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Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation

Australia

Trafficking

Methods and Techniques

About 300 Thai women were held in the sex industry under debt bondage in Sydney, Australia in 1995. (Maria Moscaritolo, "Australia takes aim at Asian sex slave trade," Reuters, 26 May 1998)

International crime syndicates traffic drugs and women, including 10 small syndicates that traffic 300 Thai women yearly. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Women trafficked to Australia are indentured by a $15,000-$18,000 debt, which they must work off before they are freed. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Recruiters from Australia go to Russia to hire women for "table top dancing" in clubs, which often have links to brothels. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Some trafficked and prostituted women who are deported from Australia may try to return to pay off the debt bond because they cannot return home without money. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Health and Well-being

Trafficked and prostituted Asian women and girls in Australia suffer with active infections, pelvic inflammatory diseases, acute herpes and traumatic pelvic syndromes, as a result of pressure to pay off their debt bonds as soon as possible." (Sydney Sexual Health Centre, CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Case

In June 1995, a 13-year-old Thai girl was found working in a Sydney brothel. The girl was one of 300 indebted Thai women working as sex slaves in Sydney brothels.(Maria Moscaritolo, "Australia takes aim at Asian sex slave trade," Reuters, 26 May 1998)

Policy and Law

Australia plans to introduce tougher laws including 20-year jail terms to curb the increased trafficking in Asian women for prostitution. As of yet, Australia does not have laws that outlaw holding individuals captive for sexual exploitation. (Maria Moscaritolo, "Australia takes aim at Asian sex slave trade," Reuters, 26 May 1998)

Bride Trafficking

There are 20,000 Filipina mail order brides in Australia. (Gabriela, Statistics and the State of the Philippines, 24 July 1997)

In Australia men may undertake "serial sponsorship"of mail-order-brides. They bring in women for the purpose of marriage, sexually exploit them, then refuse to marry them. They often "sponsor" one woman after another. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Prostitution

Prostitution grosses A$30 million annually. (Federal Police estimates, CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

There are 3,000 children, some younger than 10, in the Australian sex industry, which includes brothels, escort work, street prostitution, pornography, sex for favors and stripping. (EPCAT report, Agence France-Presse, 13 April 1998)

59 of 2,992 prostitutes studied for a report conducted by EPCAT were between 10 and 12 years old. 15 were under 10 years old. Two-thirds were girls. (EPCAT report, Agence France-Presse, 13 April 1998)

Child prostitution in Australia was studied by ECPAT, which collected information from early 471 government and non-government agencies working with children. The study, the first of its kind, revealed a vicious cycle leading to child commercial sexual activities. Links were found between young people being sold and youth homelessness, dysfunctional family backgrounds and lack of self-esteem. The government and public should act immediately to provide housing, income security, education and advice to young people. Children are also sold to sex tourists. Parents have been found to sell their own children.

  • More than 1200 Victorian children are involved in prostitution - the highest rate in the nation.
  • 320 Queensland children were involved in child prostitution.
  • More than 3100 Australian children aged 12-18 sold sex to survive.
  • Children younger than 10 were involved in organized pedophile rings.
  • Child pornography was not limited to the inner cities but was increasing in rural and regional areas.

The main reasons children were sold for sex were for accommodation, food, alcohol, clothes and drugs. (Sarah Hudson, "Child sex soaring," Herald Sun, 30 September 1998) and ("Children, 10, swapping sex for groceries, drugs," Courier Mail, 30 September 1998)

Prostitution Tourism

The Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong are some of the primary Asian destinations for organized sex tours from Australia. Indonesia and Taiwan are secondary destinations. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

A travel agency in Victoria held ‘slide nights’ promoting child sex tours in Thailand. (Victoria child-protection unit, Paul Robinson "Warning on child sex ring," The Age 14 September 1997)

13,000 Australians a year visit Angeles City, a center of prostitution surrounding the former Clark U.S. Air Force base in the Philippines. (Cecilia Hofmann, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific, "Aussie sex tours still flourishing," Associated Press, 1 October 1997)

Australian nationals who made regular visits to the Philippines brought Filipino children to Whitsunday Islands several years ago. (Paul Robinson, "Paedophile alert system planned," The Sunday Age, 21 September 1997)

It was recently acknowledged that pedophilia is a serious problem in Australia. Offenders have been exposed in organisations entrusted with protecting children such as police, courts and churches, and victims included mentally ill patients and even young boys specially flown in from the Philippines. Most child sex abusers start young. The median age of onset for same-sex paedophilic offenders is around 17; most of them are male. Female child abusers do exist but most studies emphasize a picture of a woman suffering major social and economic disadvantages, psychiatric illness or intellectual disability and domination by a male partner who is the primary offender. ( W.E. Glaser, "The Great Plague of 1997," The Australian Institute of Criminology conference on Paedophilia, 14-15 April 1997)

