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The modern face of slavery

By Kathleen Maltzahn

Posted July 28, 2008 10:45:00
Updated July 28, 2008 11:26:00

"You must be mindful to have your Negroes shaved and made Clean to look well at every Island you touch at and to strike a good Impression on the Buyers..." - Humphrey Morice, Member of Parliament, Governor of the Bank of England, slave trader, England, 1730s

"I've paid f---ing $45,000; why can't they look decent." - Trevor "Papa" McIvor, brothel owner, Australia, 2000s

From the safety of distance, historical crimes look obvious. We would have been one of the ones who fought against that, we tell ourselves, it is so obvious that was wrong.

Things get murkier once they get closer.

In the 1990s, trafficking in women and children, particularly for prostitution, emerged as crime of concern in many parts of the world. In 2001, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called it "one of the most egregious human rights violations of our time". Report after report talked about this "modern form of slavery".

Few countries escaped being either a source, transit or destination country.

Australia seemed to be an exception.

While in 1999 the Commonwealth had brought in laws outlawing sexual slavery and put the crime at a million dollar a week industry in Australia, by 2003 then justice minister Senator Chris Ellison was confident the problem had been solved. "Slavery chains," he told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee, "where people are traded in, as goods and chattels might be," did not exist in Australia.

Doing outreach to brothels in the late 1990s and 2000s, however, I wasn't so sure. I was seeing women who looked very much to me like they were being treated as "goods and chattels" and at least one court case reinforced what I thought. In 1999, Melbourne man Gary Glazner was charged with breaches of the Victorian Prostitution Control Act for crimes relating to trafficking. The investigating police officer believed Glazner had bought up to 100 Thai women, enslaved and then prostituted them. The case echoed an earlier Sydney case, where the AFP had uncovered a trafficking ring.

Both uncovered the practice of bringing "contract girls" to Australia - women forced to pay of "debts" from $30,000 to $50,000 through prostitution. Neither the debts nor contracts were real, but both were enforced through threats and violence, including rape. Women frequently had to do up to 500 "jobs", unable to refuse drunk, demeaning or dangerous customers, and told by traffickers that if they went for help they would simply be deported.

In 2003, after researching trafficking, including through interviews with "contract girls", my organisation, Project Respect, began a successful campaign to change federal government policy on trafficking. After years of deporting trafficked women and ignoring the traffickers, in October that year the government brought in a $20 million counter-trafficking package, committed to strengthening the laws against trafficking, and gave trafficked women visas to stay in Australia while they recovered.

In the same year, the AFP charged a Melbourne brothel owner with sexual slavery, the first significant prosecution under the 1999 sexual slavery laws. Five years on, that case has gone all the way to the High Court. When the full bench of the court hands down its decision in a few weeks, it will redefine slavery in Australia.

There are two possible positions the court could take. It could say, as people now charged with trafficking contend, that being a Thai prostitute on "contract" is not slavery. It's an argument made by people such as Byron Bay criminal lawyer Bruce Peters, who is currently representing Trevor McIvor against trafficking charges.

"These girls were not exploited," Mr Peters is reported to have said (Sydney Morning Herald, July 6, 2008). "No one argues that they came here illegally but they were brought here voluntarily so everyone could make money. They were not my client's chattel slaves. They had mobile phones. They were free to come and go as they pleased."

The alternate view is that being on "contract", being forced to pay off imaginary debts of up to $50,000 through unwanted prostitution, is indeed a modern form of slavery. We should not look for shackles - the enslavement tool of the transatlantic slave trade - but rather at the impact of the slave traders, at their power to reduce a person to a commodity.

We often think of slavery in terms of ill-treatment, and imagine that violence is unrelenting. But slavery does not necessarily mean constant abuse. Eighteenth century slave trader Humphrey Morice had firm views on the treatment of slaves - he thought they should be treated well. "Take care your Negroes have their Victualls in proper Season and at regular times and that their food be well boyled and prepared," he told his captain in 1721, "and do not Sufferr any of your Shipp's Company to abuse them".

