What is modern slavery?

UTS recognises modern slavery as a serious abuse of human rights which includes:

• Human trafficking: The recruitment, harbouring and movement of a person for exploitation through modern slavery.
• Slavery: When a person exercises the rights of ownership over another person.
• Servitude: When a victim is significantly deprived of their personal freedom and does not consider themselves free to cease providing labour or services or leave their place of work because of coercion, threats or deception.
• Forced labour: Any work or services people are forced to do against their will under threat of punishment and where they are not free to stop working or to leave the place of their work because of coercion, threat or deception.
• Debt bondage: This is the world’s most widespread form of slavery, where victims trapped in poverty borrow money and are forced to work to pay off the debt.
• Forced marriage: A person is forced to marry through coercion, threats or deception or where they are incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony.
• Child labour: When children are exploited in slavery or slavery like practices or engaged in hazardous work that can harm their health, safety or morals, or used to produce or traffic drugs.

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.

Some groups of people are particularly vulnerable, including backpackers, international students, asylum seekers and migrants on limited working visas.

Victims of modern slavery become trapped in these circumstances due to poverty, exclusion and a lack of power and choice, making them vulnerable to exploitation and forcing them to take risks in search of safety, opportunities to provide for their families or improve their prospects.

Slavery is often hidden in homes, in restaurants, on farms and on building sites. What is common to all of these examples is that someone is being exploited and controlled.

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 being taken by an 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.