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Human trafficking

Legal slavery was abolished in the 1900s but today more than 27 million people worldwide work and live in slave-like conditions. Slavery is a social and economic relationship where control is exercised over people to force them to do something against their will for someone else’s profit.

Human trafficking is the movement of a person into slavery. Victims often go willingly with their traffickers because they have been promised good jobs abroad. However, the nature and conditions of the work frequently disappear upon arrival, documents are confiscated and threats against family members at home are used to prevent workers from trying to escape.

Some of the contributing global factors are:

  • increasing poverty

  • the impact of globalisation on developing countries

  • decreasing workers' rights

  • demand for exploitable labour in wealthy countries

  •  lack of legal migration opportunities

  • natural disaster

  • war

  • government corruption

  • lack of an effective response to these human rights violations.

  • Slavery and human trafficking do not occur in a vacuum, rather, they lie at the extreme end on a continuum of worker exploitation. 

ACRATH public meetingThe Loreto Sisters are active members of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH). ACRATH represents 180 religious orders in Australia working to eliminate human trafficking in Australia, the Asia Pacific and internationally.

In 2008, ACRATH, (including Loreto representative Janet Palafox ibvm), lobbied the Australian Government for changes to the visa regulations applied to people who are trafficked and to ensure adequate services are provided once a person has been recognised as trafficked. 

Just weeks later, the Federal Government announced $1 million in funding: the Anti-Slavery Project (Sydney), Project Respect (Melbourne), the Scarlet Alliance (Sydney) and ACRATH were each granted $250,000 to provide vital outreach for trafficking victims and conduct education and awareness initiatives on people trafficking.

In 2010, ACRATH was granted a further $350,000 funding for the next three years to continue the fight against human trafficking. The Federal Government announced that ACRATH would receive the funding along with three same non-government organisations mentioned above. ACRATH national chair Sr Louise Cleary said the organisaton was delighted with the grant as the money would help keep ACRATH viable over the coming three years.

Minister for Home Affairs and Justice Brendan O’Connor said $1.6 million would be invested in tackling human trafficking including sex and labour exploitation. $1.4 million would be granted to the four non-government organisations (listed above) ‘that each have a track record of delivering results for the victims of this heinous crime’. He said the funding would support important anti-people trafficking activities, including community education and awareness programs and direct support for victims of trafficking. A further $200,000 was dedicated to a special collaborative project researching labour trafficking and identifying the most effective methods to prevent it.

On 30 May 2011, ACRATH held a public meeting in Melbourne on human trafficking . Some staggering statistics were heard:

  • Every minutes two children are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
  • In 2010 approximately 12.3 million adults and children were in forced labor, bonded labor or forced prostitution around the world.
  • Eighty per cent of human trafficking is for sexual services, 18 per cent for labor and 2 per cent is organ trafficking.
  • Human trafficking is a $32 billion USD criminal activity and the average cost of a human slave today is $90 USD. (source: cam.org.au)

On Sunday, 21 August 2011, twelve members of ACRATH (pictured right) arrived in Canberra for their 5th annual visit to Parliament. They raised the following issues:

  • the wellbeing of people trafficked to Australia
  • trafficking prevention strategies

The group had a very positive response from MPs with senators prepared to speak in the Senate about the issues presented. They met with and formed new relationships with diplomatic staff representing Timor Leste, the Philippines, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan; and held discussions with AusAID, the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Office for Women, the Attorney General's Department, Anti Slavery Australia, UNICEF, ACFID, and Church public policy representatives.

Read the full report.

ACRATH have compiled a comprehensive list of actions you can take to help stop trafficking depending on whether you are a student, corporate, community group, church, parent etc.

Photo above:

ACRATH public meeting in May 2011 (photo thanks to Fiona Basile/cam.org.au)
ACRATH group at Parliament House, August 2011 (photo thanks to ACRATH)

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