Action wanted on child brides

A CHILD bride is reported to NSW authorities every two weeks, prompting calls for an urgent inquiry into under-age forced marriages.

Four of the reports of under-age marriage have been made this year to the NSW Family and Community Services, which has joined with police in asking an Upper House inquiry into human trafficking to expand its scope to include child brides.

Another 20 reports were made last year, 39 in 2015 and 26 in 2014, although police and FACS said numbers were “significantly under-reported”.

The majority of reports came from schools.

So concerned is the State Government that it is missing cases, FACS has held “early and forced marriage master classes” with the Australian Federal Police and human rights and antislavery agencies to come up with strategies to tackle the issue.

In a joint submission to the State Parliamentary Human Slavery inquiry, NSW Police and FACS said under-age forced marriage should be added to the terms of reference as child brides were at risk of becoming sex and work slaves.