Just recently sex enslavement became National news with the exposé
that:
Police reported that up to 40 children living in the care of the
Department of Human Services in Victoria may have been sexually exploited in
the past 18 months. This included children as young as 12 being transported
interstate, exchanging sex for cigarettes, money, alcohol or drugs. The
offenders gained the trust of these children through social media and
befriending them 1.
The most disheartening and disgusting part of this story is that the
offenders preyed on children already suffering from significant trauma and pain,
removed from family and support systems that you or I take for granted every
day. These children were vulnerable, and the offenders exploited this.
Fortunately, in this case several men were charged, including the
‘ring-leader’ of the organisation.
Cases like this are rare in Australia, prevented largely by a police
force targeting the exploitation of children, with 2,000 police, child protection and care workers in Australia (Bernie Geary, Commissioner for Children and Young People in Victoria), and well-defined and enforced legal Acts. Moreover,
Australia is geographically isolated, has strong migration controls, and has
numerous anti-trafficking agreements with countries across South East Asia to
improve cooperation, prevent trafficking, and provide victim support 2.
However, trafficking for sexual purposes DOES occur in Australia. In
fact, the UN ranked Australia 21st as a destination of human
trafficking 3. The vast majority of people considered to be enslaved
in Australia are women from South East Asia for the purposes of sex. (Statistics
can be viewed at: http://www.law.uq.edu.au/human-trafficking-statistics).
It also appears that those enslaved in Australia are predominantly forced into prostitution. This raises the obvious question: Has the legalisation of prostitution driven sexual enslavement in Australia?
 |
| http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwtravel/960_540/images/live/p0/17/bg/p017bg2j.jpg and http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2009/05/17/1225713/050253-sex-out-of-control-in-sydney.jpg |
Sweden would argue yes. And they may be right. Legalisation of
prostitution in Australia has increased the demand for prostitutes, however this
increase in demand has not been filled 2. Sweden argues that this
demand-driven system generates the trafficking and enslavement of women into
prostitution. I tend to agree with this argument, however I also recognise that
it is somewhat of a catch 22. As a nation we want to prevent humans being
trafficked and forced into prostitution; but we also want to be able to provide
those who choose to work in the sex industry with a safe environment, just like
any other workplace. Prostitution is the oldest profession in living history,
it will continue whether it is legal or not. Whether the benefits of legalising
prostitution outweigh the potential for increased sex enslavement I’ll leave for
you to debate by leaving comments on this post.
By Hamish Prosser
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment