Author: Laura Vidal

Publication: 2019

Forced marriage expert Laura Vidal examines Australia’s response to forced marriage, and makes recommendations for alternative approaches to the issue. She highlights opportunities within existing domestic and family violence law and policy to prevent and respond to individuals impacted by forced marriage, and identifies possibilities for moving the Australian response away from a singular criminal justice lens and toward a more holistic response.

Author: Australian Red Cross

Publication: May, 2019

This report highlights the important role of communities and families in finding solutions to complex forms of harm such as forced marriage. The Australian Red Cross identifies pressures that lead to forced marriage, explores the inter-generation conflict inherent to many forced marriage cases, and lays out for broad strategies that communities use to negotiate and prevent forced marriage.

This webinar features Laura Vidal, a Social Worker with a Masters in Human Rights Law and Policy from Sydney, Australia. Drawing on her experience of developing and delivering Australia’s only survivor advocates program for victims of human trafficking and slavery (including forced marriage) —The Freedom Advocates Project— Laura Vidal presented key guidelines for engaging survivors in equal and equitable advocacy to influence policy development and service delivery. Opening authentic and equitable space for survivors’ voices to be heard is essential in the movement to end violence against women, and this webinar provides a roadmap for building principled survivor engagement opportunities and programs. This webinar is appropriate for all advocates working in the field of gender-based violence and human trafficking, including those in direct service and public policy advocacy on the local, state and federal level.

Author: Laura Vidal
Publication: December 2017

In this report to the Churchill Trust, Laura Vidal showcases learning on the treatment of forced marriage from Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the United States, Canada, and Kenya. From her observations of how the practice is addressed in these countries, Vidal distills a list of best practices and makes recommendations for how Australia can better respond to child, early, and forced marriage.

Author: Samantha Lyneham & Kelly Richards

Publication: The Australian Institute of Criminology, Research and Public Policy Series, #124 (May 20, 2014)

This study outlines the issue of human trafficking involving marriage and partner migration. The findings illustrate that some women immigrating to Australia as good faith spouses are trafficked and exploited through domestic servitude or sex work.