Human Trafficking in [Australia Street Children in [Australia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Australia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Australia.htm
Australia is a destination country for women from Southeast
Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and
reportedly Eastern Europe trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Some men and women from several Pacific islands, India, the
PRC, South Korea, the Philippines, and Ireland are fraudulently recruited to
work temporarily in Australia, but subsequently are subjected to conditions
of forced labor, including confiscation of travel documents, confinement, and
threats of serious harm. Some indigenous teenage girls are subjected to
forced prostitution at rural truck stops.
- U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Paying for Servitude: Trafficking in Women for
Prostitution in Kathleen Maltzahn, 2004
International Women’s Day Pamela Denoon Lecture,
March 4, 2004 cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2004/V18n1/Servitude.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] Traffickers routinely respond to
women’s initial complaints, including their requests to return home, with sexual,
physical and psychological violence. Threats can include something as subtle
– I use the term advisedly – as threatening to send a woman’s child a
pornographic picture of her. As with women deceived about doing prostitution,
this violence aims to teach women that they have no other option, cannot
access help and cannot escape. One of the great skills of traffickers is
their ability to move beyond simple brute force. In this way, women can be
effectively imprisoned with well-applied and strategic physical violence,
that may appear minimal to outsiders, cemented by devastating psychological
violence. Traffickers engage with women’s psychology. They learn what women
value, and work to their strengths and weaknesses. In this, I suspect we can
learn something from them. I am sure if government agencies spent more time
trying to understand how trafficked women see things, rather than seeing them
as problems that don’t understand how we work, we would have more success in
challenging trafficking. ***
ARCHIVES *** Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61601.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Some
women, primarily from In response to the report's
recommendations, in June the government expanded existing anti-trafficking
laws to include new offenses for debt bondage, child trafficking, and
domestic trafficking, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison, and in
September ratified the UN Trafficking Protocol. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, September 30,
2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/australia2005.html [accessed 19 January 2011] [67] While the Committee welcomes
some positive developments in the context of prevention of trafficking and
forced prostitution, such as the adoption of the National Plan of Action to
Eradicate Trafficking in Persons of October 2003 and the changes to the
Criminal Code in 2005 whereby, inter alia, trafficking in persons and child
pornography have been criminalized, the Committee is concerned that Australia
continues to be a destination country for trafficked women and girls in the
sex industry. [69] The State party is also
encouraged to become a party to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,
to which Testimony of Deng US Department of State actioncenter.polarisproject.org/the-frontlines/survivor-testimonies/38-testimonies/60-testimony-of-den [access date unavailable] Deng, in her late 20's, was
recruited in her native UQ study looks at foreign sex worker exploitation and
human trafficking www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=16004 [accessed 19 January 2011] One of the major obstacles to
government policy making, program development by non-governmental organisations, and public awareness about the
exploitation of foreign workers and the trafficking in persons was the lack
of any reliable and comprehensive account of the nature and extent of this
problem, he said. Anecdotal evidence
and statistical estimates without a sufficient evidentiary basis were the
only sources of information currently available about Australia and Canada's
involvement in trafficking in persons.
This was in contrast to other countries where comprehensive accounts
of human trafficking were published annually by government agencies. All-out bid to emancipate nation's sex slaves Matthew Benns and Heath Gilmore,
Sidney Morning Herald, July 6, 2008 [accessed 19 January 2011] Authorities have identified more
than 100 women as sex slaves, imported into The number of sex slaves in Sydney
looking for help prompted the Salvation Army to open a 10-bed refuge for
illegally trafficked sex workers. Salvos issue slavery call-to-arms ABC News, Apr 15, 2008 www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/15/2217524.htm?section=australia [accessed 19 January 2011] Salvos say about 3,000 trafficked
workers may be found on Australian farms or in mines, factories, restaurants
and private homes. Spokesman Rick
Hoffman says he knows of Indonesian or Burmese children as young as 12
working in Brisbane. Govt taking poor approach to human
trafficking: report ABC News, Oct 2, 2007 www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/02/2048326.htm?section=justin [accessed 19 January 2011] A new report by an international
alliance of non-government organisations suggests Falling Short of the Mark: An International Study on the
Treatment of Human Trafficking Victims [PDF] The Future Group, March 2006 www.oas.org/atip/canada/Fallingshortofthemark.pdf [accessed 19 January 2011] RESIDENCE - The new Australian approach to
residence of trafficking victims is three-phased. First, the “Bridging Visa
F” lasts for 30 days while an investigation into trafficking claims are being
made. Secondly, if the victim agrees to assist with the investigation, they
are eligible for a “Criminal Justice Stay Visa” (“CJS Visa”) which is valid
for the duration of criminal proceedings in the case they are assisting with.
