Forced Marriage in Australia: Building a Social Response with Frontline Workers
| Published date | 01 February 2025 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639241242125 |
| Author | Jacqueline Nelson,Jennifer Burn |
| Date | 01 February 2025 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Forced Marriage in
Australia: Building a Social
Response with Frontline
Workers
Jacqueline Nelson and Jennifer Burn
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Abstract
The practice of forced marriage has been the subject of focussed attention over the past
15 years in Australia. The policy approach has largely centred on criminal law responses.
In this paper we turn to the social safety net, supports available for those experiencing
pressure to marry or in a forced marriage, and their families. We report on eight focus
groups with 56 participants working in key frontline roles, drawing on their perspectives
to advance our understanding of key features of the social response. We identify four
key features: the first is relational; frontline workers observe that an effective social
response is contingent on trusting, client-led relationships. Secondly, appropriate framing
and considered language is highlighted as critical. The third and fourth features are struc-
tural considerations within a social response: Australia’s migration and asylum-seeking
system and the resourcing of relevant social services.
Keywords
Australia, domestic and family violence, forced marriage, frontline workers, modern
slavery, social policy
The practice of forced marriage in Australia has been the subject of focussed government,
community and media attention over the past 15 years. Under Australian law, a forced
marriage is considered to have occurred when one or both of the parties to the marriage
have not fully and freely consented. Forced marriage constitutes a violation of human
Corresponding author:
Jacqueline Nelson, Anti-Slavery Australia, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Australia.
Email: jacqueline.nelson@uts.edu.au
Article
Social & Legal Studies
2025, Vol. 34(1) 89–109
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/09646639241242125
journals.sagepub.com/home/sls
rights and its impacts are varied and profound, affecting people’s sense of self, health,
economic status, and relationships to family and community. Legal and policy responses
to the practice of forced marriage in Australia over the past 15 years have largely centred
on criminal law responses, with less emphasis on supporting broader survivor and com-
munity led prevention work (Simmons and Wong, 2021). This paper emerges from the
Speak Now project in which we turned our attention to the prevention of forced marriage
in Australia. This paper sets out the important role of the social safety net for those
experiencing pressure to marry or who are already in a forced marriage. We define a
social response to forced marriage as the wide-ranging supports, services and educational
activities that work to prevent, respond and support those affected by forced marriage. A
social response involves individuals, families, communities, and government and non-
government organisations. In this paper we build a picture of what an effective social
response might look like, drawing on the perspectives of frontline workers.
The Legal Framework Around Forced Marriage in Australia
In International Law forced marriage is understood as a human rights abuse, with Article
16.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that “Marriage shall be entered
into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses”. In Australia, forced
marriage was criminalised in 2013, and is considered a form of modern slavery
(Simmons and Burn, 2013), and a form of family and gendered violence. A criminal
justice approach to forced marriage has been dominant in Australia since the practice
of forced marriage was criminalised and included as an offence in the Australian
Criminal Code. While the prevalence of any form of modern slavery is difficult to quan-
tify, forced marriage is currently the most common form of modern slavery reported to
the Australian Federal Police.
1
Under Australian law, a forced marriage offence applies to the moment in time when a
marriage is entered into. There is a precise legal definition of forced marriage in Australia:
forced marriage occurs when one or both persons have not freely and fully consented to a
marriage, because of threats, deception or coercion, or because the person is not capable
of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony, or because the marriage
was entered into when a party to the marriage was under 16.
2
The forced marriage offence
applies to legally recognised marriages, cultural or religious ceremonies and registered
relationships. The law covers marriages conducted in Australia and marriages outside
Australia if there is an Australian nexus to what has occurred. Any person who exercises
coercion, threat or deception over a person to obtain consent may be charged with a
forced marriage offence, including family members, friends, marriage celebrants and reli-
gious leaders. In Australia forcing someone to marry is punishable by up to 7 years
imprisonment or up to 9 years for an offence that is aggravated (the victim is subject
to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment), and up to 25 years if the person is a child
and is taken overseas to marry.
In addition to criminal law responses, a forced marriage may be considered by the
Family Court of Australia never to have been a valid marriage and it is possible to
make an application for a decree of nullity to annul the marriage.
3
With the exception
of the Family Law Act, 1975 there are currently few or limited provisions specifically
90 Social & Legal Studies 34(1)
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