Help survivors of human trafficking in Australia

‘What happened to us was a nightmare. We can never forget. It comes back to us in dreams. This will affect us til we die. It has changed us.

We were treated very badly. We worked from 11 am to 3 or 4 am. We slept three or four hours a night. Sometimes some of us worked for 24 hours. For four or five months, all we did was prostitution. Even when we had our period, we had to work. Sometimes we worked until we couldn’t walk. We had to work until we were very very sick and the customers refused to take us. Only then were we allowed to rest, for one day….

We were made to feel like animals. Customers were violent. Some of the customers were crazy. They treated us like animals. We were sexually abused, we were dragged, we were hit. Some of us were given drugs so we could work all the time. Some of the women we know have become drug addicts and now they have to keep doing prostitution to pay for drugs.’

The shared testimony of survivors of trafficking to Australia recorded by Project Respect

Unfortunately Australia is not free of having people trafficked to and exploited in our country. Those detected as having been trafficked to Australia have so far largely been for sexual exploitation, but there are growing examples of people being trafficked to Australia for exploitation in other industries. There is a lack of research to give a definite figure to the number of people trafficked to Australia, but many non-government organisations working in the area believe that it is in the order of hundreds each year.Up until now victims of trafficking to Australia have only been provided with support services if they have been willing to assist police in prosecution of the traffickers. A survivor of trafficking was only permitted to gain permanent residency in Australia if they made a ’significant contribution’ to an investigation and/ prosecution. If the person was unwilling or unable to assist, or the police were not interested in investigating the case, they would be removed to their country of origin unless they were eligible for residency in Australia on some other grounds.

SOME GOOD NEWS

The good news is that on 17 June the Federal Government announced that they would be dealing more humanely with the survivors of trafficking in Australia. The initial support package for people who have been trafficked to Australia would increase from 30 days to 45 days and would apply to all survivors of trafficking irrespective of whether they are willing to assist police. This will be extended for a further
45 days for those survivors willing but unable to assist the police.
Continuing support from the Federal Government will be available to those cooperating with police. This support program ensures an invaluable genuine reflection period, providing survivors with the opportunity to make informed decisions about their future, to recover safely, and to access other non-government organisations for further support.

Any victim of trafficking who makes a ‘contribution’ to a trafficking related prosecution, and their family members, will now be entitled to permanent residency.

These are significant steps forward in recognising the survivors of trafficking as victims of human rights abuses and to reshaping Australia’s response to people trafficking to be more survivor orientated, rather than orientated primarily on prosecuting the traffickers.

MORE REFORM NEEDED

However, further reforms are needed. STOP THE TRAFFIK is calling on the Australian Government to ensure that all trafficked people are actively supported to access crimes compensation. STOP THE TRAFFIK further recommends that Federal and State governments should promote uniformity in statutory victims compensation schemes thus ensuring that survivors of trafficking and slavery have equal access to compensation. The Federal Government should facilitate the stay in Australia of an applicant for civil compensation through granting an appropriate visa while such a claim is being pursued. STOP THE TRAFFIK encourages the Government to direct the Australian Federal Police to adopt an expansive, rather than narrow, interpretation of ‘cooperation,’ to ensure decent access to permanent residency.

EDUCATION ABOUT TRAFFICKING

STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia is calling on the Australian Government to ensure the education of judges, prosecutors and others in the public service such as community workers, state and territory police, union officials, labour inspectors and local government workers about the cultural context of trafficking and slavery and the identification of victims.

While the Community Awareness Program, directed to victims of trafficking in the Australian sex industry and others likely to come into contact with victims, has been implemented by the Government, the strategy should be evaluated in consultation with stakeholders including the survivors of trafficking.

The Community Awareness Program should be expanded to include all sectors where trafficking may occur, beyond sex trafficking only.

STOP THE TRAFFIK recommends to the government that greater energy be put into ensuring that trafficked people in the Australian community learn of their rights. This can be done by better resourcing community organisations, by improving and promoting the Australian Federal Police hotline for reporting trafficking, and by more targeted advertising.

SUPPORTING RETURN OF SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING

STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia recommends that the government support the utilisation, where appropriate, of civil society networks to ensure appropriate and sensitive repatriation of the survivors of trafficking where they are not eligible to stay in Australia.

STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia further recommends that the Federal Government should fund pre-reintegration programs for survivors of trafficking who wish to return to their country of origin.

The Federal Government should make representations to source countries about the need to develop reintegration programs for survivors of trafficking, where such programs do not exist or are inadequate. The Federal Government should seek to encourage sharing of best practice between countries.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Write polite and respectful e-mails or letters to

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
E-mail: Kevin.Rudd.MP@aph.gov.au
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

The Hon. Robert McClelland MP
Attorney General
E-mail: R.McClelland.MP@aph.gov.au
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

The Hon Brendan O’Connor MP
Minister for Home Affairs
E-mail: Brendan.O’Connor.MP@aph.gov.au
Salutation: Dear Minister

The Hon Tanya Pilbasek
Minister for the Status of Women
E-mail: Tanya.Plibersek.MP@aph.gov.au
Salutation: Dear Minister

For snail mail, each of them can be sent letters to:
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT, 2600

Points to make in your letter or e-mail:

- Welcome the announcement on 17 June that will extend support services to all survivors of trafficking for at least 45 days and that will make it easier for survivors of trafficking to be able to gain permanent residence in Australia. Congratulate the Government for taking these very positive and important steps. However, point out that further reform is still needed if the basic human rights of people who have been trafficked to Australia are to be upheld.

- Ask that the Federal Government make the necessary changes to allow victims of trafficking and slavery in Australia equal access to victims compensation.

- Ask that the Federal Government ease the process for survivors of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation to testify in court proceedings against traffickers, by introducing court protections similar to those available to victims of sexual assault.

- Request that the Government improve community awareness about identification of victims of trafficking and slavery, with particular focus on judges, prosecutors and others in the public service such as community workers, state and territory police, union officials, labour inspectors and local government workers.

- Request that the Government support the utilisation, where appropriate, of civil society networks to ensure appropriate and sensitive repatriation of the survivors of trafficking where they are not eligible to stay in Australia.

DONATE TO STOP THE TRAFFIK MEMBER PROJECT RESPECT

Project Respect is Australia’s first and leading counter-trafficking support and advocacy agency, having worked on trafficking in Australia since 1998. We conduct daily outreach to brothels and offer intensive counselling to women in the sex industry; provide support to trafficked women in Victoria and New South Wales; work closely with victim support, law enforcement and research agencies around Australia; participate regularly in conferences and other forums; and publish our own research on trafficking and assist media, government staff and academics with research. We have unique expertise in providing support to survivors of trafficking for prostitution.

Project Respect provides a variety of services for survivors of trafficking, including:

• Emergency accommodation
• Intensive case work support
• Peer support groups and weekends away
• A community vegetable garden
• Social and recreation activities
• Advocacy training and support

Project Respect is also currently raising funds to establish a community enterprise noodle bar, which will train and employ survivors of trafficking.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to Project Respect at http://projectrespect.org.au/donate