It is important, then, to look at the limits of such treatment. Here's Morice again:

The slaves are to be served water three times a day, Tobacco once a week and Pipes when they want...Be mindful to iron your strong rugged men Slaves, but favour the young striplings or those who begin to be sick: and let them in general be washt at convenient times: in an Evening divert them with musick letting them dance.

It doesn't matter if women have mobile phones, it doesn't matter if they are taken on outings, it doesn't matter if they have food and drink. If a person's agency is taken away, if their identity is stolen, if they cannot remove themselves from violence, and if they can be bought and sold at whim, they are slaves. This is the reality of many women on "contract" in Australia.

Whether or not we can see this present day form of slavery, and not just look for its past manifestation, is a test of our capacity to recognise a crime against humanity.

At the end of the day, however, it is perhaps not our views that are most important.

The final word should go to the women who say they have been trafficked, and in the McIvor case, the women's statements are very clear. "I don't know why they treated me that way," one woman has said in her victim impact statement, "as if I was not a human being."

Kathleen Maltzahn is the author of Trafficked, the first book-length account of the trafficking of women and girls for prostitution in Australia, published this month by UNSW Press. She was founding director of Project Respect, which spearheaded the successful campaign to change government responses sexual slavery in Australia.

Tags: community-and-society, prostitution, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, human-rights, australia

Comments (55)

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• stargirl:

  28 Jul 2008 9:28:48am

  Great piece Kathleen. How much longer can this be ignored?

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  • PaulB:

    28 Jul 2008 10:44:33am

    
    What a Dogs Breakfast of a piece.
    
    This "issue" in Australia has been beaten up out of all proportion by those with vested interests, hysterical authors included.
    
    We had a visiting Professor from the US a few months ago hyping this rubbish to cheering lecture halls. He was estimating 5,000 women & children in sexual slavery in Australia, quoting anecdotes & chinese whispers as evidence. He had a book to flog & a lecture circuit to milk, as well.
    
    Its ashame real issues of oppresion aren't treated with the same determination. Arranged marriages, kids exported for FGM/C, abortion rights all under reported & a far more deserving reality than this load of tripe!
    

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    • stargirl:

      28 Jul 2008 11:13:10am

      What kind of vested interests do you mean? And in what way is this issue NOT deserving attention, no matter how many or few women are involved?

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    • Tim:

      28 Jul 2008 12:57:44pm

      What a foolish, baseless, and not to mention heartless post.
      
      If this issue doesnt matter to you, then dont spend your time commenting on it, please spare us. Im sure this issue matters to those that are the subject of the court cases mentioned, among many others accross the globe, you might want to try thinking perhaps of how such people might feel about this?
      
      Yes the issues you have mentioned are also deserving of attention. However this is a genuine, global issue worthy of concern, even if you dont happen to think so.

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    • Annie N:

      28 Jul 2008 1:23:00pm

      Paul B ...I work closely with the women you imply do not exist.
      One woman in my view is too many....precise numbers of women trafficked-no-one knows-but better funding of research might go some way to addressing this gap in knowlege. Government won't necessarily need to spend more money to fund this research-they just need to rebalance the existing expenditure.
      International best practice reveals that a better funded community response is more effective than just channelling funds into police and immigration authorites. Hope fully this Government will make thenecessary adjustments.
      
      Your vehement response scares me... i am afraid that you are either in denial, or complicit in some way-could this be true?
      I hope not.
      I encourage you and your male friends and relatives to stop using the sex industry until such time as you are absolutely sure that no woman will be subjected to violence in this industry. Truth is...no man asks 'are you a slave?'... and how would you ever be sure.

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      • John:

        28 Jul 2008 3:04:49pm

        Imagine the guilt if it turned out that the prostitute you were seeing wasn't the happy business woman you had been lead to believe, but was in reality a wretched slave. I would be in denial too. I suspect the slave traders will have ready allies in Australia's prostitute going men. How else will they protect their consciences if they cannot hid behind the "business woman" defence?