Australian pedophiles are linked via the Internet to international child sex networks in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Recent investigations have revealed activity by Australian pedophiles in places as diverse as Albania, Guatemala and India. In 1997, an Australian man living in Fiji was arrested in relation to an alleged Internet pedophile racket. Reports have emerged of child sex abuse by Australians in Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. (Andrew Nette, "Paedophiles still get away with overseas crimes," IPS, 4 September 1998)

Policy and Law

There are deficiencies in the Child Sex Tourism Legislation with regard to the treatment of child witnesses and cultural issues, according to a 1996 ECPAT briefing paper. "Children are expected to act as adults in the witness stand and faced far more stringent cross-examination than Australian children in court under other legislation face," it said. "There was a presumption of universality of law, which is clearly untrue. The law needs provision for cultural understanding." (Andrew Nette, "Paedophiles still get away with overseas crimes," International Press Service, 4 September 1998)

The Australian Justice Ministry is considering amending the 1994 Child Sex Tourism Act. In a 1998 letter to ECPAT, Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone said safeguards would be given to child witnesses testifying in sex tourism offenses. She said, ''I agree that child sex tourism cases should be conducted in a manner which is sensitive to the age of the child witness.'' (Andrew Nette, "Paedophiles still get away with overseas crimes," IPS, 4 September 1998)

The 1994 Australian Child Sex Tourism law has been influential internationally, with up to 20 countries initiating extra-territorial laws. Says one legal analyst: ''It has been crucial in creating an international context for joint action to be taken and encouraged overseas governments to make arrests of foreigners, bring in laws and generally crack down in a way that would never happened 10 years ago.'' (Andrew Nette, "Paedophiles still get away with overseas crimes," IPS, 4 September 1998)

Cases

A couple from Brisbane, Australia was convicted of prostituting their 11-year-old daughter to Roy Schloss, a 67-year-old man from Ipswich. Schloss was found guilty of two charges of attempted rape, one of rape, and one of procuring a child for unlawful carnal knowledge. (Agence France Press, 3 September 1997)

Men from Australia and Great Britain are primary suspects as perpetrators of child prostitution in the Philippines. Two of the three pedophilia cases recently decided by Philippine courts involved British nationals, although there are reportedly more Australian suspects. (Philippines News Agency, 2 September 1997)

Two 15 year old girls were victims of sexual abuse and one was procured for prostitution by Robin Angus Fletcher, a self-proclaimed "traditionalist witch." He advertised both girls on the Internet as "school-girl prostitutes" who would take part in sado masochistic activities. After being arrested in 1996, Fletcher contracted a hit man to kill both girls to prevent them from giving evidence. (Katherine Towers, "Witch Spells Out Pagan Sex Abuse," The Australian, 24 February 1998)

An Australian man, who pleaded guilty to trying to organize a pedophile ring in the Western African country of Ghana, will not be sentenced to jail. In early 1998, Ruppert, 55, sent letters to people in Ghana saying he could ''train little girls'' as young as four to have sex. Despite Ruppert's guilty plea, the judge refused to send him to jail because the case involved the conduct of individuals overseas and because, he said, there was no evidence the plan had been carried out. (Andrew Nette, "Paedophiles still get away with overseas crimes," International Press Service, 4 September 1998)

Pro-Prostitution NGOs

Pro-prostitution groups, such as the Prostitutes Collective, lobbied for the decriminalization of street prostitution in Victoria. Legalization of certain forms of prostitution in Victoria has not ended street prostitution because brothels and escort agencies will not hire women with drug addictions. (Alsion Arnot-Bradshaw of the Prostitutes Collective, Nicole Brady, "Sex Street 3182," The Age, Melbourne, 24 September 1997)

Policy and Law

The Australian Council of Trade Unions recently recognized women in prostitution as a labor sector. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Under a new code of conduct diplomats who buy women in prostitution, even if prostitution is legal in that country, will suffer disciplinary measures from withdrawal from their posts to dismissal from the Public Service. The code was drawn up after allegations of paedophilia in the diplomatic service. After protests from diplomats, a revision of the code is under consideration, they declare their personal behavior is of no concern to the Department of Foreign Affairs. ("No sex please, we're diplomats," Don Greenlees, The Australian, 26 February 1997)

Official Response and Action

In March 1997, Pru Goward, who has promoted men’s use of prostitutes, was appointed to advise the Prime Minister on women’s affairs. Fiona Patten, President of the Eros Foundation, said that Goward was a ‘wonderful choice’ for the position. (Rachel Hawes, "Sex workers applaud Goward choice," The Australian, 26 March 1997

The Federal Government is drafting a bilateral agreement with the Philippines to monitor Australian child-sex offenders, which will provide an alert system at the Philippines’ ports of entry. The purpose of this agreement is the sharing of information about known and suspected child sex offenders. The information will enable Filipino immigration and police authorities to deal with such cases more efficiently. (Paul Robinson, "Paedophile alert system planned," The Sunday Age, 21 September 1997)

