Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of Senator Fawcett, the chair, I present the interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade on advocating for the elimination of child and forced marriage, and I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I seek leave to incorporate the tabling statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I present the Committee's report, entitled:

Advocating for the elimination of child and forced marriage: Interim Report for the inquiry into certain aspects of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Annual Report 2019-20.

The Committee recognises actions already being taken by the Australian Government and NGOs within the context of actions to prevent modern slavery. In the Report the Committee makes nine recommendations which would result in an increased focus on measures and funding to specifically combat Child and Forced Marriage including a repatriation protocol for Australians overseas who are in or at risk of forced marriage.

The tenet that marriage should only be entered into with the free and full consent of both parties has been reiterated across human rights treaties over time, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

However, the world is not on track to eliminate child and forced marriage by 2030, as committed by nations as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Through this inquiry, the Committee learnt of the work undertaken by the Australian Government on child and forced marriage in recent years, situated as it is among broader human trafficking and modem slavery issues. This an issue that has been viewed from several perspectives, with a role for the Australian Government to:

Assistance to make progress on the issues that underlie child and forced marriage practices is also needed. The Committee has heard through contributions to its inquiry that open community dialogue, education and women's empowerment can shift social norms and create environments that discourage the practice.

The Committee was grateful for the informed advice that was provided to it in submissions and hearings from NGOs that are operating in this area. The Committee thanks Anti-Slavery Australia, ACRATH and Walk Free for their valuable contributions.

The Committee also thanks the Australian Government officials for their contribution to the Committee's work. While the Committee has focused on the international advocacy that Australia undertakes, child and forced marriage is an issue that involves a wide range of government departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Federal Police, Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force.

This work was conducted as part of the Committee's current inquiry into the Annual Report of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2019-2020. Details of the inquiry are available from the Committee's website.

I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.