Country Report: Australia

Lured by large-scale underground organizations, young women are trapped as sex slaves in Australia

A Victim's Story

Honey, originally from the countryside of Thailand, was short on money while living in Bangkok. A friend introduced her to an agent who promised a new life and a way of making money in Australia. Provided with a false passport and student visa, Honey flew to Sydney with a woman posing as her mother. As soon as the plane touched ground, Honey was told that her ticket, passport, and visa cost $35,000 (Australian), and that she now must work off her debt as a prostitute. Her papers were confiscated and she was placed in a small apartment with three other girls.

Honey was forced to have sex with five to ten clients a day. If Honey left the apartment unaccompanied, $200 would be added to her debt.When she was sick, her boss demanded that she continue to see clients. If she refused or complained, her boss would beat her.

After a time, Honey successfully worked off the debt, but her boss informed her that she would not be allowed to leave. Instead, she was sent to a brothel in South Melbourne for another six months. While in the hospital (after an involuntary abortion), Honey seized this opportunity to escape. Without family, friends, or money, she called the only person who might be able to help: a john. Honey now lives in relative freedom in Australia, but she still must hide from her ex-owner and immigration officials.

Country Background

Australia is one of the most Western nations in its region, and is still connected Britain through a shared monarch (the country declared autonomy from Britain in 1942). Moderately socialist parties have traditionally controlled the government, although movement in recent years has been toward conservative groups. The country has an extensive welfare program and strong organized labor. Also, many parts of the country have legal prostitution.

Causes of Slavery

Depressed economic conditions in many Southeast Asian countries (especially in rural areas) and the relaxed laws regarding prostitution in Australia create an extremely tempting situation to human traffickers. Impoverished men and women (and even girls as young as 13) often resort to selling their own bodies. And people so desperate and poor are all too willing to believe traffickers' promises and are thus easily lured into slavery. Entire slavery syndicates exist, which stretch from the brothels of Australia's major cities to those of Southeast Asia.

Because prostitution is largely legal in Australia, police do not consider the sex trade a priority. Raids in search of sex slaves are rare. And when they are discovered, the women are most often deported. Consequently, those responsible are seldom apprehended. High profit and low risk maintain the allure of the sex trade.

The Process of Enslavement

Many of the women held captive in Australia's brothels initially come to the country willingly. In order to escape dismal conditions in their home countries (primarily Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia), they agree to become prostitutes in order to escape. Others are lured by promises of jobs in restaurants or factories. Whatever the ruse, those who bring the women to Australia immediately present them with an exorbitant bill. The women are then told that they must sleep with a hundreds of men to erase their debt.

Any disobedience toward the john or the brothel owner is met with violence. In some cases, the women are kept in small rooms with barred windows. Slavers may also place several women in a small apartment with escorts transferring them from home to client. The most effective restraint, however, is fear. As young women in a foreign country, often unable to speak the native tongue, the slaves have nowhere to turn and they face violence - even death - if caught after escape.

Slavers may also add bogus charges to the women's debts, for items such as clothes and lodging. As a result, the women are often still detained after as many as 700 "jobs." The number of women in sex servitude discovered by the police has increased over 400% between 1996 and 1999.

Response on the Ground

The Australian government has recently enacted strong penalties for involvement in the sex trade, but the problem continues. Many groups such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific, Stop-Traffic and Captive Daughters address international trafficking issues.