UQ law students are taking action to help raise awareness of and prevent human trafficking in Australia.
Thirteen students have formed the UQ Human Trafficking Working Group to provide recommendations to the Federal Government on preventing human trafficking in Australia.
The volunteer group was created by Dr Andreas Schloenhardt, senior lecturer at UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law, in collaboration with a similar group from The University of British Columbia, Canada.
“A recent prosecution in Far North Queensland for sexual servitude and the discovery of 10 Korean ‘sex slaves’ in Sydney on March 9, 2008 are evidence that non-citizens are at particular risk, regardless of their legal status in Australia,” Dr Schloenhardt said.
“This risk is exacerbated if sex workers have been trafficked into Australia and lack access to support services.
“Whilst widespread anecdotal evidence of the sexual exploitation of foreign workers in Queensland exists, there has so far been no comprehensive analysis of this problem.
“This initiative provides the first comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of the trafficking of persons in Australia.
“It identifies and analyses reported and suspected cases of human trafficking where Australia has been the destination, transit, and/or source country.
“The analysis will enable us to develop effective policy recommendations to prevent and suppress this problem.”
The group will meet once a week and work closely with government departments, law enforcement agencies and international organisations in Australia and abroad.
The students will host guest speakers from Queensland Police and the Prostitution Licensing Authority in coming weeks before raising the issue of trafficking with other agencies in Queensland and in Canberra.
Dr Schloenhardt said the working group, modelled on similar groups from US and Canadian law schools, enabled students to have a meaningful impact on pressing legal issues.
He said the model developed from the initiative would be used in future research projects on contemporary legal issues and in developing a model for new academic courses involving team-based, long-term research projects.
MEDIA: Dr Schloenhardt (07 3365 6191, 0438 303 442, a.schloenhardt@law.uq.edu.au) or Emma Young, TC Beirne School of Law (07 3346 9350, e.young@law.uq.edu.au)
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