International Day of the Girl Child

The International Day of the Girl Child aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human right. The 2017 theme for this event – EmPOWER girls: emergency response and resilience planning – aims to draw attention to the fact that millions of girls are affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian crises. These events leave them vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. In her message on the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child 2017 Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, states:

“No society will flourish and no peace agreement will be lasting without empowering girls in peacebuilding and reconstruction. It is time to put this imperative at the heart of all of our efforts in addressing fragility, conflict and violence.”

Reviewing Australian Legislation

The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade is currently conducting an inquiry into Human Organ Trafficking and Organ Transplant Tourism. In particular the inquiry is investigating the offence of Organ Trafficking under division 271 of the Criminal Code and whether it would be practicable or desirable for:

• this offence to have extraterritorial application;
• and Australia to accede to the 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs.

ACRATH, with the assistance of students at the St Thomas Moore Law School of the Australian Catholic University(ACU), prepared a submission for this inquiry. Submissions can be found here. The ACRATH submission is number 8.

Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter Vol 15 No 10

The October 2017 issue of Stop Trafficking! highlights the role of the legal profession and law in stemming human trafficking. Articles in this issue include Pro bono lawyers fight for trafficked persons, Child marriage, Tahirih Justice Centre and Business law and social responsibility. Download a copy of the October issue here.

UN Special Rapporteur Reports to Human Rights Council

Urmila Bhoola, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, has presented her report to the thirty-sixth session of the UN Human Rights Council. In the report she comments on the challenges and obstacles encountered by persons subjected to contemporary forms of slavery to access justice and remedies. She spoke of the responsibility of States “to  respect, promote and fulfill the right to have access to justice by making available a system of effective remedies to persons subject to their jurisdiction.” Her report includes a number of recommendations addressed to member States of the United Nations, UN agencies and businesses. (Photo: 50 for Freedom)

Download a copy of the report here.

Iona Presentation College Supports ACRATH

Iona Presentation College recently celebrated MAD (Making a Difference) Week, an initiative introduced by the Student Leadership Council (SLC) to promote ways that the Iona girls can get involved in helping others less fortunate than themselves. The college’s core value for 2017 was Social Justice and MAD week was centred on this same value.

Throughout the week students ran a cake stall and a raffle as well as getting the girls to donate a gold coin to play a fun game within their year groups. The week was a great success, and as a result nearly $1400 was raised. The SLC chose to donate half of this money to ACRATH. The SLC believes that ACRATH portrays social justice to our local, national and global community in their actions and they weere happy to support ACRATH’s work to protect the rights of vulnerable people.

ACRATH is deeply grateful to the students of Iona College for all the work that went into raising this money and for choosing ACRATH as one of the beneficiaries. We can assure you the money will be used in the fight against human trafficking and slavery.

Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter Vol 15 No 9

The latest issue of Stop Trafficking! highlights how men’s growing addition to pornography is fueling human trafficking. Human trafficking and the role of men, The role of demand, Who is Buying sex and Sex addiction and the internet are just some of the article in the September issue of the Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter. Download your copy here.

58 Meetings held in 4 Days

An energetic team of 8 ACRATH members recently walked the Halls of Parliament. during their meetings with members of Parliament they raised issued concerning forced marriage, a modern slavery act for Australia and funding for Anti human trafficking NGOs. The ACRATH team was heartened by the level of engagement they experienced around these issues. The week has produced much follow up work which the team is eager to progress.

Download  a more detailed report of the 2017 ACRATH Advocacy week here.

Speaking for the Vulnerable

ACRATH (Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans) members from WA, NSW and Victoria, will walk the halls of Parliament House for four days this week (September 4-7), urging MPs to do more to combat human trafficking in Australia. It is the 12^th year the ACRATH members have taken the case to politicians from all parties and their advocacy trips have resulted in significant changes to the way trafficked people are supported in Australia.

“ACRATH advocates are keen to engage with MPs about our current issues: forced marriage, a Modern Slavery Act for Australia, and funding for NGOs. We are used to getting a good hearing from the dozens of MPs we meet each year; we really appreciate the bipartisan support for our policy work and the sense of this being a genuine collaboration between government and civil society,” said ACRATH’s Executive Officer Christine Carolan. Read more… Download a copy of the ACRATH Advocacy paper here.

Faith Groups lead the Fight

Many people think that slavery is a thing of the past. Sadly this is not so. Faith groups in Australia have taken up the challenge to fight against human trafficking and slavery and to reach out to those who have been affected by this crime. A recent article written by Siobhan Hegarty for ABC Radio programme The Religion and Ethics Report highlight the efforts of two such groups – ACRATH and The Freedom Partnership to End Modern Slavery. Sr Margaret Ng rsj, NSW Regional Coordinator for ACRATH, was interviewed for this article.

Government Committee Releases Interim Report

Having received submission and held a number of public hearings the interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade’s inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia has been released this week.

The report recommends that the Australian Government consider in-principle support for the development of a Modern Slavery Act in Australia, appoint an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and that businesses be required to report on measures being taken to address modern slavery in their supply chains. ACRATH welcomes this report and looks forward to further developments as the Committee works towards its final report to the Government. Download a copy of the report here.