‘We have failed’: How the tragic case of Ruqia Haidari could change the way Australia deals with forced marriage | Forced Marriage

Five months before she was murdered by her new husband, Ruqia Haidari met with Australian Federal Police and told them she had been forced into marriage by her mother.

But the 20-year-old did not want the police – or the social workers who were also at the meeting, or anyone else she had told about the impending wedding – to pursue the matter.

No one could know that 151 days later, 3,300km from the family’s Victorian home in Shepparton, Haidari would be killed by her husband.

The murder weighed heavily on the conviction this week of Haidari’s mother, the first person to be convicted of the crime of forced marriage in Australia.

This case was completely removed from the proceedings and yet intrinsically linked: would there have been prosecutions for forced marriage if Haidari had not been killed, rendering useless her wish that the police keep quiet about what she had told them?

The question is not only relevant in Haidari’s case, but also when asking why there have been so few prosecutions – despite more than 500 reports of forced marriages having been made to AFP since 2018.

“We have failed,” says Dr Laura Vidal, a professor at the University of Canberra and an expert on forced marriage.

“We left her without support, without a safety net, and then we can only sue retrospectively because she is dead.

“This is something we need to think about very carefully as part of our critical response to this problem.”

Forced marriage reports received by Australian Federal Police

“Fear of shame or punishment”

Neither the Victorian County Court – where Haidari’s mother, Sakina Muhammad Jan, was sentenced this week – nor the Western Australian Supreme Court, where Haidari’s husband, Mohammad Ali Halimi, was convicted of her murder, have made any adverse findings about the police response.

The Australian Federal Police said it offered Haidari support options, including suggesting that the AFP engage with his family members on his behalf to prevent the marriage, or that Haidari leave his family and find accommodation and support through the Red Cross Trafficking Support Program (STPP).

“Haidari declined housing assistance and said she did not want AFP to speak to her mother or other family members,” they said in a statement. “Due to the complex cultural, religious, ethnic and community dynamics that often co-exist in cases of forced marriage, AFP engages closely with vulnerable people to offer support in situations where the person feels unable to leave their situation.”

“A person subjected to forced marriage may not want to leave their environment for fear of shame or punishment, or for reluctance to sever family ties. Often, this fear is stronger than the person’s desire not to marry.

“AFP’s position is to respond to the wishes of the individual, keeping in mind their overall well-being. Removing an individual from a situation of early forced marriage or intervening with family members without the victim’s consent risks creating a more damaging family situation for a vulnerable individual.”

Vidal says while the response to Haidari’s case needs to be critically analysed, it would be simplistic to think that more criminal prosecutions would solve the problem of forced marriage. Women and girls seeking help need a wide range of supports. This includes practical solutions available on the ground in communities like Shepparton – home to the largest Afghan population in regional Victoria – such as emergency housing. It also requires experts such as interpreters who speak multiple languages ​​and people who can develop international escape plans for people who may be trafficked overseas.

Amid the complexity of the issues surrounding how to address the problem of forced marriage, however, there is one fairly simple common thread.

“What people ask for most is the possibility of being able to resolve conflicts within their family,” explains Vidal.

“When we place the response to this problem solely in the criminal justice system, we miss the opportunity to do that…we need a continuum of responses to meet people where they are and make sure that we protect them while meeting their needs.

“It’s kind of like a constellation, all the stars have to be aligned at that moment for us to get that answer.”

New measures considered

In the past year alone, AFP has received 91 reports of forced marriages. Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said this week that it was “the most reported slavery-like offence” to police.

The federal government is considering further action. On Monday, the Attorney General’s Department released a consultation paper on implementing civil protection measures against forced marriages.

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“The criminal justice response to forced marriage plays an important deterrent role, sending a clear message that this behaviour is not accepted in Australia,” the paper notes.

“Civil protection measures and stronger remedies against forced marriages would complement the criminal justice response, providing practical tools that can deliver preventative and urgent results for the safety and well-being of victims and survivors.”

The article notes that civil forced marriage protection orders were introduced in the UK in 2008 and that 200 to 250 such orders were granted each year in England and Wales between 2014 and 2023.

The government said comments on the document would guide its future responses.

In the meantime, further criminal proceedings for forced marriage will be brought before the courts.

A New South Wales man has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted forced marriage involving two young people, AFP reports, and is expected to be sentenced later this month. A non-disclosure order prevents the man’s name from being released due to the likelihood his victims will be identified within the community.

“You have abused your power”

The Melbourne County Court heard this week that Jan, a Hazara woman who fled Afghanistan after her husband was killed by the Taliban, had no formal education.

“You were married at the age of 12 or 13, to a man you had never met,” Judge Fran Dalziel said in sentencing.

“You say you would have agreed to the marriage because your family told you to marry her.

“Your first daughter was born when you were still in your early teens.”

Her youngest child was Haidari, who had married her first husband at age 15, watched her sisters marry, and decided she did not want to go down the same path again.

“You were the victim’s only living and trusted relative. It was your acts of coercion that pushed her into marriage,” Dalziel said.

“You abused your power as a mother, as someone she lived with and respected, to override her wishes not to marry Mr. Halimi.”

Towards the end of the sentence, Dalziel told Jan that while she had good intentions in organising the wedding, the result had been devastating. The police and social workers who met Haidari in Shepparton that day in August 2019 may feel the same way.

“While you thought you were acting in his best interests, you weren’t in fact,” Dalziel said.

In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is available on 13 11 14 and the National Domestic Violence Advisory Service is available on 1800 737 732. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on the freephone number 116 123 and the Domestic Violence Helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the USA, the Suicide Prevention Helpline is 988 and the Domestic Violence Helpline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org