Why we need to fightModern Slavery
What is Modern Slavery?

This is the reality for 15,000 men,
women and children in Australia and
3,000 men, women and children in New
Zealand (Global Slavery Index, 2018)

DERN SLAVERYMOHigh risk industries within the Pacific region
include fisheries, construction, agriculture,hospitality and domestic services.

Trafficking for labourand sexual exploitation

Forced labour

Forced labour
as a result offorced marriage

Human
trafficking(cross border andwithin a country)

Slavery andslavery like practices(including forcedmarriage)

Trafficking for slavery
and slavery likepractices

Modern slavery is an umbrella term
for all forms of slavery, trafficking
and related exploitation

It refers to situations of exploitation that a person
cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence,coercion, abuse of power and deception. Survivorsof modern slavery tell stories of being sold a false
promise for a better life. They are often vulnerable,
coming from areas where there is little possibility ofwork or fleeing from conflict regions. They are offereda job, a chance to make money and to build a newlife for themselves. The job they are offered turns
out to be a lie and instead they are forced to workin diffcult and degrading conditions, with little or nopay. The threat of violence, to themselves or theirfamilies, hangs over them and traps them in theirsituation. Even if their traffcker does not physicallycontrol them, a mistrust of authority, shame andembarrassment may stop them seeking help.

The Pacific is a source region
for migrant workers
Many citizens of Pacific Island states look to improvetheir circumstances by migrating to seek work inlarger regional economies, such as jobs in industries
like agriculture, fisheries, tourism and hospitality.
Migrant workers are highly vulnerable to being
exploited by unscrupulous subcontractors and agents,
who sometimes take advantage and exploit their lackof knowledge and vulnerability. Some Pacific migrant
workers have fallen victim to recruitment scams, debt
bondage and false promises for well paid jobs andvisa sponsorship, only to discover later they havemisled and subjected to serious mistreatment.
There have been over 20 fatalities on overseas
labour mobility schemes in Australia and New
Zealand alone in recent years including workers
from Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and Kiribati.
Some died in traffic accidents, while a number diedsuddenly with a cause of deaths undetermined.

Responding to the Human Cost
Church members of Pacific Island backgrounds inhost countries are often at the frontline of the pastoral
response to these vulnerable people, from supporting
workers in difficulty to liaising with families grieving
deceased workers. There is widespread ecumenicalsupport in Australia to improve the welfare, conditions
and pastoral care available for people vulnerable tomodern slavery, and for training to recognise the signsof modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking.

WHAT CAN THE CHURCH DO?
SEE IT, SPEAK OUT
So what can we do? How can we make a difference? Faith communities areoften seen as places of safety and refuge to vulnerable people in crisis. Often weare first responders. Where people are vulnerable and are seeking our help wemust be prepared to act, to bring our passion for God’s mission to help those inneed. In his Lenten message of 2015, Pope Francis prayed that churches would“become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference”. What would itmean for your church to be an ‘island of mercy’? Is your church looking outward
to engage with vulnerable people who could be victims of this injustice?

LEARNING TO SPOT THE SIGNS OF MODERN SLAVERY:Appearance• Show signs of physical or psychologicalabuse and untreated injuries• Look malnourished or unkempt, or•••appear withdrawn and neglected
Seem under the control or influence of others
Wear the same clothes every day or no safety
equipment even if their work requires itLack of personal belongings orofficial ID documents

Work• Withholding of identity documents• Lack of earnings, or withholdingof wages or underpayment• Working to pay off significant debts• Abusive/ substandard working•

and living conditions
Excessive overtime or no time offAccommodation• Living in dirty, cramped or••overcrowded accommodation
Living and working at the same address
Appear unfamiliar with theirneighbourhood or where they workTravel• Rarely allowed to travel on their own• Collected and dropped off at irregular hours••

in a crowded transport with other workers
Have no control of their identification
documents such as their passport
Reluctant to seek help and avoid eye contact

Seeking Help
• Frightened or hesitant to talk to strangers• Fear of police, don’t know who to•trust or where to get helpAfraid of deportation, and of the risk ofviolence to themselves or their family

REPORT IT –If you suspect someone is a victim of modern
slavery, contact the local police immediately or:
Office of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights Regional
Office for the Pacific, Suva Fiji Islands:• Phone: (679) 331 0465
• Email: Pacific.ohchr@un.org

The difference between a bad job and modern
slavery is the freedom to leave... Look for the signs!

Questions to Ask• Can you leave your job or situation
if you want? If not, why not?

• What do you think would happen if•
•
•
•
•
•
••
••
•

you tried to leave or told anyone?
Can you come and go from work as you please?
Have you been threatened if you try to leave?
Have you been physically harmed in any way?
Are you paid wages? Are youforced to work off debt?
Where do you sleep and eat? Do you sleep
in a bed, on a cot or on the floor?
Have you ever been deprived of food,water, sleep or medical care?
Do you have to ask permission to eat,sleep or go to the bathroom?
Are there locks on your doors andwindows so you cannot get out?
Has anyone threatened your family?
Has your identification or documentation
been taken from you?
Is anyone forcing you to do anythingthat you do not want to do?