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    • scott:

      28 Jul 2008 1:59:03pm

      That's a weird response Paul - if you'd been following this in the press over th last few years you would be aware of a number of cases of sex slavery rings and related businesses being brought to light. It's obviously not a beat up or just a few isolated cases.

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    • Geremin:

      28 Jul 2008 2:36:45pm

      Comparing the relative merits of various forms of human exploitation is not only odious but strengthens the hands of the exploiters.
      I agree with 'chalkie', that imposing tougher penalties for the breach of existing laws like trafficking, may be the least problematic solution.

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    • michelle baltazar:

      28 Jul 2008 4:27:22pm

      hello,
      
      Barring the separate issue on whether one form of crime deserves more attention than another, I'd like to flog to Paul that modern-day slavery is not an issue that's been blown out of proportion. Quite the contrary!
      
      I can't say anything about the visiting professor you're talking about but I've done an article on sex trafficking in Australia (and trafficking for slave labour) and the issue certainly needs more publicity and more government and community support.
      
      To give you an example, some of these 'sex slaves' have been reported on court, and in police reports, to being forced to have sex more than 50 times a day (!) so they can pay the supposed $45,000 their bosses forked out to get them to Australia.
      
      I'm sorry you don't feel as strongly about the issue as you do with arranged marriages and abortion rights but this country's government and citizens are only as good as how they treat people who are being exploited, such as the trafficking victims mentioned in this article.
      
      Human trafficking violates basic human rights, and the sooner we address it, the better.

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  • PaulB:

    28 Jul 2008 11:53:46am

    stargirl,
    
    Vested interests are academics, authors, "the current affairs industry" & Lefties who need a cause to suckle from.
    
    There are a few rare cases in Australia that police have investigated & taken action on. It is not the epidemic that its proponents portray it as. If it was, why aren't those in the know, informing police & why aren't the police conducting endless raids, to free these modern day, Kunta Kinte's!
    
    It reminds me of the False Memory Syndrome debacle of the 90's, academics, experts, the media combining to bring a false ideology to life.
    

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    • Billie:

      28 Jul 2008 12:07:00pm

      If you're going to deplore anecdotal evidence, please provide evidence for your assertion that "there are a few rare cases" and "it is not an epidemic". What's your basis for that argument?

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    • stargirl:

      28 Jul 2008 12:20:00pm

      I'd call those plain old 'interests' - but they have nothing to gain in comparison with pimps, johns, and traffickers who have a major financial and power interest in the industry.
      
      I don't think anyone is calling it an 'epidemic' - just a nightmarish, horrible ongoing thing that needs fixing.

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    • Mike:

      28 Jul 2008 12:29:50pm

      Count me as a vested interest. I have nothing against or for prostitution but if only one woman is bound by the threat of violence or financial control and forced into prostitution then we slavery in Australia. I do have one issue though, if the contracts that bind these women are fraudulent, where's the Fraud Squad?

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    • Jman:

      28 Jul 2008 4:35:46pm

      There is a massive amount of crime that is not investigated and pursued. This is in part due to priorities that are placed on the AFP to allocate their resources in investigating crime. Generally what happens is that higher profile cases with a high chance of a successful prosecution are taken on. Furthermore there have to be willing witnesses to provide evidence in court. Criminals and criminal organisations learn from one successful prosecution to the next, thus making it more difficult for investigators.
      
      Sexual servitude is the tip of the iceberg as well. There are many cases of labourers in the horticultural and other industries who are also being exploited in a similar fashion. These cases are invariably not investigated as they are not high on the priority list, nor is the activity as morally abhorrent as sexual slavery. It is a very difficult and expensive process to investigate crime, particularly those which involve fraud and thus the amount of potential illegal activity is largely unreported.

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• SandyX:

  28 Jul 2008 10:10:19am

  I totally agree.
  We need action.
  Why am I not confident that the courts will protect these women?

