Imagine leaving your home, your friends, your family and moving all the way across the world to a foreign country in the hopes of providing a better life for yourself and your family?
Imagine arriving in a foreign country, not knowing the language, and being told you must work as a prostitute for five years to pay back your debt otherwise your family would be killed?
Couldn’t happen to you?
Think again.
Sexual slavery is generally associated with parts of Europe and Asia but this form of human rights abuse is growing in many developed countries, including Australia. Jennifer Burn, an immigration lawyer and the director of the Anti- Slavery Project at the University of Technology, Sydney says ‘there are no reliable statistics. Any evidence is anecdotal. There are varying reports of between one hundred to one thousand women recruited into debt bondage.’
The 1926 Slavery Convention and the 1953 Protocol Amendment to the Slavery Convention define sexual slavery and refer to it as, ‘the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised, including sexual access through rape or other forms of sexual violence’.
In many cases, women trafficked to Australia for ‘debt bondage’ (sexual slavery to pay back a debt), are tricked into believing they will have a legitimate job. Upon arrival they are stripped of their passports, travel documents and any identification. In other cases, women know they will be working as prostitutes and are aware of a debt they have to pay; however, this debt is marginally increased upon arrival forcing them into prolonged prostitution.
Sexual slavery is not only a direct violation of human rights, it raises moral and ethical questions about the society that we live in. Personally, I find it appalling that there is a business which provides people with the opportunity to exploit innocent women.
Human trafficking is not an uncommon thing and has been occurring for thousands of years. An Australia woman, Jan Ruff O’Herne, describes her experience as a Japanese soldiers ‘comfort woman’ in World War II as an ‘horrific experience’. She says, ‘after you've experienced those things, those atrocities, you feel dirty, you feel ashamed, you feel soiled, and we carry that shame all our life.’
The current rate of human trafficking is incredibly concerning. In 2006, The Trafficking In Persons Report (TIP), stated that 800,000 thousand people are trafficked across international borders annually. Approximately 80 per cent of victims are female and of this, 50 per cent are children.
Working as a sex slave can have harrowing effects on the psychological and physical stability of a person. Victims of sexual slavery often have to sleep with a certain amount of men to pay off their debt, some sleeping with up to five hundred men in a month. Victims are made to work long hours with rarely any days off. When they do receive time off they work to save what little money they can to send to their families back home.
A former child sex slave known as ‘Ning’ said she had sex with as many as one hundred men in ten days. She was not allowed to leave the ‘safe house’ where she stayed with the other prostitutes and had no connections or money in Australia.
Many trafficked women have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and have difficulties forming normal relationships with men for long periods of time and in some cases ever. For others, the experiences are so horrific the only way they see out is suicide. Victims also have ongoing gynecological and other health problems as a result of their abuse.
Despite these horror stories, sexual slavery can be tackled with a serious commitment from the government, police and the community.
In 2003, the Australian government recognised the growing concern around human trafficking for sexual slavery and committed 20 million dollars into prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution. Since, 2004 The Australian Federal Police have undertaken more than 150 investigations which have resulted in 34 people being charged under sex slavery laws.
In 2008, under Prime Minster Kevin Rudd, the government invested further resources including 16.3 million dollars, and an increase in the number of positions for officers specifically for the prevention of trafficking. They have also called for twenty five year sentences for perpetrators.
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said ‘The Rudd government is serious about preventing the insidious crime of people trafficking and the exploitation of women in the sex industry.’
Organisations such as The Salvation Army have provided refuges for victims of sexual slavery, whilst other non-profit organisations such as Amnesty International run campaigns to raise awareness of sexual slavery and provide avenues for citizens to help where they can.
How do I know this?
The Anti-Slavery Project, University of Technology Sydney http://www.antislavery.org.au/resources/articles.html
Benns, M and Gilmore, H, ‘All-out bid to emancipate nation's sex slaves’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/allout-bid-to-emancipate-nations-sex-slaves/2008/07/05/1214951110445.html
‘Immigration and AFP work to break sex trafficking syndicate’, Media Release, Australian Labor Party website, 7 March 2008 http://www.alp.org.au/media/0308/msimmc070.php
‘Take action to stop abduction, rape and sexual slavery of girls and women in Sierra Leone’, Amnesty International, 7 July 2000 http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr510532000?open&of=eng-313
‘Sex slavery in Australia’, humantrafficking.org, September 2005 http://www.humantrafficking.org/updates/10
The City Edition, ‘A short history of sexual slavery (and corresponding displays of official shock and disbelief), 1 February 2007
Wayne Gleeson, Legal Studies Assist 2008, Volume 1, No.3 ,‘Australia’s Hidden Slave Trade’
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_slavery 7 July 2008
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking 7 July 2008
