All cultures are equal???

[village_person]

As we are supposed to celebrate the many cultures now in Australia why should we be concerned about 12-year-olds getting married. In order to stifle our questioning and concerns about the cultural 'delights' (think FGM, subjugation of distaff groups etc) of some cultures we were asked to accept that all cultures are equal.

Why should we be concerned about child brides? All cultures are equal aren't they?

Sydney woman ignored over child bride reports

A SYDNEY woman says she has tried to report multiple counts of child marriage involving girls as young as 12, and was completely ignored.

Bee al-Darraj, 24, told The Australian she had contacted multiple authorities concerning the forced marriage of girls she knew at her Sydney Islamic school.

The Iraqi-born student says she was ignored by the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ....

The NSW government only last month declared the state was in the grip of a child bride crisis.

Etc.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/sydney-woman-ignored-over-child-bride-reports/n...

[mloreason]

This country's "own" people are the people you are talking about - if they have become Australian citizens. So they are bound by this country's laws. It is illegal to marry someone under the age of 16. So if girls under that legal age are being forced to marry then the law is there to protect them. First though it needs to be reported. So perhaps what is needed is better education so that these young girls are aware of their rights.

[icyfroth]

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

To report it would be to bring shame on the community and possibly put the girl into danger of her life if she were to do so. What young girl of 12 or so dare to go against her parents and run to the police?

Quite easy to disguise a child bride as a relative of the family if authorities come knocking.

Who'd sort out the family tree?

[village_person]

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@mloreason wrote:
This country's "own" people are the people you are talking about - if they have become Australian citizens. So they are bound by this country's laws. It is illegal to marry someone under the age of 16. So if girls under that legal age are being forced to marry then the law is there to protect them. First though it needs to be reported. So perhaps what is needed is better education so that these young girls are aware of their rights.

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Our laws are only good if our 'representatives' enforce them. At one time we had a judge who haunted the toilets at Wynyard station looking for young boys. The police special branch drove him home rather than create a scandal. Our fabulous 'law' being enforced by police.

[peteepie]

Thought we were talking about Australia, not Tassie.

[mloreason]

I know. Let's just ban them from coming to Australia. That will solve the problem of child brides. Oh wait.....

[icyfroth]

I know you're being a bit playful, there, plor, but banning all Muslims from entering Australia is neither a workable nor desirable option.

The problem of getting them to recognise our law as being over that of the Prophet's is a whole 'nother matter, however.

[tezza2844]

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@icyfroth wrote:

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

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Unfortunately these "customs" apply to cultures  as well as nationalities. There are countries where arranged marriages are the norm and there are religions which require their " flock" to marry within their religion(sect). In a lot of cases age is not a consideration to stop these practices

[village_person]

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@peteepie wrote:

Thought we were talking about Australia, not Tassie.

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Ooooh, that's a bit naughty. We might have taswegians viewing this topic 🙂

[icyfroth]

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@tezza2844 wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

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Unfortunately these "customs" apply to cultures  as well as nationalities. There are countries where arranged marriages are the norm and there are religions which require their " flock" to marry within their religion(sect). In a lot of cases age is not a consideration to stop these practices

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Your point being?

[johcaschro]

Of course all cultures are not equal,

but rather than discussing the relative pros and cons of certain "cultures" (I could rave on and on about our dismal footy-mates-and-all-with-the-long-suffering-wifey-bringing-the-beers-to-the-men-who-think-they-can-cook-steak-and-snags-on-a-barbie-and have-the-apron-to-prove-it, type of "culture"),

 perhaps we could better discuss the sort of culture where a young woman makes a complaint to the police which is cavalierly ignored, maybe because of certain  fears within the culture of the police force (and within Govt too) that, if responded to and investigated vigorously,  they might offend the cultural sensitivities of a minority of others who think that their culture which condones forcible child marriage is the you-beaut new-Australian way to go.

and who have the votes to back up that opinion