Thereafter, victims may apply for a “Witness Protection (Trafficking) Visa”
enabling them to remain in Australia on a temporary or permanent basis,
depending on individual circumstances. Ellison rejects estimate of sex slave numbers Samantha Hawley, ABC NewsOnLine,
August 17, 2005 www.abc.net.au/news/2005-08-17/ellison-rejects-estimate-of-sex-slave-numbers/2082604 [accessed 19 January 2011] "I believe that the number of
people who have been deceptively recruited into the industry in Phil Mercer, BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4740871.stm [accessed 19 January 2011] Sex trafficking under the microscope Natalie O'Brien, The Sun-Herald, July 10, 2005 www.smh.com.au/news/national/sex-trafficking-goes-under-the-microscope/2005/07/09/1120704596892.html [accessed 19 January 2011] Mr Milroy said the syndicates might
now be shifting their operations to other crimes. "I think a lot of the
attention ... has raised the level of awareness in the community," he
said. "Those who are involved and
are affected by this, as all criminal groups are when you pay them attention,
step back and realize this is too difficult and that there are easier ways of
making money." Trafficked Women 'Being Raped, Starved' The Sydney Morning Herald, July 6, 2005 www.smh.com.au/news/National/Trafficked-women-being-raped-starved/2005/07/06/1120329497809.html [accessed 19 January 2011] There are at least 1,000 adult
women in Children 'Handed Over To Sex Ring' Jeremy Roberts, The Australian, 24-5-2005 www.mako.org.au/ausnews391.html [accessed 19 January 2011] "The picture is painted of
young girls and boys who were frightened, unable to protect themselves and
make disclosure and who were abandoned by their carers
[care givers]," says the report by Ted Mullighan,
the commissioner of the inquiry into the sex abuse of state wards. The report finds that young boys from Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7559 [accessed 19 January 2011] Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch [accessed 19 January 2011] Two face sex slavery charges Australian Federal Police AFP, Melbourne, Australia,
2004-12-03 www.news24.com/World/News/Two-face-sex-slavery-charges-20041203 [accessed 19 January 2011] AFP agent Josephine Accetta said Ho and another suspect, Hoting
Yeung, ran two Accetta said a year-long investigation
had produced a "very strong case" including telephone intercept
evidence. Ho was recorded trying to
sell a 21-year-old woman for A$21 000 (about R95 000) after flying
to Sydney with Yeung in August this year. Yeung fled overseas on November 4 and was not expected to
return, Accetta said. Paying for Servitude: Trafficking in Women for
Prostitution in Kathleen Maltzahn, 2004
International Women’s Day Pamela Denoon Lecture,
March 4, 2004 cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2004/V18n1/Servitude.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] Traffickers routinely respond to
women’s initial complaints, including their requests to return home, with
sexual, physical and psychological violence. Threats can include something as
subtle – I use the term advisedly – as threatening to send a woman’s child a
pornographic picture of her. As with women deceived about doing prostitution,
this violence aims to teach women that they have no other option, cannot
access help and cannot escape. One of the great skills of traffickers is
their ability to move beyond simple brute force. In this way, women can be
effectively imprisoned with well-applied and strategic physical violence,
that may appear minimal to outsiders, cemented by devastating psychological
violence. Traffickers engage with women’s psychology. They learn what women
value, and work to their strengths and weaknesses. In this, I suspect we can
learn something from them. I am sure if government agencies spent more time
trying to understand how trafficked women see things, rather than seeing them
as problems that don’t understand how we work, we would have more success in
challenging trafficking. Reuters , www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/06/18/2003175534 [accessed 19 January 2011] The sex slavery trade in Project Respect, a group that
represents women brought to Australia as sex slaves, believes there could be
up to 1,000 such women in the country at any one time. 10 reasons for NOT legalizing prostitution Janice G. Raymond, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
International (CATW), March 25, 2003 www.prostitutionresearch.com/laws/000022.html [accessed 19 January 2011] 2.
