BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PAY FOR is a new public awareness campaign, to be launched on Wednesday, June 1, designed to raise awareness about the reality of human trafficking in Australia.
The campaign features posters, postcards, and a short film of the same title which captures the way in which trafficking in persons in Australia is a crime driven by consumer demand.
The campaign is supported by the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Law Society.
This campaign is an initiative of the UQ Human Trafficking Working Group in the T.C. Beirne School of Law, formed in March 2008 by Associate Professor Andreas Schloenhardt.
Dr Melissa Curley from the School of Political Science and International Studies and Dr Schloenhardt recently received strategic UQ funding to promote both teaching and research collaboration on issues of Human Trafficking as well as Migrant Smuggling.
From 2012, The Human Trafficking Working Group unites students and academics from both the Law and Political Science and International Studies Schools to enrich their understanding of the contexts in which human trafficking occurs.
The initiative provided opportunities for joint collaboration between Law and Political Science students at UQ, Dr Curley said.
"Students will be able to conduct research projects on issues such as the politicisation of people smuggling and human trafficking in the media, compensation for victims of trafficking and address some of the challenges faced by countries – such as Indonesia – in implementing and enforcing their new trafficking laws," she said.
"We hope to encourage dialogue between these two disciplinary perspectives."
The collaboration will highlight how politics and diplomacy, and foreign policy intersect with the legal analysis of these issues.
The Working Group has collaborated closely with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) , and a number of law enforcement agencies on the issue of human trafficking and has published in this field.
Dr Curley, who is a Lecturer in International Relations from the UQ School of Political Science and Internationals Studies, has published on the topic of migration and security and human security, with a focus in the East Asian region.
She is also a recipient of the UQ Promoting Women Fellowship which she will commence in second semester this year.
For media inquiries please contact Dr Melissa Curley email: m.curley@uq.edu.au, Tel +61 7 3346 9054, Associate Professor Andreas Schloenhardt tel 043 8303 442 or Gillian Ievers email g.ievers@uq.edu.au, Tel: +61 7 3365 3308.