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• chalkie:

  28 Jul 2008 10:16:53am

  I fear central to this issue is the entirely unequal power of the brothel owner over illegal workers and their fear of deportation. Giving visas to 'trafficked' sex workers could in fact form part of the 'package' touted at the start - "work for me for a while and then the AUst govt will give you a visa to stay." Could this issue be addressed in part by far more forceful penalties on those who employ illegal workers in general or even in specific industries liek prostitution? Like Capone getting caught on tax charges, might this be solved by other, less direct means?

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• Tom:

  28 Jul 2008 10:24:02am

  "Money is a new form of slavery, distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that is impersonal, there is no human relation between master and slave" wrote Leo Tolstoy almost a century ago...
  
  

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• Norm McMullen:

  28 Jul 2008 10:31:30am

  Shameful. A dark stain on Australia's morality! Like drugs - if the demand wasn't there there would be no 'trade'!

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  • L:

    28 Jul 2008 11:17:56am

    I doubt any of us has the power to make human nature less cruel Norm. Those that make, apply and judge laws have the power to enforce that certain deeds are not permittted most of the time. Unfortunately "contract" men and women will be used as long as they are allowed to be used.
    
    Even if this was not permitted by the powers that be, it would still occur anyway. It is a question about what we are willing to accept, and sadly we appear to accept this.

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    • Norm McMullen:

      28 Jul 2008 1:50:06pm

      L, yes, I do think we can make human nature less cruel. It is in our hands, is it not? It is the oldest trade in the world - I don't think it will ever be wiped out - and quite possibly there is a 'legitimate' and human side to it. But what we are talking about is importing and enslaving women for profit making! An altogether different thing. Quite possibly these women were fooled into thinking they were coming to Australia to a real job. Dirty business indeed!

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  • PaulB:

    28 Jul 2008 12:29:45pm

    Norm,
    
    You say, "if the demand wasn't there, there would be no trade." What are you saying, all sex is evil? Or sex you pay for is a sin? Prostitution in brothels is perfectly legal & the desires that lead men to utilise these services are normal human traits.
    
    This has nothing to do with infantile religious morality. Unless you want to talk about priests & altar boys or no condoms for an AIDS riddled Africa approach, taken by the Catholic Church. Then we'll be getting into morality territory!
    

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    • Peter:

      28 Jul 2008 2:55:49pm

      Human rights is an issue of morality.
      

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    • Norm McMullen:

      28 Jul 2008 8:30:45pm

      PaulB, If you have read posts on other forums you will have seen that sex is accepted by a large majority as the reason we exist - necessary for our survival as a species. Mother Nature makes sure we don't desist by making it extremely pleasureable with a gene in there somewhere that recognises a like gene in certain members of the opposite sex.
      I readily agree that males have human feelings and seek out a female where responsibility is not involved which is partly what we are all talking about. The part of it I was talking about is the part where the female is exploited. Imported from other countries with promises that they will get a job - a husband - etc, and she finds when she gets here that she is installed in some brothel and in some way entrapped so that she can't get out of the arrangement. It does go on and indeed a large proportion of the 'sex industry' is made up of such women.

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    • Kramerwatts:

      28 Jul 2008 9:57:09pm

      Honestly PaulB I hope I never meet you!
      No - sex isn't evil - even the sex you pay for although I don't agree with it.
      However - "the desires that lead men to utilise these services are normal human traits". Does that justify anything? You seem to be saying that we should give in to our desires simply because they are normal to have. Isn't the ability to control, even constrain, our behaviour the single factor that distinguishes human beings from animals driven by nothing but instinct?
      I fear your comments taken to their logical conclusion could be used to justify rape - "I was provoked (by desire that I couldn't contain) your worship".

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• stargirl:

  28 Jul 2008 10:47:11am

  Also, what can ordinary people do about this issue?

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  • Akroc:

    28 Jul 2008 11:28:01am

    Stop creating the demand, for starters.

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  • waryofitall:

    28 Jul 2008 12:04:50pm

    Maybe we have to bring it up in day to day conversations with people, in the hope that even one person sitting in that circle of people with you, who may be a casual visitor to these brothels, will think, and choose differently next time. Just talking to people and making them aware that it does go on in Australia will begin to raise awareness.
    
