A growing number of young Sydney girls are reportedly being sent overseas to become child brides.
A recent report in the Daily Telegraph states that over 70 cases have come to light where girls, some as young as nine, from Sydney have reportedly been taken overseas and forced to become child brides.
A FACS case worker told The Daily Telegraph that most of these girls were being sent to Iraq, Lebanon, Indonesia and Pakistan and were most commonly aged between 14 and 16 when sent overseas during school holidays to be married to older men.
Some of these girls are being sheltered at youth home service and are at extreme risk of harm if discovered by their family. Some had become suicidal.
The reports to the FACS helpline include heartbreaking cases of teens being married under sharia law.
In one case, a nine-year-old girl was being sent to Afghanistan to marry and in another case, a primary school girl was described as being forced by her mother to return to Pakistan to get married.
To obtain confidential and free legal advice about forced marriage call Legal Aid NSW’s Family Law Intervention Unit on 1800 551 589
These cases have been reported to the government-run child protection helpline over the past two years, the Daily Telegraph says.
Most of the tip-offs have come from teachers, counsellors and school principals.
NSW Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard told the paper the "barbaric and cruel" practice has prompted him to call on the federal government to take action.
Mr Hazzard told the ABC it's unacceptable for children to be sent abroad to be married.
“They should talk to their communities and make sure they understand it’s completely unacceptable and criminal,” he said.
SBS’s National Community Engagement Manager Eman Sharobeem has been an advocate for immigrant women who herself has been through this. She was forced to marry her cousin in Egypt at 15 and says the epidemic won’t “end any time soon”.
She said the community must work with the government to make a difference. “Many consider it a practice of culture,” she said.
