A western Sydney man who abandoned his wife overseas after she fell out with his mother has been sentenced for what is known as “exit trafficking”.
It is a type of modern slavery in which women are tricked or coerced into leaving a country, in this case Australia, and prevented from returning.
The 44-year-old, who lives in Merrylands in Sydney’s southwest, took his wife on a “charity mission” to her home country of Afghanistan in January 2018, police said.
But the man, known as AR to protect his family, only had a return ticket for himself. His wife didn’t know that hers was only one way to Afghanistan.
The day after his return to Australia, AR wrote to the Department of Home Affairs canceling his wife’s visa sponsorship, the The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He did it because his mother didn’t like his wife, and that caused the woman he had been married to for four years to be stranded abroad.
The woman’s relatives helped her return to Australia, where she reported her husband to the police.
AR’s conviction last Friday was the third conviction for outbound trafficking in Australia.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, of which 12 months must be served in the community on good behavior bond.
A Sydney man who abandoned his wife overseas after she fell out with her mother has been convicted of what is known as “outbound trafficking”. Burqa-clad women behind barbed wire
The first conviction for outbound trafficking was in 2021, when a man from Lidcombe, in Sydney’s west, threatened to murder a woman unless she boarded a flight to India with her baby. That scene is pictured
Human rights activist Helena Hassani said there has been a rise in such oppression against women in Australia, often in migrant communities.
While there are many cases of men from Afghan and other migrant communities taking their wives abroad and leaving them there, he said there are also many cases where “Australian men marry women from Asia, bring them here, but They marry them off as servants or treat them as sex workers.
Many women, like AR’s wife, are only in Australia on partner visas, leaving them dependent on their husband’s sponsorship to remain in the country.
Some women in these communities are prevented from using money, getting an education, or working outside the home because men want a “maid.”
“It’s a cultural practice that the less educated women are, the happier men are, because then no one challenges them, no one confronts them and they just live the way they want to live,” Hassani told the publication.
Acting Detective Sergeant Sarah Manning of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said outbound traffic often goes unreported.
Human rights activist Helena Hassani (pictured) said there has been a rise in such oppression against women, often in migrant communities, in Australia.
“No one has the right to ‘cancel’ another person’s visa, including the visa sponsor,” he said.
“This type of behavior is a Commonwealth offense and carries a possible prison sentence of 12 years.”
The first conviction for outbound trafficking was in 2021, when a man from Lidcombe, in Sydney’s west, threatened to murder a woman unless she boarded a flight to India with her baby.
The horrific interaction was captured on CCTV at Sydney Airport after anti-trafficking group Anti Slavery Australia told AFP what happened.
Anyone with information about possible modern slavery or trafficking is asked to report it to the Australian Federal Police on 131 237.