Stop the Traffic 2 Conference
Closing Address
Pru Goward
Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
2003
- We conclude this conference knowing, as we did at the beginning of
the two days, that trafficking for prostitution is a complex issue.
- The presentations and panel discussions we have had over the last
two days have provided us with the opportunity to further explore these
complexities and through this process six points have emerged that we
can all take home from this conference.
- One, the trafficking of women for prostitution is
first and foremost a human rights issue.
- Human rights are a set of norms by which we all agree to be bound.
- It performs the same role of as any set of rules or system of law
in a complex world, that is to provide us with a degree of certainty
and a set of parameters for appropriate behaviour.
- Most human rights are merely a codification of common sense, or at
least our better sense.
- For most of us in the Western World it is simply putting into writing
things that in the 21st century we take as a given – our liberty,
for example our free choice or control over our physical being.
- We recognise however that these are far from a universal given.
- Everyday human beings around the world continue to suffer as their
liberty is restrained, their choices are limited or they face physical
and mental torture or abuse.
- At the heart of the interactions of human society and at the heart
of the human rights system, lies a recognition that we need to protect
those who are most vulnerable.
- This is why trafficking in women and children is a basic human rights
issue. To reiterate the remarks of HREOC president, John Von Doussa
as he opened the Conference, it is one of today’s most urgent human rights issues.
- Conceptualising trafficking as a human rights issue is not just about
finding a sphere in which to sit this destructive trade.
- Far from being an unimportant characterisation that has little bearing
on the way we address the trafficking of women for prostitution, a human
rights framework provides us with a useful and pragmatic tool for dealing
comprehensively with this issue.
- We know that few people in the situation of trafficked women –
vulnerable, intimidated, ignored and unsupported – will make informed
decisions or good witnesses.
- Recognising and protecting the rights of trafficked women involves
practically supporting them - providing them with shelter, visas, access
to health counselling and legal services. This not only benefits the
victims but also means that they can appear as witnesses and assist
in securing convictions of traffickers.
- In another field of my work as Sex Discrimination Commissioner –
working with employers, business and industry to eradicate discrimination
against women, we often appeal to their financial interests.
- We call it the “business case” argument for supporting
women – as you can see, there is a significant business case for
dealing humanely and respectfully with women who have been or may have
been trafficked.
- In other words, the upholding of a human right is not only the individual’s
interests but in society’s – since the victims or potential
victims of trafficking are so particularly vulnerable, there is always
a risk of systems abuse – of further breaching their rights or
at least leaving the vulnerable open to further abuses by others.
- While women remain in these positions of vulnerability we will be
unable to eliminate trafficking.
- It is a logical cause and effect scenario – as long as there
is a market for trafficked women, as long as it is considered by some
men to be sexually desirable to have sex with women who are in powerless
positions and who have no control over their sexuality and as long as
women continue to live in social and economic circumstances that leave
them vulnerable to abuses of their rights, they will continue to be
trafficked.
- It is only when each government interaction with a woman gives her
a little more control over her life and her destiny will we see an end
to trafficking and other related gendered harms.
- This brings me to the second point I would like
you to take way today.
- Trafficking is a gender issue.
- Victims of trafficking in humans are men, women and children; however
women and girls are more vulnerable to being trafficked for sexual servitude
and therefore make up the majority of the victims.
- Women are most vulnerable to trafficking because of the relative
inequality of the status of men and women across societies – an
inequality, that places them at a disadvantage compared to men.
- Trafficking in humans for prostitution is a gender issue based on
socially determined inequalities in both demand and supply countries.
- It is the combination of demand and supply factors, which leaves women
vulnerable to this trade.
- In demand countries there is a booming billion dollar commercial sex
and entertainment industry. It is driven by the unequal power relations
that exist in patriarchal societies, power relations that sexualize
women and objectify them for consumption.
- Historical, societal and political factors have converged to mean
that today limited numbers of women in demand countries choose to enter
the sex industry. Traffickers therefore profit by supplying trafficked
women to meet this demand.
- When Ms Puangthong Simaplee died in Villawood detention centre in
September 2001, Australians were forced to sit up, take notice and acknowledge
that Australia too provides a market for trafficked women.
- Some voices within our media were quick to dismiss claims that trafficking
to Australia for work in the sex industry exists because they thought
it was so ghastly, so un-Australian and so hard to imagine that it could
happen in our country.
- From what we have heard over the last two days it is an undeniable
fact that women are trafficked into this country for prostitution.
- The numbers may never be agreed upon, but as Minister Ellison has
said, one person is too many. I think we all agree that the trade is
significantly greater than that however.
- Lured by promises of respectable jobs and enviable lifestyles they
find themselves held captive under threat of violence to themselves
and their families and forced to work very long hours for little or
no money, with little personal freedom in a foreign country.
- In supply countries, women’s less valued role often marginalises
them from ownership and control over material such as land and income
and non-material resources such as political participation [1].
- Lack of access to education for these women limits their opportunities
to increase their earnings in more skilled occupations.
- This occurs in countries where there is already a lack of legitimate
employment opportunities, particularly in rural communities.
- Then there is the increasing number of orphans in many supply countries,
the sad consequence of the fast spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic and ongoing
civil conflicts. As young girls become too old to remain in orphanages
and most have few employment prospects, traffickers target orphanages
which provide the perfect pool of human resources for traffickers coercion,
deception and force.
- Demand and supply is man made. That means we can unmake it.
- I am not suggesting that changing cultural norms and attitudes to
gender relations is easy, but just recognising that gender inequalities
underlie the problem of trafficking women for prostitution is a necessary
and crucial step in addressing the problem.
