Forced marriage is the most common form of human trafficking in Australia. We speak to a victim-survivor about how she escaped.
Aisha was engaged by the time she was 13. Within three years she'd taken her parents to court to escape a forced marriage Aisha was engaged by the time she was 13. Within three years she'd taken her parents to court to escape a forced marriage Aisha remembers the precise moment her mum introduced her to the distant relative she was going to marry. She was 12 years old."She shows me a photo of this man who's in his mid-20s and she says: 'This is going to be your husband.
"I would overhear my mum saying 'she's out of control. She needs to be married off. We can't control her.'"Around the time Aisha was 15, she overheard a conversation between her mum and her aunt that would change the course of her life.Aisha still grieves the loss of her family and community, but has no regrets for choosing to live life her way.By this stage, Aisha had visited the man in India and undergone what she now knows was an engagement ceremony.
But there was a catch. Aisha was still a minor, so she needed her parents' approval to be put on the watchlist. Most victims are girls and young women who aren't given control or agency in their lives, according to one of the country's top human exploitation investigators, the AFP's Detective Superintendent Stephen Jay."We're very aware that this is an under-reported crime. So that's 91 matters which have been referred to us as forced marriage investigations ," he said.
"The challenge for us is obviously to work with our partners in law enforcement to teach them what human trafficking is."
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