Trafficking sex:

Jennifer Burn's research on sex trafficking has led her to believe that new visas introduced to help victims are not at all helping.

This month I heard about Mary who is currently detained in the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. Mary arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1999. She had been promised a restaurant job and a chance to study. When she arrived her new 'boss' took her to a house in Cabramatta, a makeshift prison tucked away in suburbia. He then told her that she owed him money for her visa and her air ticket. To pay back this debt Mary was forced to sleep with 500 men before eventually escaping from the brothel with the help of a client.

Now, Mary is in Villawood Detention Centre for the second time this year. The first time, she was identified as a potential trafficking witness, and released from detention under the new Bridging Visa F (BVF) before being granted a Criminal Justice Stay Visa (CJSV). In a series of interviews, Mary told the Australian Federal Police (AFP) about her boss, about other 'contract girls' she knew and about a brothel that trades in trafficked women. She divulged all the bosses' names, identifying alleged traffickers in Melbourne and Sydney.

But ultimately, the AFP told Mary her story was too old; her boss could not be found; her evidence was simply not enough. An AFP officer drove her to Villawood.

Mary's story accurately reflects the experience of many women trafficked to Australia. The police are now reconsidering Mary's case again. If corroborating evidence can be produced, Mary may be freed from detention on a CJSV. Alternately she will be deported.

In October 2003, the Australian Government announced a $20 million package of measures to combat trafficking in persons. A crucial part of the government's Action Plan to Eradicate Trafficking in Persons was the introduction of new visas for people who have been trafficked into Australia. These new visas are essential - without the visas victims of trafficking would be subject to the mandatory detention provisions in the Migration Act and would be unable to receive the new victim support services.

However, as Mary's story demonstrates, the new visas are neither helping trafficked women nor the criminal justice process. The legislation focuses on law enforcement and criminal justice processes rather than the victim of trafficking (official policies refer to "victims/witnesses"). The visa framework consists of the existing CJSV, the introduction of a new Bridging Visa F (BVF) and two trafficking visas. However, it is impossible for a victim of trafficking to apply for either the BVF or either of the trafficking visas. The grant of any of the visas is highly discretionary depending on the assessment of the Attorney-General and the Minister of Immigration on the advice of a law enforcement agency. The bridging visa will only be available to a victim of trafficking 'of interest' to the police in relation to offences of people trafficking, sexual servitude or deceptive recruiting.

There is no application process for the new temporary three-year trafficking visa. The visa may be offered if the trafficking 'witness' meets two crucial criteria. Firstly, the victim/witness must be in Australia and the Attorney-General must certify that the person has made a significant contribution to, and cooperated closely with, the prosecution of an alleged trafficker or an investigation carried out by the DPP into trafficking matters where the DPP has decided not to prosecute. Secondly, the visa will not be granted unless the Minister for Immigration is satisfied that the person will be in danger if he or she returns to her home country.

Despite AFP investigations and the commencement of prosecution proceedings by the DPP, at the time of writing no trafficking visas have been issued and at least two victims of trafficking are currently being held in immigration detention pending further police investigations. Because the visas are so difficult to obtain, the reality is that trafficking victims will be placed in immigration detention centres if they cannot give the police sufficient evidence to lead to a prosecution. Fear of detention has deterred women from voluntarily coming forward to give evidence to the police and possibly support a criminal prosecution.

The victims support package should be available to any woman who is reasonably suspected of being trafficked to Australia, not just to women who make good witnesses. Until the visa framework in the Government Action Plan is extended criminals will not be prosecuted and victims will continue to be punished.