A staggering 2.4 million people are being trafficked around the globe at this very second, 80 per cent of them forced into sex slavery, according to the United Nations Crime-Fighting Office. Disturbingly, the heinous crime has infiltrated Australia, prompting a draft amendment to crime legislation on people trafficking. A Bill is now before a federal Senate inquiry, and it is hoped that terms within the Criminal Code will broaden to include coercion, slavery, forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, organ harvesting and harbouring of trafficked people. Lana Penrose investigates the criminals and victims bound by human trafficking and sex slavery within the bowels of a sunburnt country.
Her pale hand desperately clutches the soiled sheets as her glazed eyes stare at the ceiling, vacant and detached. As her body is pummelled into a befouled mattress, she swallows a grimace to deny further satisfaction to her ‘client’; yet her pain runs deep. She doesn’t belong here. Not in this situation. Not in this country. Not under these conditions. She has fallen victim to human trafficking – and the horror of sexual servitude.
Shot in sepia, this is the shocking portrayal of a trafficked sex slave that seems hauntingly real. It features actor Emma Thompson who delivers an unnerving monologue as she clenches and writhes her way through 74 seconds of jarring rawness. She shares innocent details of her former life in Eastern Europe juxtaposed against the gross humiliation of sexual servitude. Produced by the Helen Bamber Foundation for an awareness campaign, I Am Elena is available online and is guaranteed to cause acute discomfort in those viewing it. For those of us living ordinary lives, it’s a dose of ice-cold reality, almost too much to bear – because it’s really happening.
But most of us have the luxury of watching such footage and then clicking ‘stop’. Sadly there are those enduring lives not dissimilar to Elena’s. Held captive in foreign countries, for them slavery is an inescapable horror suffered around the clock. And it’s occurring in our very own backyard.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, precise statistics concerning trafficking and sex slavery in Australia are unknown. And compared to other regions, our problems are fewer. However, a parliamentary inquiry in 2004 reported that between 300 and 1000 women are trafficked to our shores annually for the purpose of sexual servitude. With the expected passing of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Slavery, Slavery-like Conditions & People Trafficking) Bill 2012, which expands the definition of slavery, these figures are expected to soar, adding to already disconcerting numbers. And make no mistake, cases reported to date have been chilling.
In a landmark case in 2006, the owner of a Fitzroy brothel in Melbourne, Ms Wei Tang, was convicted for slavery offences under the Australian Criminal Code. Through contacts in Thailand, Tang purchased five Thai women for a paltry sum and arranged for them to be trafficked to Australia to work off an alleged ‘debt’ of approximately $45,000 each. The victims worked six days a week for little to no pay and for her sins Ms Tang was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of six.
That same year marked the discovery of another five Thai nationals, aged between 27 and 44, in a secret room within the basement of a licensed brothel in Fairfield, Sydney. Victims were bought through Thai ‘recruiters’ who organised visas, airline tickets and passports. Each woman cost between $12,000 and $15,500. Upon arrival in Australia, every girl (bar one) was advised that she owed a debt of between $35,000 and $45,000. Their passports were sequestered and they were immediately set to work.
These victims laboured 16 hours a day, six days a week, sometimes seven. They were required to internally insert a sponge to enable them to work throughout their menstrual period. Over the course of five and a half months, one victim serviced close to 900 clients.
None of these women were allowed to leave the brothel premises unless supervised by their ‘owners’. They were held captive, threatened, humiliated, malnourished, assaulted, raped, forced to perform sex acts without adequate protection and exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. They could not refuse service, even if they were exhausted or enduring physical pain owing to abnormally frequent intercourse performed under duress. In one instance, a woman was forced to continue working while suffering a severe womb infection and vaginal tear.
Thankfully one of these women found the courage to contact the Thai Embassy, which tipped off the Australian Federal Police, and these girls were freed. On November 15, 2007 brothel owner Trevor McIvor was sentenced to 12 years in prison; his partner in crime, Kanakporn Tanuchit, 11. They were charged with five counts of possessing a slave in a case that represented the first slavery conviction in New South Wales. Since then, others have followed.
In February this year a Chinese Cambodian male was arrested for luring three Thai teens under 18 from Thailand and forcing them into sex slavery in Guildford, Sydney. In April, a Thai female was found guilty of slave possession in the ACT. The week before saw a slave labour scandal play out in NSW.
There have been 325 investigations into human trafficking since 2003, with more than 200 victims identified: there have been 15 successful convictions since 2004.
Cases that have gone before the Australian Courts follow a common thread. Trafficked victims do not understand the extent of their debt bondage until it’s too late. Through desperation, they agree to leave their home countries after recruiters have spruiked the benefits of a better life in Australia. Most come from impoverished backgrounds and arrive with hopes of raising money for themselves and their families.
