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THEIR sales pitch is provocative, to say the least: Want to find happiness by marrying a pretty woman who is a medically-certified virgin?
The Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) is calling for the Government to penalise by suspending or revoking operating licences of matchmaking agencies that flog foreign women in a demeaning manner.
Citing how an agency offered 15 mainland Chinese brides without agency fees to potential grooms to mark its 15th anniversary two months ago, Aware said: "This lack of governance over such marketing practices of matchmaking agencies must be rectified."
There are about 70 agencies that charge up to $20,000 to pair Singaporeans with women brought in from neighbouring countries like Vietnam and Cambodia. In 2005, some 6,520 men married foreign brides, up from 4,425 in 2003.
Aware also described as "worrisome" the prospect of foreign brides falling victim to human trafficking — that is, forcibly married off by marriage brokers or forced into the vice trade — in a 130-page report on the issues facing women here.
The Government should create a "more sensitive" and "planned" response to trafficking allegations, Aware official Braema Mathi said at the release of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) yesterday.
The authorities could share information with non-profit organisations, when they arrest and investigate trafficking cases, for a multi-pronged approach to curbing recruiting syndicates.
The Republic should also sign the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Aware urged.
Last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it was "baffling" why a recent United States government report on how countries deal with human trafficking had demoted Singapore this year.
Singapore moved from Tier 1 — countries with basic legal safeguards to prevent human trafficking — last year to Tier 2, which lists countries making efforts to legislate against such crimes.
Aware also suggested that a taskforce be set up to review the policies regarding foreign wives.
And the group urged the Government to consider the needs of minority groups, such as Muslim men and women, to be free to practice their personal and religious laws under Singapore's Constitution.
Some privileges, such as polygamy and inheritance rights favouring male beneficiaries, exist under the Administration of Muslim Law Act that are "inconsistent with rules under Cedaw", the report noted.
The Cedaw report findings will be presented next month at a UN meeting, which will also see submission from the Singapore Government and the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations.
By
Jasmine Yin
jasmine@mediacorp.com.sg
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