About

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person by force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Victims are found various industries including the sex industry, construction, agriculture, domestic cleaners and hospitality. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their home countries and abroad.

Whether it’s two girls or two million girls, human trafficking and sexual exploitation is a serious problem. The repercussions and lifelong physical and mental damage victims suffer is not acceptable. Here are some ugly truths behind this billion dollar trade.

  • According to UNICEF, 2 million children will be sold into the sextrade in the next year.
  • Studies indicate that children in prostitution may be victimised by 100-1500 perpetrators per year.
  • In South East Asia, many of these children are sold for as little as $50 and some as young as 6 years old.
  • Profits from sex slavery exceed US9.5 billion per year.
  • Human trafficking is the second largest organised crime in the world. It has become a bigger business than drug trafficking.
  • Human trafficking victims are subject to rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation and threats to family members.
  • The U.N estimates that 2.5 million people from 127 countries have been trafficked to 137 countries for purposes such as forced labour, sexual exploitation, removal of organs, forced marriages, child adoption and begging.
  • A 2006 study found that 76% of trafficked women were physically abused by their trafficker, 90% were physically forced to engage in sexual acts and 91% were threatened with death, beatings, harm to their families and re-trafficking.
  • In 2009 there were only 4,166 successful human trafficking prosecutions worldwide, 335 of which were for forced labor

Human Trafficking in Australia

  • In 2009 there were only four convictions of sex traffickers and two of labour traffickers
  • In 1998, Child Wise(ECPAT Australia) established that over 3700 children were known to be working in prostitution throughout Australia.
  • The average age of entry into prostitution in developed, English speaking countries is 13 years old. This figure is vastly underestimated given the hidden nature of this abuse and increasing use of online media to exploit underage persons.
  • Common experiences of people trafficked to Australia include; poor working conditions, providing labour without pay, being forced to live in the workplace, sexual abuse, physical and verbal abuse, threats to family members, restricted freedom, confiscation of travel and legal documents.
  • The majority of trafficked people to Australia have tended to enter Australia legally on tourist, student or work visas, but have ended up in situations of exploitation akin to debt bondage or forced labor.
  • Australia is considered a destination country for women from South East Asia, South Korea, The People’s Republic of China and Eastern Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
  • Since 2004, over 170 suspected victims of trafficking have received support from the Commonwealth Government’s Support Program for Victims of Trafficking.
  • To date most trafficking victims have been identified in Sydney or Melbourne but can and does occur Australia wide.

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