Appearing on this morning's news is this item:
Australia named in sex slave report
07:30 AEST Wed Jun 16 2004
Australia has been named as a destination for sex slave trafficking in a United States government report.
The listing put Australia, which is on the annual list for the first time, on par with nations such as Morocco, Colombia and Lithuania, The Australian newspaper reported.
Australia previously avoided inclusion on the list when the federal government told the US it had fewer than 100 sex slave victims - the lower limit for inclusion, the newspaper said.
But a US team sent to Australia to report on the problem found more than 60 cases of trafficking networks, with more than 300 women forced to work as sex slaves.
The findings were published in the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2004.
Until recently the federal government would admit only to sex slaves being a minor problem, with no more than a handful of cases.The Australian claimed last year that up to 1000 women were forced to work as sex slaves in Australia.
Instead of identifying sex slave victims, the Immigration Department treated the women as illegal immigrants and deported them, The Australian said.
The US report, considered the most comprehensive international survey on people trafficking and slavery, was released this week by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
©AAP 2004
I'm intrigued - the "US team sent to Australia to report on the problem (which) found more than 60 cases of trafficking networks" - well, how'd they do their investigating?????????????
OK, maybe I'm just being perverse, but downunder's painted as an exotic location again.
Ozzie