Subject: NEWS: Australia gets tough on sex slave traders
From: Jyothi Kanics (jkanics@igc.apc.org)
Date: Thu Jan 21 1999 - 17:52:32 EST
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_248000/248763.stm
World: Asia-Pacific
Australia gets tough on sex
slave traders
Many young Asian prostitutes are held against their will
Australia is to introduce tough penalties, including jail
sentences of up to 25 years, to confront what it says is a
growing trade in sex slaves.
The crackdown follows increasing
evidence of young Asian women being
brought to Australia and forced into sex
slavery in Sydney's red light King's
Cross district and other state capitals.
A recent report said that up to 300 young women from
Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia had been forced into
prostitution in King's Cross after legitimate jobs they had
been promised by racketeers failed to materialise.
It said many of the women were kept against their will in
brothels and were forced to hand over their earnings. One
woman gave evidence of having to pay back more than
£17,000.
According to the Justice Department,
many Asian prostitutes are women who
simply want to begin a new life outside
their homeland.
Serious penalties
"People who've been brought to Australia from elsewhere
using false immigration documents find when they get here
they've got no real documents, they can't get help and they
are required to work as prostitutes for very low wages," said
Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone.
The authorities say they intend to impose prison terms of up
to 25 years for anyone involved in actual sex slavery, 15
years for keeping sex slaves through force, threats or
deception - unless the victim was under 18 years old. The
maximum jail term would then be 19 years.
"These are very serious penalties and so they should be
because in a modern country and a free country like Australia
there is no place for slavery," added Ms Vanstone.
The proposed legislation which has not yet been passed in
parliament will be reintroduced this year
A previous attempt to introduce sex slavery legislation with a
maximum 20-year jail sentence was introduced to parliament
last year but lapsed because of the October election.
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