Yesterday, the Family Court saved a 14 year old girl from an arranged marriage with someone she had never met. Her father was about to take her overseas to marry a man he had chosen to be her husband. The Melbourne teenager is one of many Australian-born girls forced into unwanted marriages. She had to surrender her passport and the court has barred her from travelling overseas until she turns 18.
In June, child protection officers received a report that a 13 year old girl had been taken out of school ahead of her intended marriage. Federal police placed the girls name on the official Watch List at airports around the country. Her family are Muslims from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. She had been engaged for a month to a 17 year old boy from another country but they had never met and she had only seen a photograph of him.
The officer said he formed the opinion that the girl did not understand the concept of having sex with her new husband and hadn't discussed her feelings with her parents. She didn't know what her mother thought about the marriage.
"It is my belief that it would not be in her best interests to be married as she is still a child and does not appear to understand the consequences of marriage" the officer's affidavit said. "Furthermore, she would be deprived of an education and may be at risk of sexual exploitation and emotional harm."
The Islamic Council of Victoria vice-president Sherene Hassan said arranged child marriages were a perverse practice not mandated by Islam. "According to Islamic law, a woman must give her consent to marriage without any form of collusion" she said yesterday. "Sadly there are some Muslims that fail to discern the difference between culture and religion."
Just another reason why we should close the door to Muslim immigration. Their stone-age beliefs have no place in Australian society.
The marriage of underage girls is based not only on custom but also on the marriage of prophet Mohammad to Aisha when she was only 7 years old.
ReplyDeleteIn Muslim countries, attempts to establish a minimum age of marriage have met with fierce opposition from conservative Islamists who accuse reformers of adopting Western ideas.