Australia's 1994 anti-child sex tourism law has not been properly enforced, as only one Australian has been convicted under the law. (New South Wales legislator Meredith Burgmann, Cecilia Hofman, "Aussie sex tours still flourishing," Associated Press, 1 October 1997)

Pornography:

The Blue Room, an Internet bulletin board, had 60% of its messages about child pornography. There were more than 450 subscribers, more than 100 in Australia. Ten suspected pedophiles were identified. Police made 18 raids and 15 computers were seized. (Paul Robinson, "Internet use by abusers rising, say investigators," The Age, Melbourne, 14 September 1997)

Customs Agents intercepted 100 packages of CDs, from a source previously exporting child pornography. Each package had five disks and each CD had approximately 3,500 to 4,000 files. ("Warning on child sex ring," Paul Robinson, The Age, 14 September 1997)

300 computer disks, 500 computer printouts, 20 videos and three magazines of child pornography, which included images of children as young as five being sexually abused by men, were found in the possession of Victoria-based RAAF officer, Colin Mowday. In October 1995, Mowday was fined A$4000 and given two four-month suspended jail sentences. ("Warning on child sex ring," Paul Robinson, The Age, 14 September 1997)

A report has identified 5,000 paedophiles who sexually abuse minors and traffic in child pornography operating in loose networks across Australia. They are linked to international paedophile groups including the Spartacus Club, the Marlin Coasters and the Orchid Club. 30,000 girls and 11,000 boys are sexually abused in Australia each year. (National Crime Authority Operation Bodega report, Victoria child-protection unit, Paul Robinson "Warning on child sex ring," The Age, 14 September 1997)

Official Response and Action

A child sexual abuse phone-in, called Operation Paradox, is held annually by Victoria police, since 1989. In 1997, a web site with detailed information about paedophiles and advice to victims on who to contact for help was added. In 1996, 334 calls and resulted in 18 people being charged with 108 sex offences. ("New home page throws the Net over paedophiles," Jason Koutsoukis, The Age, 11 Sept 1997)

Australia is the 2nd largest downloader of child pornography in the world. Western Australia state's police child abuse unit, which arrested a Perth man on Wednesday after raiding two homes as part of "Operation Cathedral," told Reuters Australia was second only Germany in frequency of child pornography. (Michael Perry, "Australia among top users of child porn on Net," Reuters, 3 September 1998)

Case

3 male social and health services workers gassed themselves in a suicide attempt (two men died, one man survived) after police discovered they were members of a paedophile ring. Child pornography was found in their homes. A travel agency held 'slide nights' promoting child sex tours in Thailand. Police investigation found twin brothers from Caulfied area in possession of more than 50,000 pornographic photographs of children taken in Indonesia, and believed to have been exported to Japan. (BBC, 8 Nov 1997) & (National Crime Report, "Warning on child sex ring," Paul Robinson, The Age, 14 September 1997)

Organized and Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation and Violence

1,800 children were victims of sexual abuse between June 1997 and March 1998 in New South Wales, Australia. 7,754 reports of child abuse or neglect were made and of these 6,830 were substantiated. Reports of child abuse has increased enormously from April 1997-September 1998 and police are arresting about 50 people a month, mainly for sexual assault. 230 assault charges are filed per month due to multiple offences by those charged. Police feel that people in the community are much more aware of child abuse and prepared to report it, including a growing number of young people reporting that their friends are being abused. There are more police than ever dedicated to investigating child abuse. (Ardyn Bernoth, "Police DOCS swoop after tip-offs from abuse hotline," 10 September 1998)

Child sexual assault cases have increased to "epidemic" proportions, while convictions in such cases have fallen since the 1980s, in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, with children aged 7-12 facing the greatest risk.

  • Child sexual assault trials now make up nearly half the cases brought before judges in the District Courts of NSW.

  • Nearly one-third of criminal trials in the District Courts of western Sydney are for child sexual assault.

  • In 1998, the conviction rate for child sexual assault cases was 33% compared with 45% for other crimes.

  • Conviction rates for child sexual assault fell from 58.8% in the early 1980s to about 38% in the early 1990s.

Reasons for the decrease in convictions is due to may factors, including the decrease in age of victims, as children may seem confused, inability of judges and courts to effectively handle juvenile victims, lag time in prosecutions of cases, and the justice systems lack of knowledge regarding children’s needs. (Adele Horn, "Child sex assault conviction rates fall," http://www.smh.com.au:80/news/9809/19/text/national5.html, 19 September 1998)

Official Response and Action

1,277 cases of suspected child sexual abuse were reported to a police hotline on September 9, 1998 in New South Wales, Australia, 11 urgent enough for police and the Department of Community Services (DOCS) to act immediately. 3 cases involved girls under the age of 5. The hotline is a one-day phone-in run by the State Government since 1990. 1,700 calls were taken in 1997. Other calls are handled throughout the year. (Ardyn Bernoth, "Police DOCS swoop after tip-offs from abuse hotline," 10 September 1998)

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Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn and Vanessa Chirgwin