1. Human Trafficking
Our high school years are almost over. And, afterwards some of us may go to uni, straight to work,
to tafe and some may take a gap year. Well, imagine you’re taking this gap year, it’s the trip of a lift
time, say for example, you’re in Manila. It’s hot, the city is bustling and there’s people everywhere.
Your checking out the market stalls, when suddenly a van pulls up beside you, before you know it,
you are dragged in. You cannot do anything to protect yourself or to escape. Eventually you end up
being forced to strip your clothes and have your body sold. You are now a statistic, an object, a
number, something to be bought, sold and traded. You are no longer a person.
According to the UN Protocol on Trafficking, trafficking refers to “all acts related to recruitment,
transport, sale or purchase of individuals through force, fraud or other coercive means for the
purpose of exploitation.”
Experts show that this industry is worth around 32 billion dollars, that is more than Starbucks,
Google, and Nike combined, making this the second most lucrative business of its kind. Women and
girls comprise 80% of the persons trafficked across international borders and approximately 70% of
victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. On average, the reported cases total to 2.2
million purchased per year. In simple terms, that equates to every minute, two children are sold. So
from when I started this speech, up in til now, four children are gone, disappeared. That’s insane.
A thirteen year old girl was trafficked to Australia in 1995. Her father sent her over here to work as a
nanny, although to her surprise, she was told to go straight to work in her new job, not as a nanny,
but in a brothel. Her traffickers told her she had a debt of $3500, meaning she would have to have
sex with 650 to pay this off. After ten days she was found by immigration officials, saying that over
those few days, she was forced to have intercourse with 100 men. After that no police investigations
were carried out, even though the immigration officials from the NSW police force attempted to
pressure them into. No trafficking offence existed at this time, so there was no jurisdiction to
investigate the alleged offences. However, the media coverage of her cause led the Thai police to
investigate her trackers, resulting in the prosecution of three Thai men sentenced to 19 years
imprisonment. In April 2007, Ms JC received compensation from the New South Wales Victims
Compensation Tribunal for post-traumatic stress and depression she suffered as a minor. Now, the
Australian Government has increased its efforts to prosecute traffickers. Since 2004, the Australian
Police has reopened 112 investigations and charged 22 people for this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAhti93QYU

2. References
Modern Slavery (2008) Human Trafficking Retrieved on 12 June 2012
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZTN0TbsRYA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Child Trafficking in Australia (n.d.). Examples of Human Trafficking Retrieved on 13 June, 2012
from http://www.law.uq.edu.au/ht-child-trafficking
Human Trafficking Australia (n.d.) Causes, Prosecution, Protection, Provention Retrieved on 12 June
2012 from http://humantrafficking.org/countries/australia
BBC News (2012). Nigerian girls may have been trafficked into UK. Retrieved on 7 June,
2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news.
Caritas Australia, (n.d.). Root Causes of Human Trafficking. Retrieved on 5 June, 2012
from http://www.caritas.org.
Human Trafficking Foundation, (n.d.). What is Human Trafficking? Retrieved on 2 June,
2012 from http://www.humantraffickingfoundation.org/what-is-human-trafficking/
Keck, M. E. & Sikkink, K, (1998), Activists Beyond Borders, London, Cornell University
Press.
The Anti Trafficking Monitoring Group (2010). Wrong Kind of Victim? One Year on:
An analysis of UK measures to protect trafficked persons. Retrieved on 2 June,
2012 from http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents.
The Community Tool Box (n.d.). Table of Contents. Retrieved on 2 June, 2012 from
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO (2006). Human
Trafficking in Nigeria, Root causes and Recommendations. Retrieved on 2 June,
2012 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001478/147844e.pdf
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC (2009). Global Report on Trafficking

3. in Persons. Retrieved on 2 June, 2012 from
http://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC (n.d.). Human Trafficking FAQS.
Retrieved on 17 April, 2012 from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC (n.d.). UNODC on Human Trafficking
and Migrant Smuggling. Retrieved on 1 June, 2012 from
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking.
United Nations Treaty Collection, (2000). Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Retrieved on 1 June,
2012 from http://treaties.un.org.
U.S. Department of State, (2010). Trafficking in Persons Report, 2010.
Retrieved on 1 June, 2012 from
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/142761.htm