    It makes me sick and sad to think of what it must be like to have to have 50 drunk sets of hands per night, treating you like an object to be played with for their own enjoyment, no sense of you as a person with a history or a future, just thinking they've paid their bill, now they can take what they want... all that against your will under the fear of further violence...
    

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  • Alan:

    28 Jul 2008 4:58:46pm

    What can we do, well the answer raises a lot of civil libertarian issues and may not please the populous.
    
    In the same way we can stop illegal immigrants, visa abuse and other issues associated with visitors who are not what the purport or as they are represented.
    
    The way is quite simple and involves an identity card linked to a range of bio data that would be able to prove or disprove an identity as being credible.
    
    Ponder the fact that there are about 3 million more tax file numbers than there are people over the age of 14 or that there around 4 million more medicare numbers than people in the country and so on.
    
    If we want to stop both sides of a bad penny then the answer is simple, lose some of our privacy and gain control over who comes in, stays, and is protected.
    
    Sounds like 1984 but if we want protection from the associated evils of this industry and the other parts of the industry called illegal immigrants then ......... .
    
    I am sorry if this offends the civil libertarians but you cannot complain about one thing but scream when the solution is simple!
    

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• Steve:

  28 Jul 2008 10:55:15am

  In my view, an under 'Contract' person, brought to any country under a false pretence, and then by threat and or coersion compelled to participate in sex acts otherwise against their will, is not only enslaved, but also a victim of rape.
  
  To punish the victim moreso than the exploiter is akin to the skewed laws of some middle east nations, who we condemn as barbaric.

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  • Water:

    28 Jul 2008 12:11:08pm

    True. It comes back to the first point which I think was a very good one. The closer things are to us the murkier the situation becomes.

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• angela:

  28 Jul 2008 11:56:00am

  I really have trouble understanding how anyone could have sex with a prostitute. You know that they aren't attracted to you, and that they don't actually want sex with you personally - how come that's not an immediate turn off? The risk that they may also be a sex slave would absolutely finish me off. Why not use a sex doll and save yourself the bad karma? Surely there's not much difference unless you think women are just sex dolls with warm flesh?

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  • Mike:

    28 Jul 2008 12:32:35pm

    Sex is sex, you're talking about a "relationship".

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    • Y:

      28 Jul 2008 1:27:02pm

      Rape is rape, having 'sex' with an unwilling partner is called rape. Sure you can pay to rape, but it's not sex.
      
      

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  • dragon:

    28 Jul 2008 12:48:07pm

    Unfortunately this describes the difference between men and women 'sex-wise' ........
    " Men love the women they have sex with, and women have sex with the men they love" .... simple but oh so accurate !

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• Dave R:

  28 Jul 2008 1:05:28pm

  These women come here under contract to make money.
  If the operators here do not honour their employment contract then the women have the right to legal redress and/or union assistance assuming they join the union.
  Few appear to take that up so I presume they are prepared to suffer a few indignities in order to return to their homeland as rich women. After all they can earn in a year here what they could earn in a lifetime as prostitutes back home.
  Dave R.

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  • Fred:

    28 Jul 2008 1:43:42pm

    Dave R,
    
    It's not just prostitutes coming over here to "make a big buck", as you seem to think.
    
    These aren't legitimate contracts - they are sham promises of work overseas, often introduced by "friends of the family". Often the girls go thinking they will serve as housekeepers, etc., but then they are raped and forced to have sex with people they do not know, often violently.
    
    Their passports and legal documents are held by their "owners", and their movements are restricted. They may be given mobile phones but the calls are checked to make sure they have only been talking to clients and not to lawyers or social workers.
    
    This applies not only to prostitution, many clothes-making "sweat shops", and factories in third world countries work in this manner.
    
    I have also heard of kidnapping of Western and Japanese tourists to be sold into prostitution or slavery.
    
    All I can say is, may it never happen to anyone close to you.
    
    Not all prostitutes are exploited, but whether prostitution is right or not, the exploitation must be stopped.
    
