Threats, debts and isolation: the new chains of slavery

The Sydney Morning Herald
Geesche Jacobsen, Crime Editor
November 26, 2010

This is in relation to the report on Labour Trafficking that’s available on our site under Digital Downloads section within Australian Material.

THEIR position is akin to modern slavery, but people who have been trafficked to Australia to work for little pay in appalling conditions are often kept not by chains but physical or cultural isolation, threats of violence, obligations to repay debt, or the promise of permanent residency, a report says.

The report on labour trafficking by the Australian Institute of Criminology says the problem in Australia is underestimated and ranges from slavery to industrial breaches.

It focuses not on the better-known exploitation of women in the sex industry but draws attention to the approximately half a million migrant workers who could be exploited in industries such as agriculture, construction, cleaning, meat works and manufacturing. read more..