Enhancing Civil Protection and Remedies for Forced Marriage – Consultation Paper
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department in response to its July 2024 consultation paper, Enhancing Civil Protections and Remedies for Forced Marriage.
The Law Council endorses the goal of enhancing Australia’s response to combat forced marriage in the National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery 2020–24.1 The Law Council also welcomes the broadening of access to the Australian Government’s Support for Trafficked People Program (including the Forced Marriage Support Stream) (STPP), which provides assistance to victims of human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, including forced marriage and forced labour.2
At the outset, the Law Council notes that Australia, as a multicultural society, celebrates its diversity, but also the rule of law which unites us. Identifying and drawing attention to certain cultural practices by sectors of the Australian community requires thoughtfulness, temperance and a significant degree of sensitivity so as not to single out or discriminate against any particular sector. An educative process is paramount to build a strong foundation for any enhancements to the availability of civil protections and remedies for forced marriage, noting these sensitivities.
Read the full submission below.
1 See further, Law Council of Australia, Submission to Australian Border Force, National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery 2020-2024: Public Consultation Paper (Submission, 21 February 2020), 17-18 [54]-[60].
2 Attorney-General’s Department, Enhancing Civil Protections and Remedies for Forced Marriage: Consultation Paper 2024 (July 2024) 5 (‘Consultation Paper’).
Last Updated on 06/11/2024