    

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  • braddles:

    28 Jul 2008 1:56:45pm

    "Few appear to take that up so I presume they are prepared to suffer a few indignities in order to return to their homeland as rich women."
    
    Are you for real? they do not suffer for the love of it. They are forced to suffer. They can not enact upon their rights - they are enslaved. They do not go home rich. They would go home if they could (or ever do), mentally and physically abused. Do you call that rich? I certainly do not.
    
    Would you suffer a job that asks you to sleep with other men and be raped often in a foreign country with no medical/legal supoport to be rich? I think not.

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    • Dave R:

      28 Jul 2008 2:52:44pm

      Fred and Braddles I think you have a poor understanding of the world.
      Sure there are a few instances like the ones you are concerned about and the women actually held in those situations do deserve some help.
      But they are the exceptions not the rule, most of these women are situated as I first posted.
      Dave R.
      

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      • braddles:

        28 Jul 2008 4:07:31pm

        I am not able to back up my comments with hard facts. Are you are able to verify that many of the women are the exceptions not the rule and that most of these women are situated as you first posted? I would be very interested to see the evidence to back this up.
        
        I remain skeptical (maybe due to my lack of worldly knowledge??....an interesting assumption to make)

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      • Fred:

        28 Jul 2008 8:12:22pm

        It is not a question of whether the exploited women are in the majority or the minority. There is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
        
        As Annie N says above, "One woman is too many."

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• John:

  28 Jul 2008 3:00:23pm

  And to what extend do Australia's draconian immigration laws provide slave traders with a ready made set of shackles?
  
  All the slaver has to do is import their slave on a tourist visa, so once the visa expires the slave becomes an illegal immigrant. DIMA now acts as the slaver's enforcer. All the slaver has to do to apply pressure to the slave is to threaten to pick up the phone, so the slave goes from "virtual" detention to "physical" detention.

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  • Greg h:

    28 Jul 2008 3:08:18pm

    So whats the solution?
    
    DIMA relaxes restrictions so that these girls can be legally exploited?

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  • zak101:

    28 Jul 2008 3:24:11pm

    Tourist Visa ?
    
    NOW, who's to blame ? Do your own thinking, assess the credentials of a legitimate tourist - and for "underbelly" - stop taking bribes.
    
    If YOU can't find an overstaying visitor on a tourist visa, gees - we'll help you out ; that's Joe and Mavis public with a knowing eye.
    
    And, yes, if we see (or sense) something, we should bloody well say something.
    
    Why is my country going to hell in a handcart ?
    
    
    
    

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    • Karlis:

      28 Jul 2008 6:48:01pm

      Because the enlightened and conversational people (we) much prefer to complain about it in forums and newspaper articles than run for parliament. ;)
      
      (Easier to not be swayed here by the face-to-face conversation with professional lobby-groups, I suspect...)

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  • Dave R:

    28 Jul 2008 3:40:47pm

    John it is very difficult for anyone from the third world to get a tourist visa for Australia. They have to satisfy several conditions and IMO most would be refused entry.
    Also anyone here supporting their visit would have to justify having so many 18 year old females coming to visit them and would be in trouble if they overstayed their visa.
    
    So as brothels are legal I assume most of these ladies arrive here on an employer sponsored working visa. Most would earn at least ten times the money they would back home and after a year or two would return to their poor countries as wealthy women. Whilst some unscrupulous operators exploit these women, in general I think these ladies are happy working in their profession for the high Australian pay rates.
    
    Dave R.

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    • Karlis:

      28 Jul 2008 6:39:32pm

      Dear Daydreaming Dave R!
      
      The concern expressed here is for those women that get told in their own countries one thing, hop on a plane/boat/whatever and then experience the horror of something completely different in this one.
      
      You said yourself in a previous post that there is a problem - so why the hostility to raising the issue? Why the attempts to discredit complaints? Qualifying your post with an "exception not the rule" tag makes it appear as though you would like us all to ignore the exceptions. Bizarre.
      
