Exit trafficking: Western Sydney man abandons his wife overseas after she fell out with his mum
A Western Sydney man who abandoned his wife abroad after she had an argument with his mother has been convicted of what is known as ‘exit trafficking’.
It is a form of modern slavery in which women are forcibly left a country, in this case Australia, and cannot return.
The 44-year-old man, who lives in Merrylands in Sydney’s south-west, took his wife on “a charity mission” to their 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 realize her ticket was a one-way ticket to Afghanistan.
The day after returning to Australia, AR wrote a letter to the Home Office, canceling the sponsorship of his wife’s visa. Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He did this because his mother did not like his wife, which led to the woman he was married to for four years being 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 exit trafficking in Australia.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, with 12 months to be served in the community on a good behavior bond.
A Sydney man who abandoned his wife abroad after she had an argument with his mother has been convicted of what is known as ‘exit trafficking’. The photo shows women dressed in burqas behind barbed wire
The first conviction for human trafficking came in 2021, when a man from Lidcombe in Sydney’s west threatened to kill a woman unless she boarded a flight to India with her young child. That scene is depicted
Human rights activist Helena Hassani said there has been an increase in such oppression of 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, she says there are also many cases of “Australian men marrying women from Asia, bringing them here, but then marrying them off into slaves or treating them as sex workers’.
Many women, like AR’s wife, are in Australia alone on a partner visa, leaving them dependent on their husband’s sponsorship to stay in the country.
Some women in these communities are discouraged from using money, getting an education, or working outside the home because the men want a “servant.”
“It’s a cultural practice where the less educated women are the happier men because then no one challenges them, no one confronts them, and they just live the way they want to live,” Ms. Hassani told the publication.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Acting Detective Sergeant Sarah Manning said exit smuggling often goes unreported.
Human rights activist Helena Hassani (pictured) said there has been an increase in such oppression of women, often in migrant communities, in Australia
“No one has the right to ‘cancel’ someone else’s visa, including the visa sponsor,” she said.
“This type of conduct is a Commonwealth crime and carries a penalty of up to 12 years in prison.”
The first conviction for human trafficking came in 2021, when a man from Lidcombe in Sydney’s west threatened to kill a woman unless she boarded a flight to India with her young child.
The horrific interaction was captured on Sydney Airport CCTV after anti-trafficking group Anti Slavery Australia told the AFP what had happened.
Anyone with information about possible modern slavery or human trafficking is urged to report it to the Australian Federal Police on 131 237.