- The third point I believe we can take home from
this conference is that addressing the problem of trafficking women
for prostitution requires a comprehensive, seamless interagency
approach both within and between governments, that addresses
each step of the trafficking “lifecycle”.
- Turning first to the need for an interagency approach within governments
I must again commend this Government’s recently announced package
for combating trafficking for sexual servitude.
- Implicit to the proposed $20 million plan is intergovernmental co-operation
as responsibility for the implementation of the plan has been apportioned
across five government portfolios:
- The Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women;
- The Minister for Justice and Customs;
- The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs;
- The Minister for Foreign Affairs; and
- The Attorney-General.
- In taking this joint approach, the Government acknowledges the complexity
of the issue. It recognises that trafficking is about protecting the
rights of its victims as much as it is a criminal activity and also
involves situations that contravene Australia’s immigration laws.
- No doubt as the proposed package unfolds we will all be avid observers
of how this interagency approach works in practice.
- The complexities of trafficking women for prostitution not only calls
for a comprehensive national approach but also stresses the need for
international cooperation in combating the problem.
- The supply/demand country dichotomy means that Australia, by virtue
of being a demand country, will only ever have limited ability to address
the factors which contribute to the supply of women for this trade.
- We are by and large reliant on those in supply countries to address
these issues and we need them to do so in an adequate manner if we are
to be able to curb the demand market we create.
- The supply and demand of trafficked women creates the ultimate chicken
and egg dilemma. Let’s not waste time trying to find the beginning
of the chain; the human price of this exercise is too high and an outcome
unlikely.
- The only solution is to accept that a cycle exists and we all have
an interest in stopping it at every stage.
- Stopping demand and cracking down on the trade as it hits our shores
is a futile activity as long as trafficked women are an ‘on the
market’ commodity.
- Likewise telling those in source countries to stop supplying women
for this insidious trade is futile as long as there is a lucrative place
for them on the international market.
- Pressure on and support for supply countries to stop the trade is
necessary if we are to curb the supply of trafficked women. Demand countries
must also be pressured to and supported in their efforts to stop the
need for the trade.
- The fourth point I believe we can take away from
this conference directly relates to the third point, however it relates
to the role and place of all of us here today in addressing the trafficking
of women for prostitution.
- We too need to work together on this issue.
- We have a common purpose and there is a large island of common ground.
- We come at this issue from different perspectives, what each of us
see as the area of critical concern differs, as do our ideological positions
around the meaning of sex work and our particular professional focuses;
What we do however still have is agreement that trafficking is unacceptable
and must be eradicated.
- No matter that we disagree about the causes of trafficking; there
are nevertheless many practical steps that can be taken to address the
problem.
- It is true that immediate priorities of the various government agencies and community groups in relation to trafficking may often be different – police must police, immigration authorities must implement the priorities of the Immigration Act and community groups must primarily seek to provide support to the women with whom they have contact. However, I hope that the last two days have made it clear to us all that for each of us to secure our own ends, we must broaden our focus to encompass the perspectives of the others.
- If we fail to do so, not only will the anti-trafficking framework
not work well, it will not work at all. This is the challenge we all
face in implementing the Government’s $20m package: we do it together
or not at all.
- And this in a sense relates to the fifth point I
think we can take home with us from this conference - it is vital for
government agencies dealing with trafficking to realise that they need
to actively engage with civil society.
- The NGO community has access to information that government agencies
will not, and never will have.
- They are also in a position to provide refuge and support for women
who may have, or have been, trafficked - refuge that will feel safer
than services provided directly by government to those women whose experiences
mean that they are likely to mistrust authority.
- So far the Government seems to have recognised this; it consulted
with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and NGO organisations
such as Project Respect in devising its recently announced package.
- Perhaps this goes some way in explaining why it has received such
a positive response – it is a genuine response to the issue.
- We need to ensure that rather than this being a one off consultation
it is the beginning of a dialogue in the implementation of this particular
package and when future strategies are adopted on this issue.
- And finally, we must always remember that we are
working to the same ultimate end – to protect the victims
of trafficking.
- This isn’t empty rhetoric or weasel words – this must
be the real outcome that we are all pursuing.
- The thought I would like to leave you with is the need for us to
remember that the objectified and often apparently invisible women who
are trafficked are real people with real problems, who have suffered
real violations of their inherent dignity and rights.
- The awareness of the realness and rawness of their lives must be
always present in our work.
- I would like to use my remaining time to acknowledge those who have
worked so tirelessly to make the Stop the Traffic 2 Conference
possible:
- Kathleen Maltzahn – who has worked tirelessly on the issue
of trafficking for longer than most of us – even when the issue
had no national profile.
- Nina Vallins – the young woman whose efforts saw this conference
become a reality.
- The President and Executive Director of my Commission, President
John Von Doussa and Diana Temby who have kindly provided funds for this
conference.
- Also from my commission the director of the Sex Discrimination Unit,
Sally Moyle who dedicated much time and effort assisting in the organisation
of today’s conference.
- RMIT, in particular Dr Sallie Yea, who co-sponsored the conference.
- The other sponsors who have supported this conference – VicHealth
and the City of Yarra.
- All of the speakers and all of you who have worked on this issue
with dedication insufficient of acknowledgement.
- And finally I would like to give an honourable mention to the Government, and in particular those working so long and hard on the taskforce to produce the Government’s package.
1. Trafficking in Persons: A gender and Rights Perspective Briefing Kit, UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM-East and Southeast Asia Regional Office, Bangkok) and the UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Mekong Sub-region.