      Like Annie N posted, just one case of an exception is too much.
      
      btw: I wonder how much you would know about the labour laws of a foreign country you visited if you had not been educated in them here??

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    • Aphra:

      28 Jul 2008 7:27:41pm

      Why do you automatically assume these women are eighteen? Many women are trafficked underage. The average age of entry into prostitution in the US is fourteen.
      
      You have no statistics or facts to back up your case. You are also missing the point entirely. It doesn't matter if these women are in the majority or not, it matters that human beings are being held as slaves.
      
      Your presumption is amasing. How can you possible ensure us that "these ladies are happy working in their profession for the high Australian pay rates"? These women are raped. You are turning rape into a matter of economics.
      
      You also assume women can just return to their countries of origin. The article and other commenters have already outlined the restrictions put on their movements. Add into that drug addiction and other common problems in prostitution and the situation becomes a lot more complex. Prostitution is the most dangerous profession by far (but not the oldest) and many women who are caught in the industry will leave it feet first.

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    • annie n:

      28 Jul 2008 8:10:44pm

      Dave, where on earth have you got the idea that 'in general these ladies are happy working in their profession for high Australian pay rates." please read Kathleen Maltzahns book.
      In fact it woulkd be really great if everyone on this blog could read the book; then we could re-convene to discuss/debate this further.
      
      

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    • John:

      29 Jul 2008 1:00:29am

      Fact is such people are being brought into the country. It's irrelevant to the argument how they enter. Once they are in they are counted as illegal immigrants and DIMA becomes the slaver's enforcer.
      
      To "Greg h": the solution is to abolish mandatory detention and draconian immigration laws. It is great news that sanity seems to be seeping into Australia's government. In the last few hours a review of mandatory detention has been announced and the indications are that the default will be that people live in the community while their case is heard. Australia will be a better and more humane place for it.

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• Polony:

  28 Jul 2008 5:32:39pm

  If these contracts are unenforcable, couldn't slavers pretending they are enforcable get prosecuted under the trade practices act? Its misleading and deceptive conduct in the course of trade or commerce.
  
  Tax law worked against Al Capone.

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• Polony:

  28 Jul 2008 5:36:38pm

  "If a person's agency is taken away"
  
  What does this mean?
  
  An agent is someone authorised to enter into contracts on someone's behalf. Isn't removing a slave's agents, who sells the slave's services, an improvement?

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• Freya:

  28 Jul 2008 8:16:37pm

  But what's happening now? I went to the Anti-Slavery Project Trafficking Forum @ UTS in Sydney last week. They talked about how to prevent trafficking and protect people who have been trafficked. Pretty good contemporary approaches. They talked about the need to look at labour trafficking as well as sex trafficking.

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• John:

  29 Jul 2008 1:50:19am

  I don't think anyone reasonable is for the enslavement of women and young girls.
  
  That having been said, there is nothing wrong with brothels that operate legitimately and provide a service. As with most things referred to as 'vices' in this day and age (alcohol, drugs, prostitution), it's a matter of degree and control over the industry that determines reasonableness.
  
  There is no absolute correct point of view on this issue any more than there is accounting for taste or religious belief.

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• QUINNY:

  29 Jul 2008 7:39:27am

  Agency means an individual's freedom to make choices.

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• qxeau:

  29 Jul 2008 9:06:37am

  The age old and fundamental economic concept of supply and demand must apply here.
  
  No-one would even consider importing girls to Aussie if they didn't think they could make a buck or two along the way from Aussie's, immigrants and tourists who want a piece of them.
  
  Take away the demand and the supply will soon dry up. As soon as men in Australia stop looking for a quickie with an asian girl in a 'brothel' the problem of slavery will ease.
  
  Honestly, take some responsibility Aussie men - the problem would not exist but for our urges. However, I am also aware that there are many immigrant 'middle class rich' who also demand such services.
  
  Now, I do NOT know what the answer is, but supply and demand seems a perfectly legitimate starting point to me. Smarter minds than mine can come up with creative solutions, I am sure.

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