Cases of slavery-like practices
in the Pacific region:

1.

2.

3.

In 2016, New Zealand secured its first people
trafficking conviction. A labour contractor
was found guilty of 15 human trafficking
charges involving Fijians. The contractor
was sentenced to nine years in prison, andordered to pay a total of $NZ28,167 to hisvictims. The trafficker advertised in newspapers
in Fiji promising high wages to pick kiwi
fruit in exchange for recruitment fees andcharges. The workers did not receive work
visas, and men and women were forced toshare a damp basement room. (Case study
sourced from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/
groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/
documents/publication/wcms_630482.pdf)

The PNG Government has assisted in theidentification of 21 victims of human trafficking.
Among the identified victims, six Papua New
Guinean women and two Papua New Guinean
girls were subjected to sex trafficking, while twomen from Papua New Guinea were subjected
to forced labour in a motel and 20 men andone boy from Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam
were subjected to forced labour on fishingvessels. (Case study sourced from: https://www.
state.gov/documents/organization/258881.pdf)
 n investigation by the ABC News revealed
A20 seasonal farm workers from Fiji and Tonga
in Shepparton, Victoria received as little as$9 a week after deductions. One worker
said “I feel sad because there’s no money tosend to my family in Tonga.” These seasonal
workers had to share three to a caravan,
and women made to share the same bed
were still made to pay $A120 per person

per week for accommodation by labour hire
contractors. There were also deductions
for health insurance, daily transport to thefarm and back, bedding and food. (Casestudy reported by the ABC: http://www.
abc.net.au/7.30/seasonal-farm-workersreceiving-as-little-as-$9-a/7201286)

4.

 wenty workers from Vanuatu were sponsoredTby a labour contractor to work picking
tomatoes in Queensland. Some days theworkers only ate tomatoes or bread but manydays had nothing at all. The workers shouldhave earnt between $15,000 - $A20,000 forsix months work but received only $150. The
workers had to sleep on chairs or in a minibus. In sentencing in 2017, Judge Michael
Jarratt said it was “the serious exploitation ofvulnerable foreign workers lured to Australia
by false promises”, “most received no wages
and had to endure appalling treatment.” (Casestudy reported by the Guardian: https://www.
theguardian.com/global-development/2017/
aug/03/hungry-poor-exploited-alarmover-australias-import-of-farm-workers)

 his is not a new issue. Labour migration has aT
chequered history in the Pacific region. Practices
such as blackbirding and indentured labour inthe 19th and early 20th century saw many PacificIslanders tricked or coerced into working inneighbouring colonies. Of those ‘blackbirded’ towork on sugar plantations in Queensland, around30 per cent died due to exposure to European
diseases, malnutrition and mistreatment. This painful
history is a sharp reminder of our responsibility
to care for vulnerable Pacific workers today.

Over 40 million people around the world aretrapped in modern slavery (Global Estimates ofModern Slavery), more than at any time in history
and despite slavery being illegal in almost every
country. Those enslaved have had their rights
and freedom stolen from them in horrendous
circumstances. They are often subjected to abuse,
both physical and mental. They are treated ascommodities to be bought, sold and traded.
Slaves can be found in every country in theworld – in factories, in fields and brothels, on
fishing boats, within private residences anda multitude of other places where greed andcorruption have overridden human values.
People trapped in slavery live brutal existences incities and villages, slums and rural areas. From Thai
fisherman trawling fish, to the Congolese boy mining
diamonds, from the Uzbek child picking cotton to
the Indian girl stitching footballs – modern slavery is
a profitable business generating more than US$150
billion a year (International Labor Organization).
Acknowledging the problem and advocating
against it is our responsibility.
Change is long overdue, andthat change has begun.

About the Global Freedom Network

Our Impact

The Global Freedom Network is committed to theeradication of modern slavery through engagementwith faith leaders around the world and working
with them to take spiritual and practical actions toeradicate modern slavery. We empower them tomobilise their efforts and work in collaboration withthe private, public and civil sectors to fight modernslavery. We also work with the governments of theten leading economies of the world to support themto enact laws, and ensure budget and capability
for enforcement, to hold organisations accountable
for modern slavery in their supply chains.

The Global Freedom Network is continuing tobuild on the momentum achieved through theJoint Declaration of Religious Leaders Against
Modern Slavery in events in Vatican City, Delhi,Canberra, Jakarta, Buenos Aires and Medellin
between 2014 and 2018. We believe that theactions and testimony of the faith leaders will inspireother leaders and their communities around theworld to also unite in this vision of ending modernslavery, for all times. Engagement is ongoing withother world faiths that share the aspiration for aworld without modern slavery. Faith Leader forums
are planned in other countries in 2018/2019.

Find out more
Walk Free Foundation – walkfreefoundation.org
Global Freedom Network – globalfreedomnetwork.org
Global Slavery Index – globalslaveryindex.org