Extra support still needed for victim-survivors of modern slavery
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
BY LAUREN MARTIN
It’s been two years since The Salvation Army, in partnership with key sector organisations, launched the Additional Referral Pathway (ARP) to help victim-survivors of modern slavery access support.
Since it began, the national hotline has taken calls from more than 900 people: - 242 people identified as experiencing modern slavery.
- 215 (88%) were referred to the Support for Trafficked People Program and/or the Forced Marriage Specialist Support Program*.
Many of those who contacted the service received assistance with safety planning, crisis intervention and accommodation coordination to help them leave unsafe situations.
Due to the level of demand, service expanded to include a staff member in each state of Australia, except Tasmania and the ACT.
“It’s been extremely helpful to have face-to-face support for people,” said ARP Program Manager, Neenu Thomas. “And we have been able to generate a lot more awareness within the state and the territories as well, because of that.”
In fact, awareness-raising has been identified as one of the service’s major success stories, with Neenu explaining that when they started, awareness of modern slavery in Australia was limited to specific sectors of the community, such as Family Domestic Violence (FDV) workers.
“Now, we are beginning to see the immigration sector, health and community sector more and more aware about modern slavery,” said Neenu.
This is important because, with awareness, workers and community members can look for the ‘red flags’ that might indicate that a person may be affected by modern slavery, which can take many forms.
“We have all different kinds of issues,” said Neenu. “We have seen servitude, forced marriage, forced labour, trafficking, deceptive recruitment, debt bondage. Also ‘exit trafficking’ when a person has been forced, threatened or tricked into travel out of Australia, usually perpetrated by an abusive spouse or family member, often with their passport or travel documents taken and they may be trapped overseas.”
A common misconception is that modern slavery and human trafficking only involve people from overseas, but Neenu says ARP statistics from the past two years show that nearly half of those seeking assistance are Australian citizens or permanent residents.
She says more public awareness is needed to identify victim-survivors, as well as steps to close loopholes that prevent victim-survivors from accessing the assistance they need through the specialist support program, such as when insecure visa status blocks their access.
“We have found that 12 per cent of modern slavery cases that we have seen are victim-survivors who are unable, for some reason, to access the assistance they need through those specialist programs,” said Neenu.
Dedicated accommodation services for victim-survivors are also a major priority for the ARP team. Currently, The Salvation Army operates the only modern slavery safe house in Australia.
“It’s not enough,” said Neenu. “We see that as a gap – many of victim-survivors can’t access refuge accommodation support because it is designated for people who have experienced Family and Domestic Violence. But, often, with modern slavery, there is no intimate partner involved, so they can’t get the accommodation support.”
On 30 July, World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, The Salvation Army is holding a special chapel event, in person in Sydney and Melbourne and online, for personnel to come together to stand against trafficking and slavery.
This year’s theme is ‘Trapped Behind the Scam’ and focuses on the rise in people being trafficked for forced criminality.
With The Salvation Army among many organisations working in Australia to fight modern slavery*, there’s a lot to celebrate after two years of the Additional Referral Pathway support, but much more work to be done.
The Additional Referral Pathway is a program funded by the Department of Social Services. The Additional Pathway Referral program’s website and contact details: https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/additional-referral-pathway/
*Two other specialist support services – funded by the Department of Social Services for people who have experienced modern slavery – are the Support for traffic people program (STPP) and Forced Marriage Specialist Support Programs.
