Modern slavery is a serious violation of human rights and describes a range of exploitative practices which are all serious crimes under Australian law. These include human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced labour, deceptive recruitment for labour or services, debt bondage and forced marriage. Thousands of people in Australia are victims of modern slavery.
Slavery is often hidden in homes, in restaurants, on farms and on building sites, but what is common to all of these examples, is that someone is being exploited and controlled.
Some groups of people are also particularly vulnerable including, backpackers, international students, asylum seekers and migrants on limited working visas.
In 2021 alone, Anti-Slavery Australia, based in the UTS Law Faculty, helped over 400 people who had been trafficked to or from Australia, or had faced slavery-like conditions while in Australia, including forced marriage, servitude and forced labour.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. In Australia, only 1 in 5 victims of slavery are identified. That means that 80% of victims do not get the support they need and remain in slavery in Australia.
Signs of modern slavery can include:
- controlled or restricted freedom of movement – e.g. being monitored, guarded or confined
- intimidation and threats, including threats of deportation
- threatened or actual physical and/or sexual violence
- travel or other important documents have been taken by employer or a third party
- abusive living and/or working conditions
- living at the workplace or another place owned/controlled by employer
- isolation – geographic, social and/or linguistic
- withholding, underpayment or no payment of wages
- excessive hours of work
- debt bondage (i.e. labour or services are provided as security or repayment of an inflated debt)
- deceived or lack of information about nature and conditions of work
- no discretion over life decisions
- unable to end employment at any time.
Signs that a person is in, or at risk of a forced marriage, are often different. Forced marriage is an area where students can be particularly at risk and will be explored in more detail in future articles. More information about forced marriage can be found in a range of community languages here.
Modern slavery is used to describe serious exploitation and does not include practices like substandard working conditions or underpayment of workers, although, these practices are also illegal and harmful. UTS students can seek free and confidential legal advice about working conditions from the Student Legal Service. For more information on workplace rights in Australia, visit the Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman website.
What to do if you are experiencing or suspect someone else is experiencing modern slavery: How to get help at UTS
- If you are worried about your own situation or that another person may be experiencing modern slavery you can call Anti-Slavery Australia at UTS for advice. Anti-Slavery Australia provides free and confidential legal and migration advice to anyone in modern slavery, including staff and students. Call 02 9514 8115 or visit www.antislavery.org.au.
- If you are concerned about a person’s immediate safety on campus, contact UTS Security by dialling 1800 249 559 from your mobile or any phone (or 6 from campus phones) or call Triple 0 (000).
- If you are a student, you can call the Counselling Service on 9514 1177 or email at student.services@uts.edu.au to ask to speak with a Counsellor.
- To report modern slavery call the Australian Federal Police on 131 237 or report through their website www.afp.gov.au.
To learn more about modern slavery in Australia visit: Anti Slavery Australia and check out the free short course about Modern Slavery on UTS Open.
To find out more about what UTS is doing to combat modern slavery read our Modern Slavery Statement.