REPORTING TRAFFICKING

Stop the Traffik Australian encourages all members of the Australian community to report to the appropriate authorities any signs of people trafficking in their communities or any signs of Australians engaging in child sex abuse overseas, in the latter case to address demand for the trafficking of children into the sex industry. 

The Australian Government has acknowledged that there are two million children around the world that have been forced into prostitution. Some of them are only five years old. A large percentage of these children live in Asian countries. In some of these countries up to one third of all people in prostitution are children. The effects on children are profound and last a lifetime. 

Under Australian law it is possible to have Australians prosecuted for child sex tourism they undertake in other countries. In March 2005, a Sydney man, Gregory Cook, was imprisoned in Australia for 18 months for inappropriately touching a Vietnamese girl in the pool of his hotel in Danang. An Australian tourist was imprisoned after an anonymous report from the people who developed photos he had taken, showing an 8-year-old Thai girl being sexually abused. 

If you are overseas and see a situation where a child may be at risk, or you see something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you should report it.

Things to look for:

·         A tourist taking a local child to their room or on an outing.

·         Local people taking children to a tourist’s room.

·         Sexually explicit photos of children in the possession of a tourist.

·         Tourists bring local children to the hotel pool.

·         Tourists being very affectionate with a local child or touching them inappropriately.

·         Tourists who ask where they can find children for sex.

·         Tourists who ask to be taken to a location that is known for child-sex tourism.

·         Visitors carrying excessive amounts of candy, toys and other gifts, which may be intended to lure children into sexually abusive situations.

·         Tourists offering parents money or goods in exchange for access to their children.

·         Tourists who seek unsupervised access to local children or spend a lot of time alone with children. 

If you see any of these things while overseas you should:

Fill out a Child Sex Tourism Suspicious Behaviour at www.afp.gov.au/online_forms/cst_form.html

Phone the Australian Federal Police on 1800 813 784

Or write to Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Team, Australian Federal Police, GPO Box 401, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia