Human Trafficking Policies in Australia - Essay Example

Introduction Human trafficking is a global problem and the most extreme form of exploitation. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labour or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery” (OVW, 2000). Reports indicate that an estimated 700,000 to 4,000,000 million people especially women and children are trafficked within and across borders annually. People trafficked or smuggled across borders usually pose as potential refugees and claim asylum from the destination countries like Australia. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Convention (UNTOC) protocol and the United Nations Convention on Refugees prevents states from denying entry to people needing protection due to dangerous situations in the country of origin (Kneebone & Rawlings-Sanaei, 2007). However, Australia receives many asylum seekers from Asia and Europe and as a result its human trafficking policies are geared towards preventing asylum seekers from entering the country through mandatory detention, lengthy processes by use of swap deals, and a discriminatory visa regime. The paper will discuss the controversial application of these policies and make recommendations on the appropriate policies to eliminate or reduce asylum seekers. Human Trafficking According to Gallagher (2010), Australia is one of the countries that ratified the United Nations Convention on Refugees in 1954. The convention prohibits countries from returning asylum seekers or refugees to a place they would be further persecuted. Asylum seekers are those fleeing from their country to avoid racial, ethnic or religious persecution, internal conflicts, mass human rights violations, and foreign aggression. The convention also prohibits states from punishing asylum seekers who enter the country illegally or through smuggling. The asylum seekers are scrutinized by the UNHCR and given refuge status and those that don’t qualify are deported. However, there are those that enter to another country for economic reasons making it difficult to differentiate those needing protection and economic migrants (UNHCR, 2011). Australia is a destination country to most of the asylum seekers from Asia and Eastern Europe especially Afghanistan and Iraq and since most of the countries surrounding Australia are not signatories to the UN convention on refugees, Australia is more vulnerable to asylum seekers. One of the reasons people are trafficked is for economic reasons. The country of origin is poor economically and not able to offer job opportunities. Women are the most affected as they are deceived into getting housekeeping jobs which are well paying but end up as prostitutes in brothels. However, Australia has strict penalties for those found guilty of deceptive recruitment. According to Humantrafficking.org (2011), those guilty are liable for 7years imprisonment. Viukho, (2010) argues that in Asia, there are plenty of jobs but still people accept to be smuggled or trafficked across boarders for more lucrative jobs. The asylum seekers and economic migrants follow the same routes and use social networks for survival making it difficult for policy makers to know the right migrants to offer asylum and forcing some countries like Australia to apply tight controls in migration. This in turn leads to formation of organized gangs who smuggle people into the country for financial gain. Despite signing the convention, Australia has very strict laws against asylum seekers especially those who enter the country by boats. This leads to controversy while implementing migration policies. For example, a state may want to control entry of illegal immigrants but the international laws allows for entry of migrants. The UNTOC protocol on trafficking considers them as “victims or potential victims of this crime” (Ventrella 2010, p. 4). It thus advocates for support of victims and facilitation of their integration in the receiving country. However, Australia is bent on preventing asylum seekers from entering the country. According to Aslan (2009), Australian policies on human trafficking are harsh and include; mandatory detention, lengthy processes due to criminal background checks and harsh conditions for victims as they are transported to camps. Refugees are also kept in indefinite detention. The mandatory detention policy was put in place in 1992 for asylum seekers without valid visas. They are supervised permanently and those who escape are considered as criminals. This is against the UN convention and is a violation of human rights. The recent policies on asylum seekers in Australia have also sparked a lot of controversy. The Australian government in its efforts to control human trafficking entered into a swap deal with Malaysia whereby asylum seekers are sent to Malaysia and follow a lengthy refugee process and in return Australia accepts five times as much refugees from Malaysia who have been vetted by international organizations (Siegel, 2011).However, Malaysia is not a signatory to UN convention and hence mistreats the asylum seekers. Though the move has lessened the number of asylum seekers, it is a violation of the convention and against human rights. Australia should allow the victims into the country and protect them instead of sending them away to another country. Furthermore, those who enter illegally by plane are not given the same treatment. Despite trafficking being a global problem, it is a profitable business. Some governments while formulating policies to curb human trafficking and minimise existence of asylum seekers have hidden agendas thus policy gaps exist (Morehouse, 2009). Human trafficking is a source of labour especially in sweatshops and thus a government which requires cheap labour may not impose strict immigration controls. A study carried out by ILO showed that 9.5m people are victims of forced labour and only less than 10% are sexually exploited (Feingold, 2005). Australia is alleged to be lenient to labour trafficking. It is also friendly to those who cooperate to nab the traffickers by giving them temporary visas and a permanent visa after two years. This is unfair to those not willing to cooperate due to fear of punishment by the traffickers. A lot of cooperation between countries is needed to curb trafficking. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) gives states freedom to decide on the extent of assistance to give to another state in case of judicial proceedings. This leads to a lot of crimes going unpunished due to lack of mutual legal assistance by the states. Conclusion Australia is a destination country to many asylum seekers from Asia and Europe. Some enter the country legally while others are trafficked or smuggled by use of boats. As a result, Australia is very strict with asylum seekers who enter the country by boats to the extent of entering a swap deal with Malaysia in order to lengthen the refugee process. It also keeps refugees in indefinite detention and asylum seekers without valid visas are given mandatory detention. Criminal background checks are also aimed at lengthening the process of acquiring visas. The visa regime is also discriminatory in that it favours those willing to cooperate with authorities not minding those who fear retaliation by the traffickers in case of betrayal. These policies are in contravention of the refugee convention and are a violation of human rights. Recommendation The states as well as protecting survivors should put emphasis on ensuring human rights of women who are the most victims are safeguarded. Australia should put in place victim support programs instead of sending them away to face further suffering. Its visa regime should be able to protect all victims and not only those who cooperate with law enforcement authorities since those deported face persecution by the transnational crime gangs involved in human trafficking. Cooperation within the state and across borders is essential to help alleviate the problem instead of punishing victims. References Aslan, A. (2009). Islamophobia in Australia. Australia: Agora Press. Feingold, D. (2005) “Human Trafficking’. Foreign Policy Journal. No.150, pp. 26-30, 32 Gallagher, A. (2010). The International Law of Human Trafficking. New York: Cambridge University Press. Humantrafficking (2011). “Human Trafficking in Australia”. Humantrafficking.org. Retrieved August 22, 2011 from http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/australia Kneebone, S., Rawlings-Sanaei, F. (Eds). (2007) New Regionalism and Asylum Seekers: Challenges Ahead. Berghahn. Morehouse, C. (2009) Combating Human Trafficking: Policy Gaps and Hidden Political Agendas in the USA and Germany. USA: Vs Verlag. Office of Violence Against Women. (2000). Division A—Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Retrieved August 20, 2011, from World Wide Web http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/laws/vawo2000/stitle_a.htm#purposes Siegel, M. (August 10, 2011) “Plan to Deal With Seekers of Asylum Roils Australia”. New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/world/asia/11australia.html UNHCR (2011) “Asylum Seekers”. Retrieved August 19, 2011 from http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c137.html Ventrella, M (2010) The Control of People Smuggling and Trafficking in the EU: Experiences from the UK and Italy. England: Ashgate. Viukho, M. (2010) “Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and Organised Procuring in Finland”. European Journal of Criminology. Vol. 7(1): 61-75. Read More