Some have worked in the sex industry before, others have not. Some are aware they will be required to perform sexual duties, others are not. Once in Australia, their passports and return tickets are confiscated. They have little to no access to funds and become reliant on their captors for food and shelter. Their movements are severely restricted. Their education levels are often low. Many are unable to speak English fluently. All are unfamiliar with the outside world. They are strangers in a strange land, held under lock and key. They and their families are verbally and physically threatened to deter any attempts to break free. These victims live in fear and don’t know where to turn. As one judge put it, how can they escape when they have no English, no friends, don’t know where they are, and fear Immigration and law enforcement?
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigates these matters in partnership with State and Territory Police. The AFP conducted the 325 investigations and currently has 49 cases open, 31 of which have been the result of tip-offs and referrals from a diverse cross-section of the community. The 30-strong human trafficking team is divided between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and dispatched around the country as required.
Superintendent Glyn Lewis, the AFP National Co-ordinator of Human Trafficking, confirms that victims can be forced to “service men ten or so times a day” and that his team is exposed to startling scenes.
“My frontline police go to work sites that would be particularly disturbing to the average Australian. Most would be affronted by what they see,” he says.
“We interview victims who live in awful conditions and hear horrific stories from people who are underage being forced into sex work. The mind boggles when someone who is 16 is being forced into an industry to service men over and over again. It’s entirely vile.
“This is a crime that is highly emotive and touches on the senses of most people because it’s a complete infringement of human rights. And for those who think that human trafficking is not occurring in Australia, we can categorically tell you that it is.”
And the shocking revelations do not end there. Through cases brought to light in Australia, it has emerged that victims are often subjugated by women of their own nationality who have suffered similar fates.
Before coming to Australia, Somri Yotchomchim, a defendant who was later found guilty, had been held captive in Thailand at age 13, was repeatedly raped and had fallen pregnant. She came from an extremely poor background and endured emotional and physical abuse from her father and stepfather. She fled Thailand, leaving her son and family behind to pursue a better life. It is said that her physical and mental torture of the women she later enslaved was even more brutal than that inflicted by her partner in crime, Johan Sieders, who additionally claimed that his wife – another Thai national – had suggested they recruit and exploit Thai women.
“It’s not unusual for those who are trafficked to become those that traffic others. In fact it’s a common phenomenon globally,” says Supt Lewis. “These people are often mentally traumatised and you have to look at where some have come from.”
An Institute of Criminology report states that Australia is a destination country for victims of trafficking, mainly from Asia. Supt Lewis confirms that victims are arriving from Korea, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. But he is quick to add that victims hail from all over the world and are not exclusively Asian.
As for the perpetrators, the crime is simply opportunistic or driven by small criminal groups with family connections. The scope of criminal operations can vary but isn’t usually facilitated by sophisticated transnational crime gangs, as seen with drug smuggling.
But the lack of large-scale criminal networks does not detract from the severity of the crime, nor the implications for the victims.
Thankfully there are those determined to help. Parallel to conducting its investigations, the Federal Police refers trafficked victims to the Red Cross to address immediate trauma needs and provide victim support. The Red Cross then helps these extremely fragile people to secure accommodation, income support, legal advice, and education and training as it addresses physical and mental concerns.
Lis De Vries, national manager of Migration Support Programs for the Red Cross, confirms that many trafficked clients suffer psychological scars including post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Some still fear for their safety years after escaping their traffickers and can find it difficult to trust others,” she says.
“Others have physical scars like sexually transmitted infections or broken bones caused by abuse at the hands of their traffickers, or through attempted escape.
“Survivors can be left feeling vulnerable, exploited and deceived, and it can take years for them to rebuild their lives. People who have been trafficked often live in constant fear, not only for their own safety but that of their families.”
Anti Slavery Australia offers free legal and counselling services to victims. Director of the Anti Slavery Project, Jennifer Burn, hopes the public will soon have a better understanding of what slavery looks like. She explains that there is a full range of exploitative conduct associated with slavery, and encourages the community to be on the alert.
“There have been cases of gross exploitation, so if someone has a question mark over whether a person might be caught up in this situation, talking to an organisation like ours can help tease that out.
“The end picture can mean a victim putting down roots, making a new life, developing greater language skills and finding employment. I have seen some trafficked people become slowly empowered and that’s really great, but it’s the result of enormous assistance and support over time.”
According to the United Nations, human trafficking is the third most lucrative transnational crime in the world, following drugs and arms smuggling. The slave trade generates billions of dollars, and rivals the blood-curdling slavery painstakingly abolished in the United States in centuries past.
Today, as we go about our daily business of working, living, loving, and tending to our families, there is cause to pause and consider those trafficked to our shores. With the passing of an amended Bill, we will soon have a greater understanding of the dimensions of this crime, and, armed with improved knowledge, a certain awareness of how we can look out for those subjected to one of the worst violations of human rights.
