Trafficking in People

Trafficking in human beings (‘human trafficking’) and people smuggling are distinct, internationally-agreed criminal offences, as defined by the international community in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, opened for signature 12 December 2000, UN Doc A/RES/55/25 (entered into force 9 September 2003) and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, opened for signature 12 December 2000, UN Doc A/RES/55/25 (entered into force 28 January 2004). Human trafficking is ‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat, or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation’, whereas smuggling of people is defined as ‘the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident’.

Carrington Kerry Hearn Jane , ‘Trafficking and the Sex Industry: From Impunity to Protection’, Current Issues Brief, No 28, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2002–3, 10–11.

Ibid.

See Criminal Code Amendment (Slavery and Sexual Servitude) Act 1999 ss 270.3, 270.4.

These less-onerous tests were embodied in 2000 in a UN Protocol: The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, opened for signature 12 December 2000, UN Doc A/RES/55/25, art 3(a) (entered into force 9 September 2003).

See for example, Carrington and Hearn, above n 1; Munro Vanessa E. ‘A Tale of Two Servitudes: Defining and Implementing a Domestic Response to Trafficking of Women for Prostitution in the UK and Australia’ (2005) 14(1) Social & Legal Studies 91–114; World Vision Australia Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons) Bill 2004, Submission to the Senate Committee Inquiry into the Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons) Bill 2004, 17 February 2005.

Attorney-General's Department, Australian Government's Action Plan to Eradicate Trafficking in Persons, 2004.

Chris Ellison (Minister for Justice and Customs), Amanda Vanstone (Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs), Alexander Downer (Minister for Foreign Affairs), Philip Ruddock (Attorney-General) and Kay Patterson ‘Australian Government Announces Major Package to Combat People Trafficking’ (Joint Media Release, 13 October 2003); Attorney-General's Department, above n 7.

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs ‘New Visas for Witnesses in Trafficking Cases’, Notice of Legislation Change, 1 January 2004.

See discussion of visa package in R v Kwok; R v Ong; R v Tan; R v Yoe (2005) 64 NSWLR 335 [9].

Australia ratified the Protocol on 14 September 2005. See Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Trafficking in Persons 2006.

Ibid.

Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons Offences) Act 2005 s 9.

Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons Offences) Act 2005 s 9.

Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons Offences) Act 2005 s 7.

Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons Offences) Act 2005 ss 9–10.

AusAID People Trafficking and Child Exploitation: Australia's Aid Program Response, 6 October 2004.

Ellison Chris (Minister for Justice and Customs) and Downer Alexander (Minister for Foreign Affairs) ‘Australia Increases Commitment to Combating People Trafficking in Asia’ (Joint Media Release, 15 September 2006).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs ‘People Smuggling and Trafficking’ in Managing the Border: Immigration Compliance, 2004–2005 edition, 96.

Ibid.

See R v Tang [2006] VCC 637. Several other prosecutions are pending in New South Wales under the new provisions at the time of publication in early 2007.

Australian Parliament, Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission, Inquiry into the Trafficking of Women for Sexual Servitude, June 2004, viii.

There are a variety of reasons why this research has not been conducted; for discussion see ibid.

For examples of such studies see: Commission of the European Communities DG Justice & Home Affairs Research based on case studies of victims of trafficking in human beings in 3 EU Member States, ie Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. Report for the Hippokrates Programme, Doc No JAI/2001/HIP/023.

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, art 9.

See further discussion in Segrave Marie , ‘Surely Something is Better than Nothing? The Australian Response to the Trafficking of Women into Sexual Servitude in Australia’ (2004) 16(1) Current Issues in Criminal Justice 85, 87.

Ibid.

Indeed, under art 9 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking Persons, Especially Women and Children state parties must endeavour to conduct research, mass media campaigns, socio-economic programs and bilateral/multilateral activities that prevent and reduce trafficking, as well as rectifying the factors that make women and children vulnerable to trafficking.

Ghosh Bimal , Huddled Masses and Uncertain Shores: Insights into Irregular Migration (1998), 146–7.

Australian Democrats ‘People Trafficking’ Australian Democrats Questions, 7 June 2006, <http://www.democrats.org.au/questions/?id=102> at 13 September 2006.

Ibid.

Van Impe Kristof , ‘People for Sale: The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach towards Human Trafficking’ (2000) 38(3) International Migration 113, 115.