LEGALIZATION/DECRIMINALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION AND THE SEX INDUSTRY PROMOTES
SEX TRAFFICKING - The link between legalization of prostitution and
trafficking in Australia was recognized in the U.S. State Department’s
1999 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, released by the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In the country report on Australia, it was
noted that in the State of Victoria which legalized prostitution in the
1980s, “Trafficking in East Asian women for the sex trade is a growing
problem” in Australia…lax laws including legalized prostitution in parts of
the country make [anti-trafficking] enforcement difficult at the working
level.” Statement by the HON Mrs
Christine Gallus MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Trade, to the Commission on Human Rights, High Level Segment,
United Nations, Geneva, 16 March 2004 Australian Permanent At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 September 2011] We are also tackling issues such
as trafficking in persons which are a grave threat to the health and safety
of women and children throughout the Asia Pacific. The Australian Government recently
strengthened its efforts to combat people trafficking through coordinated activities
within Australia and in the region.
Australia has been strongly involved in the Bali Process on People
Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crime. In October 2003, the Government
pledged more than $20 million over four years to combat trafficking. We have also committed more than $14
million to a number of projects in Cambodia, southwest China, Laos, Burma,
Thailand and Vietnam. These projects
aim to reduce people trafficking and improve protection, recovery and
reintegration of trafficked women and children. Last week, on International
Women’s Day, I announced Government funding of $200,000 to help countries in
the Sub-Continent to abolish sex slavery.
And, I am pleased to advise that Australiawill
soon ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children. People smuggling and trafficking in persons Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade - Illegal Immigration www.dfat.gov.au/illegal_immigration/ [accessed 19 January 2011] PEOPLE SMUGGLING - Jim Pollard, The Nation, 18 December 2003 yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/australia-tips-bt250m-help-people-trafficking-asean-0 [accessed 19 January 2011] Thai and Australian government
officials yesterday discussed new moves to counter the trafficking of
"sex slaves" and other people Down Under and within the
region. Thailand is one of four Asean nations Australia will help to fight human
trafficking, along with Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Canberra is funding an
8.5-million Australian dollar (Bt250 million) project to provide a more
effective and coordinated approach by governments in Southeast Asia to
prevent trafficking. Christine Inglis, Migration
Information Source, November 2003 www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=178 [accessed 19 January 2011] As part of the package, a new
23-member Australian Federal Police team will be established to investigate
trafficking, and a senior migration officer will be appointed to One factor underlying the
attention to human trafficking is undoubtedly the media spotlight on the
detention of female trafficking victims, including the death at the Villawood Immigration Detention Center of a young woman
who had allegedly been brought to Australia as a 12-year-old for commercial
sex work. Lobbying by women's groups outraged by this and other incidents
played a key role in putting the issue on the political agenda. Trafficking sex Jennifer Burn, newsroom.uts.edu.au.tmp.anchor.net.au/news/2005/06/trafficking-sex [accessed 19 January 2011] This month I heard about Mary who
is currently detained in the Villawood Immigration
Detention Centre. Mary arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1999. She
had been promised a restaurant job and a chance to study. When she arrived
her new 'boss' took her to a house in Cabramatta, a
makeshift prison tucked away in suburbia. He then told her that she owed him
money for her visa and her air ticket. To pay back this debt Mary was forced
to sleep with 500 men before eventually escaping from the brothel with the help
of a client. Trafficking and the Sex Industry: from Impunity to
Protection
[PDF] Dr Kerry Carrington, Social Policy Group & Jane Hearn,
Law and Bills Digest Group, Information And Research Services, Current Issues
Brief No. 28 2002–03, 13 May 2003 www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib28.pdf [accessed 19 January 2011] This brief provides an overview of
the trafficking of women and children into the Australian sex industry in the
context of the global trade in people trafficking. It examines why there have
been no prosecutions of traffickers under existing Commonwealth laws. It
explains how Australia's emphasis on border control is working against the
prosecution of traffickers and the human rights of trafficking victims and
explains how existing Australian policy and law will need to change to meet
the new internationally agreed standards to punish traffickers and support
victims under the UN Trafficking Protocol. Jammed: Trafficked Women in Extracts from a paper based on the presentation given by
Georgina Costello, Refugee Team, Amnesty International, STOP THE TRAFFIC SYMPOSIUM, RMIT, KASAMA Vol. 16 No. 2 / April–May–June 2002 / Solidarity cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2002/V16n2/Jammed.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] In September 2001, a young
Vietnamese woman died in Villawood Immigration
Detention Centre in In January 2002, there was a
second death of a trafficked Vietnamese woman in Villawood.
This woman had made at least one previous suicide attempt. It is believed
that she died in hospital from injuries caused when she jumped out of a
window from the first floor of the women’s dormitory. To date, there has been
no coronial inquest into the deaths. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Australia Street Children in [Australia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Australia] [other countries]