.jpg?fit=900%2C507)
The Australian Institute of Criminology report found hundreds of vulnerable women are immigrating each year for marriage, only to be enslaved and mistreated.
Individual cases included a woman who was forced to look after her mother-in-law and a family of 15 while her husband, who kept her passport, instead lived with his girlfriend.
Another, The Daily Telegraph reported, lived in a garage and was only permitted to come out to cook and have sex with her husband.
The women had met their new partners in typical ways such as through family, arranged marriages or online.
Experts said the types of abuse cited by the reports were not uncommon among women who had migrated for marriage, who were often socially isolated, without income and financially dependent on their husbands.
Some lived under the threat of deportation if they objected to their treatment.
The report, which revealed more than 200,000 women had migrated to Australia on partner visas between 2001 and 2011, recommended further investigation into “romance scams” and more thorough welfare checks on those who migrate for marriage.
Figures also showed almost 3,000 women were granted visas under “family violence provisions” between 2006 and 2011 following their escape from abusive relationships.
The women were most likely to come from Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Pacific.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
