We must protect our kids
CHILD marriage should be called what it is: child rape. Being wedded to your abuser doesn’t make the abuse any less heinous.
Children cannot consent to sex or marriage and any child forced into a union with an older man will be repeatedly raped.
For that reason alone, it is critically important for authorities to take swift action to protect minors at risk, often from their own families, before it is too late.
The safety of children should trump any concerns about cultural or religious sensitivities.
There must also be significant penalties for enabling child abuse under the guise of marriage.
Last week, the first person prosecuted under forced marriage laws was sentenced in the County Court in Melbourne. The case has highlighted many shortcomings in the way authorities handle this growing problem.
The 35-year-old man pleaded guilty to a single charge of marrying a person not of a marriageable age, after prosecutors agreed to drop two other charges, including one of sexual assault — despite claims the victim was raped in the days following the ceremony.
You’d think a grown man who pays a $1480 dowry to marry a 14year-old schoolgirl could look forward to a lengthy sentence. Well, not in Victoria. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, despite the judge’s harsh words about his character and conduct. He is expected to be released within two weeks on a good behaviour bond after serving just 12 months of the prison sentence.
In this instance, however, the Rohingya asylum-seeker, who cannot be deported because he is considered stateless, will not be free to roam the streets and will be sent to immigration detention.
A 12-month sentence seems manifestly inadequate, particularly given the repeated warnings the man received from authorities, including police. The day before the ceremony both the man and the child’s mother were warned by a Department of Health and Human Services official about the illegality of what they were planning.
The court heard that child marriage was accepted in the offender’s home country of Myanmar and that he came from a disadvantaged background.
However, Judge Lisa Hannan refused to accept that the man did not know his actions were criminal.
She labelled his conduct “legally wrong and morally indefensible”, saying: “We have one set of laws that govern all who choose to live in our community and those laws must be upheld. The victim was entitled to a childhood you took from her. The message must be clear that offending which has the potential to so seriously damage the lives of our children will never be tolerated.”
The judge also took note of the conduct of the child’s mother, who she said was lucky not to have been charged for flouting the law. “She made no attempt to protect her daughter,” Judge Hannan said.
It seems incredible that the woman, who enabled the victimisation of a vulnerable child, misled authorities, and pushed on with the illegal marriage despite warnings from police and DHHS, has not faced any charges.
Questions also need to be asked of those in authority who for three months knew of the planned wedding and did not take greater action to protect the child. Simply warning the mother and would-be-groom that they would be breaking the law clearly wasn’t sufficient.
Prosecutors must also explain why the sexual assault charge was dropped. The only other party charged in this affair was the imam, Ibrahim Omerdic, who conducted the ceremony at the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque last September.
Omerdic was found guilty of solemnising an illegal marriage and received a two-month jail term, but was released immediately on a two-year good behaviour bond. Victorian taxpayers helped subsidise Omerdic’s legal bills after he won a costs order against Victoria Police.
There were 69 cases of forced and/ or child marriage investigated by the federal police in the 2015-16 financial year — a dramatic increase from 33 the previous year. Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist