shared her own experience, "I am a survivor of a forced marriage," she said. "When I had my Nikah (Muslim marriage ceremony) I didn’t know that I was getting married. I thought that it was just an engagement ceremony. My parents arranged it without telling me, but I trusted them because we’re always told in sermons that our parents, as elders, have our best intentions at heart."

The young woman’s comment about the content of sermons emphasised the importance of educating religious leaders, particularly in communities where forced marriage is a problem.

Maha Abdo, Muslim Activist and Executive Officer of the United Muslim Women’s Association, noted that several Australian imams have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to come together and deal with domestic violence at its core. Muslim panellist, Zubeda Rahman suggested that imams use a portion of their Friday sermons to educate the community about the fact that forced marriage is forbidden in Islam, "In Islam, the bride consents to marriage at her own free will," Zubeda said.

Australia’s diverse religious communities need to come together and establish that as people of goodwill we condemn the practice of forced marriage. "Domestic violence, honour related violence, genital mutilation, forced marriage, rape… it’s all violence," Dr Sharobeem said, "Let’s force an end to this and inspire change."

Ashleigh Green works in the Columban Mission Institute's Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations. Green works with women and young people from the Christian and Muslim traditions to promote better relations.

Read other articles by Ashleigh Green:
Christians and Muslims unite to end slavery or Faiths fight forced marriage

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