Health Services to Focus on Human Trafficking

Many of Australia’s largest Catholic health care providers will gather across three cities on Monday to hear how they can slavery-proof their supply chains and better treat people who have been trafficked.

St Vincent’s Health Australia (SVHA) and ACRATH (Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans) joined forces last year in a groundbreaking project to change the way hospitals treat trafficked people and how to ‘slavery proof’ the goods and services they use.

The model will be explored on Monday (19 November 2018) with other healthcare providers who are keen to explore anti-trafficking possibilities. Some hospitals have already developed anti-trafficking policies and procedures. They will also discuss what they have achieved to date.

At least 10 major healthcare providers will participate in Monday’s Human Trafficking Open Meeting at St Vincent’s Health Australia in Melbourne. Some will participate via video link-up in Sydney and Brisbane.

ACRATH’s Executive Officer Christine Carolan said the participants in the Open Meeting showed that Catholic healthcare providers were serious about justice issues and ensuring that prevention of human trafficking was a priority.

“We can be a mighty force for justice if we work together on this,” Ms Carolan said.

Ms Carolan said the SVHA and ACRATH project has produced a model that is replicable.

The SVHA and ACRATH project, now in its second phase, is looking at how trafficked people – who may present at any of SVHA’s healthcare facilities Australia-wide – can be identified and receive necessary treatment, support, referrals and access to services. This includes women who have been sexually exploited, people facing forced marriage and people who have experienced forced labour. Read more…