Research focus: Regulating International Marriage Migration

By Professor Susan Kneebone

Professor Susan Kneebone

Legal responses to human trafficking often conform to the adage that ‘men migrate, but women are trafficked’.  But in our region, South East Asia, international marriage migration, which involves the movement of women, is emerging as a crucial example of the ‘feminisation’ of intra-regional migration and as a development strategy.  The main destination states for marriage migrants from Cambodia and Vietnam are South Korea, China and Taiwan.  For example, between 1987, when martial law was lifted, and 2008 it is estimated that 386,329 foreign women registered their marriages in Taiwan[1].   In 2005 it was reported that almost 14 percent of marriages in South Korea involved a foreign spouse[2].   Often the legal responses of states to international marriage migration involve conflating the issues with exploitation and human trafficking.  For example in 2008 the Cambodian Government issued a temporary ban on all foreign marriages amid concerns over the increase in number of commercial marriage brokers springing up to facilitate demands in marriage migration to East Asia.  Specifically, the ban followed as a result of findings published in a report issued by an International Organisation that examined vulnerabilities to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation faced by women who engaged or were recruited by commercial marriage agencies for prospective Korean grooms.  The ban was subsequently lifted and then reinstated.  Nevertheless, the number of marriages between Korean nationals and Cambodian brides continued to increase.  These responses and perceptions in turn impact upon how ‘foreign brides’ are received in Australia where there is a tendency to ‘problematise’ these arrangements as ‘forced’ or ‘servile’ marriage.