A U S T R A L I A
What a Difference a Year Makes
by Bob Burton
CANBERRA — Softspoken Kathleen Maltzahn, who heads a support and advocacy group on sexual slavery, is amazed when she reflects on how much has been achieved in the last year to counter the trafficking of mostly South-east Asian women into the Australian sex industry.
"Every time I feel frustrated or annoyed at where we are going on trafficking, I have to remind myself that a year ago people were still telling us it didn't exist and to give up and go away," Maltzahn said, presenting the memorial lecture for the late feminist, Pamela Denoon, in Canberra in March.
The transformation in public attitudes and the willingness of Australian government officials to address sexual slavery has been dramatic. In February 2003, Minister for Justice Sen Chris Ellison dismissed the suggestion that sexual slavery — 'where people are traded in, as goods and chattels might be' — even existed in Australia.
In October last year, the Australian government announced that an additional 14 million U.S. dollars would be provided for an expanded programme to fight trafficking into Australia.
The programme incorporated most of the proposals by Project Respect, a support and advocacy group for women trafficked to Australia that Maltzahn heads.
"I'd like to pretend that we anticipated what would happen. We didn't. It was beyond our wildest dreams. ... And even in retrospect, I have to say, I'm not sure why it (the change) happened," Maltzahn said.
"I have no doubt of course that trafficking is a profound and disturbing form of violence against women that absolutely should be comprehensively addressed. ... But we all know that the worthiness of a cause is no guarantee that anyone, let along government, will take it up," she said.
A parliamentary inquiry into the most effective role by the Australian Crime Commission has been told that commonly, women are bought for 25,000 or 30,000 U.S. dollars and are under obligation from their 'owners' to work for some 700 clients.
Some estimate the number of women in Australia to be as low as one or two hundreds, others a thousand or more.
Detective Senior Sgt Ivan McKinney, from the Asian Crime squad of Victoria Police, said that while the nature of the trafficking of women is poorly understood, it has all the characteristics of organised crime.
"You are talking about people recruiting women from Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and China, bringing them to Australia, selling them quickly and efficiently and moving them between Melbourne and Sydney regularly," he said.
McKinney said that when he first started investigating sexual slavery, officials lacked the necessary support services and approach.
"We had no support mechanisms for them, no counselling services for them and no emergency accommodation for them, because they did not fit the criteria of a victim of a crime," he said. "Investigators have to be educated about this, because, when you deal with these special circumstances, the women are actually victims and not simply witnesses for the prosecution," he said.
The acting deputy commissioner for the Australian federal police, John Lawler, told the committee that it was a need that has been recognised, with 20 federal police investigators attending a three-week training course spanning investigative techniques for the trafficking of women, to victim liaison and support.
But while Maltzahn welcomes the additional police effort investigating the people who traffic women into the country, she fears that the more difficult and complex area of combating demand may be forgotten. "Demand creates supply. We need to address demand," she said.
Maltzahn points to former Australian Federal Police agent, Brian Iselin, who has spoken out against the futility of pursuing trafficking without addressing demand.
"I will continue to fight for the recognition that to tackle trafficking for sexual servitude without tackling demand for paid sexual services is a losing battle. All the expensive measures in the world will add up to nought unless there is attitude change on the part of men to buying and selling women," he said.
While prostitution is a legal and regulated industry in the country, Maltzahn said it poses major challenges for governments on how they address demand. Prostitution, she argued, also requires reconsideration on the part of feminists.
"We talk about prostitution in terms of women's rights to choose something. I absolutely agree with that, but in the process we don't look at the real group who is choosing - that is, men who buy prostitution sex, " she said.
She recalled how 15 years ago, feminists and sex workers alike discussed prostitution as being born of inequality and violence. "We need to stop talking about prostitution as if women's choices make it happen and start asking about men's choices," she said. "Without this work trafficking will continue unabated." (END/Copyright IPS)
