WeeklySA_AdminIMMIGRATION: They escape forced marriage, sex and labour exploitation, only to find the themselves homeless and no help from foreign authorities…
By Monk Nkomo
The Australian government is faced with a massive problem of scores of foreigners who have escaped from the scourge of modern slavery, forced marriages and sex trafficking and were now finding it difficult to find jobs and accommodation in the country.
The most significant barriers that these survivors encountered when trying to find jobs and accommodation after escaping from the jaws of their captors, are related to their immigration status and their inability to secure an ongoing income through either employment or social benefit.
Some survivors of modern slavery and workplace exploitation might also not be ready to re-enter the workforce after being forced to work excessive overtime, having restricted freedom, threats or severe violence made against them.
This could manifest in symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. For many survivors, workplaces are simply not neutral spaces, but reminders of previous mental and physical violence.
The scourge of human trafficking and exploitation is plaguing most parts of the world with the United Nations leading the way in mobilizing countries to fight this vicious crime that weakened the rule of law.
A review by the University of South Australia (UniSA) and the Australian Red Cross, released almost two weeks after the United Nations Global Report on human trafficking, has established that human trafficking and modern slavery survivors faced barriers when trying to access housing or accommodation after escaping exploitation. These barriers included their immigration status , with more than half of the survivors supported by the Red Cross on a temporary visa.
The Walk Free Foundation in Australia, in their recent study : ‘’ Estimating the dark figure of human trafficking and slavery victimization in Australia,’’ estimated that the number of these victims between 2015 and 2017 was between 1300 and 1900. Using the Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE) technique, the Foundation said these figures revealed that there were approximately four undetected victims for every victim detected.
‘’ The true extent of crime victimization is unlikely to ever be known, yet new statistical techniques offer a promising method of uncovering the ‘ dark figure’ of hidden victimisation.’’
The study also noted that between 2004 and 2007, a total 841 cases of human trafficking and slavery were reported to the Australian Federal Police. This resulted in 350 victims being referred to the Support for Trafficked People Programme and twenty-one offenders arrested and convicted. Since 2013, Australian Federal Police referrals had revealed a substantial downward trend in the number of sexual exploitation and forced marriage cases while reported cases of labour exploitation remained stable.
Determining the prevalence of any crime was difficult – even more so for crimes that were clandestine in nature, according to the Foundation. ‘’Many crimes do not come to the attention of the authorities and may not be recorded even if reported. Criminal justice statistics are therefore influenced by reporting and recording practices.
‘’This is compounded in the case of modern slavery, where the collection of statistics is affected by the clandestine nature of the crimes, low reporting due to mistrust in authorities and fear of deportation, affected individuals not identifying as victims and victims not being correctly identified as such by the professionals who encounter them.’’
According to Dr. Nerida Chazal, of the University of South Australia (UniSA), the government ‘s Human Trafficking Visa Framework was intended to support survivors who were foreign nationals, but its design was limited. ‘’ Survivors are only eligible for longer term visas and support if they participate in the investigation of a human trafficking or slavery offence. This leaves behind survivors who are unwilling to engage with authorities due to their trauma – leaving them unsupported and vulnerable to homelessness.’’
Immigration status was also a barrier for survivors being able to access a stable income to pay for accommodation or housing services. Three quarters of the surveyed accommodation providers require no proof of immigration status. However, a survivor’s immigration status may not allow them to legally work in Australia. This means they cannot demonstrate ongoing income to pay for accommodation.
According to the University of Australia Ph.D candidate, Kyla Raby, Australia had seen an increase in the number of people formally identified as survivors of human trafficking and slavery during the period when the country was also experiencing a serious housing crisis. These survivors faced the risks of re-entering exploitative environments because they were struggling to find places to live.
A recent article by The Conversation and co-authored by Raby and Chazal reflected on the rapidly growing issue with the number of people living in modern slavery more than doubling in the past four years to an estimated 41 000.
‘’ Access to stable housing has a significant impact on survivors – it is crucial to their recovery but there is a shortage of available and suitable accommodation. We know we are in the middle of a severe housing crisis, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected housing affordability and the availability of rental properties and accommodation services’’, says Raby.
Australian Red Cross ‘ Acting Lead for Trafficking , Forced Marriage and Forced Labour, Lina Garcia-Daza, says supporting survivors in their recovery was a complex issue that required a holistic approach.
‘’ We need an approach that includes accommodation services, but also ties in other supports tailored to survivors’ needs that help with their recovery. The lack of accommodation for survivors of modern slavery cannot be addressed in a vacuum. Homelessness is the result of multiple variables including lack of income, immigration status, the lack of specialized trauma informed and person centre accommodation services and limited resources available.
‘’Ongoing partnerships and collaborative work between the housing, migrant and modern slavery civil society sectors, is vital in overcoming identified barriers in accommodating survivors of modern slavery and working towards safe, suitable and sustainable housing.’’
Top 10 Facts about Human Trafficking in South Africa
SCENARIO: It is estimated that globally, around 21 million people fell victim in 2018, and South Africa is no exception…
By Natalie Malek
Trafficking in South Africa is on the rise.
At a press conference in 2018, Lt. Col.Parmanand Jagwa, the Hawks Gauteng coordinator of the illegal migration desk, and deputy director Rasigie Bhika said human trafficking was a “growing activity” in the region. In response to the rising numbers, the US Department of State released a report criticising the government’s methodology, noting that “the government made little progress in prosecution of traffickers connected to international syndicates, which facilitated sex and labour trafficking with impunity throughout the country” and that “the government did little to address reports of official complicity in trafficking crimes and efforts by officials.”Girls are more likely to be trafficked for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.
Overall, 55 percent of human trafficking victims are women. Additionally, 43 percent of victims were used for sexual exploitation, and 98 percent of which were women and young girls.Boys are more likely to be trafficked for street vending, food service and agricultural purposes.
Around 45 percent of all trafficking victims in the country are boys and men.South Africa is considered to be on the “Tier 2 Watchlist” for human trafficking.
The US Department of State has several methods to track the levels of ongoing trafficking in a given country. There are four tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watchlist, and Tier 3. These standards are outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. Tier 1 represents countries whose governments fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, and Tier 2 represents countries whose governments do not fully comply with TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. The lowest level is Tier 3, which represents countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.It is estimated that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year, according to UNICEF.
Traffickers “recruit” children and give them fake identification documents and are most likely part of a network of organized criminals. Additionally, due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, many children are left without parents and in poverty, making them more vulnerable to these diseases.Traffickers do not fit a single profile.
They can range from strangers to a relative or close friend, especially in cases of child trafficking. They can also pose as significant others and try to convince children to leave to “start a new life.”South Africa is a source, transit and destination country for victims of human trafficking.
Source countries are those which supply the victims of the crime, transit countries are mediums/stopping points which the victims travel through and destination countries are the final locations to which they are brought. South Africa is all three.Ninety-five percent of victims experience violence in trafficking.
This figure represents both physical and sexual violence and applies to both men and women.Some victims are forced into drug addiction.
Law enforcement in South Africa reported that traffickers drugged victims to coerce them into sex trafficking. At the same time, some government-run shelters denied victims of human trafficking because of drug addiction.The NGO Love Justice International is working to make conditions better in South Africa.
The group has 44 different transit monitoring stations around the world in areas where trafficking is likely to occur. The NGO focuses on monitoring and spreading the message to reduce human trafficking and help victims escape. –Source: The Borgen Project
