Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

People Trafficking

Trafficking in persons is a serious crime. Many countries are affected by it in some way. Australia is a destination country for trafficking victims, but the number of trafficking victims in Australia remains low due to Australia’s strong border control and geographic isolation. Nonetheless, the Government is committed to combating trafficking in all its forms and to ensuring that Australia’s anti-trafficking strategy remains relevant and responsive to emerging trends and issues.

People trafficking is a complex, multi-faceted crime with no single solution. The Commonwealth’s whole-of-government strategy to combat trafficking in persons was established in 2003, with initial funding of $20 million over four years. A further $38.3 million over four years was provided in 2007-08, including $26.3 million for new initiatives. The measures implemented address the full trafficking cycle, from recruitment to reintegration, and give equal weight to the critical areas of prevention, detection and investigation, prosecution and victim support.

Australia’s response

Trafficking is a global problem and Australia acknowledges the need to address the issue domestically and internationally.

Internationally

Australia has ratified the UN convention against Transnational Organised Crime Convention (UNTOC) and its Trafficking Protocol. Australia also actively engages with other countries in our region and beyond in the fight against people trafficking and participates actively in international forums such as the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the UNTOC Conference of Parties to better address and prevent trafficking.

Regionally

Australia also takes a collaborative approach to working with other countries through forums such as the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, which it co-chairs with Indonesia. Australia also supports a number of aid projects in the Asia region including the Asia Regional Co-operation to Prevent People Trafficking Project (ARTIP) which can be found on the AusAID website.

Domestically

The Attorney-General's Department chairs an Interdepartmental Committee (IDC), comprising a number of Government agencies which are responsible for coordinating the Government’s efforts to combat people trafficking. The IDC recently released a report for the period January 2004-April 2009, which can be downloaded from this website.

In June 2009 the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and the Minister for the Status of Women announced substantive changes to Australia’s anti trafficking strategy, to provide a more flexible framework to support victims and their families. A fact sheet on the changes to the strategy is available for download in six languages from the links below:

If you have any problems downloading any of these documents, please contact peopletrafficking@ag.gov.au.

Members of the Anti People Trafficking Interdepartmental Committee are:

Where to from here?

Building stronger partnerships

On 17 June 2009, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, supported by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Minister for the Status of Women, and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance convened the second meeting of the National Roundtable on People Trafficking. Building on the success of the first National Roundtable in 2008, the second meeting focused on trafficking for labour exploitation. Among other outcomes, a working group was established to develop strategies for raising awareness among migrant populations of fair work issues in Australia.

The Roundtable brings together government and non-government organisations working to combat people trafficking and support victims and provides an ongoing mechanism for consulting on, testing and developing government policy on trafficking issues.

The terms of reference for the Roundtable and a Statement of Outcomes from the meeting in 2008 are available below.

Guidelines for NGOs working with trafficked people

The 'Guidelines for NGOs working with trafficked people' are being updated with revised information about the Support for Victims of People Trafficking Program and the People Trafficking Visa Framework. The updated Guidelines will also be issued in relevant community languages and will be available to download from this website.

For further information on People Trafficking, please contact the Department by email: peopletrafficking@ag.gov.au or telephone 02 6141 2746.