Thread: Thai women forced into sex work in Sydney

Thai women forced into sex work in Sydney
02 February 2012


The Salvation Army had learned of the women's situation and contacted the police.
(Salvation Army)

A Sydney brothel owner charged with trafficking three young women from Thailand, holding them against their will and exploiting them as sex workers has been granted bail.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided five premises in the city's west on Wednesday night, including the 42-year-old's home and the brothel at Guildford.

The Salvation Army tipped off the AFP to the women's situation but would not provide details about the incident.

The women were brought to Australia on student visas but were allegedly subjected to debt bondage - forced into work to pay off the person who had arranged their passage.

AFP's head of Human Trafficking Operations, Glyn Lewis, said the women were told they were travelling to Australia on student visas, but their passports were taken once they arrived.

They were taken to the brothel and held against their will.

"These women live under very harsh conditions," Mr Lewis told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

"As you can imagine, their freedom is restricted. They may be forced in various ways coercively, threatened with deportation by the owners, lied to.

"They basically wanted to talk to us and they went to the Salvation Army and they were referred to us."

The AFP would not reveal the women's ages or how long they had worked at the brothel.

The three women could be offered witness protection visas and allowed to stay in Australia.

Human trafficking was not a widespread problem in Australia, Mr Lewis said, but 70 per cent of the victims ended up in sexual servitude.

Most come from Asia and end up in Sydney.

The brothel owner is of Chinese-Cambodian background but police would not reveal his status in Australia or whether he could face deportation if found guilty.

He was charged with facilitating the women's entry into Australia with intent to exploit them, and operating a business involving sexual servitude.

Additional charges included forcing the women into debt bondage and allowing them to work, in breach of their visa conditions.

The maximum jail term for the offences is 25 years.

The man is due to face court in Sydney's Downing Centre on February 14.

The AFP referred the women to the Australian Red Cross (ARC), which operates a support program for human trafficking victims.

About 70 people, mainly women forced into sexual servitude, participate in the program, which began in 2009.

Lis De Vries, who heads the ARC's Migration Support Programs, said such women develop many health and welfare issues.

"They often have quite extensive experiences of torture or trauma as a result of the trafficking," she told AAP.

sbs.com.au

If the women had more knowledge they could contact the authorities, I feel that there own lack of knowledge and fear of the authority keeps them enslaved.

If they where truly held against there will they could pass a message to there client informing them of there enslavement.

This sort of activity is not tolerated by law enforcement and corruption does not come into play.

Always seem strange to me.

These accounts of the trade certainly in the West generally prove to be nothing more than urban myths, perpetuated, ironically enough, by the multiple government agencies whose funding depends on its existence. In truth, there are very few, if any, instances of Thai women being encountered in Europe engaged in the illicit sex trade against their will nor is there any substantive evidence of coercive human trafficking for that purpose. However, as the article indicates, a woman found in such circumstances, and who claims to have been trafficked against her will, may remain indefinitely in the country in which she has been encountered despite their illegal entry and not otherwise qualifying for admission. A convention exists for the eradication of trafficking and as one of its policies most signatories have agreed to this settlement condition, as indeed has Australia.

It my view it has led to the Mandy Rice Davies situation whereby " they would say that, wouldn't they ". Nothing to lose and everything to gain it seems once they have been apprehended.

there are times ...............

Gent your shit does stink !

What they do not know, however, is that they might be held in captivity, be subject to physical and sexual violence and intimidation, be forced to engage in unsafe sexual practices, be unable to refuse clients or certain services, and be obliged to pay off huge debts to their traffickers.

These women are victims of trafficking, even if they consented to work in the sex industry.

32

32 Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, Australian Government’s Action Plan to Eradicate
Trafficking in Persons (2004) 7.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNSWLJ/2009/2.pdf

Unfortunately, Mid, the statistics do not support the rhetoric.

I'm afraid, it's another instance of welfarism and the bleeding liberal heart flying its colours.

The trade exists because it must.

I sincerely hope you are trolling because if not you are a truly loathsome individual

Originally Posted by Mid

there are times ...............

Gent your shit does stink !

Thanks Mid.

I wonder what the girls professions were back in Thailand before they went to Australia.

^

makes NO difference .

Prostitution, drugs and mostly illegal highly profitable business is controlled by the underworld and that means underhanded treatment is par for the course.

Whilst a large proportion of these Thai woman come of their own free will there are others who fall into the trap set by these animals and once ensnared are too scared to blow the whistle on their pimps out of fear of death, injury or formal incarceration.

Originally Posted by Mid

there are times ...............

Gent your shit does stink !

Mid, you always take the moral ground but fail miserably to accept the real world the same as all that shit you penned about the boat people.

Pathetic shit at best and living under a rock.

Probably looking for a free ticket home.

Originally Posted by Mid

^

makes NO difference .

Urm OK.

If a trollop is sucking cock for a wedge in Thailand she is coming to Aus to be a Lawyer ?

Seriously Mid, your an absolute foking wanker at times.

Without Prejudice Bro.

There on a student visa, cannot say she was not being educated.

Looks like they are getting PR visas out of it so they have probably done OK in the end - good luck to them.

Mostly bullshit, this 'forced and against their will' stories.

Agree with the gent. Seen too much to believe this constant crap.

Sure, they get ripped off. So does Joe the Wanker when he meets his bargirl in LOS. Tough titties innit. For both. Or when do we start a worldwide organization to protect Joe the Wanker.

Originally Posted by FlyFree

Joe the Wanker.

Mid?

.

Originally Posted by Looper

Looks like they are getting PR visas out of it so they have probably done OK

Clever uneducated Thai peasants.

Beat

Dumb educated Westerners.

Almost everytime.

Amazing innit.

Originally Posted by thegent

The trade exists because it must.

Indeed. Even Aussie men don't want to shag Aussie 'women' anymore.

thai lady forced to take money.

unbelievable.

I certainly dont condone anyone being forced to work in the sex industry against their will. However I would have to ask the question of the girls as to their honesty in applying for a Student visa in the first place.
It is not inexpensive to do so and did they actually intend to study or just fake that and get under the table cash for work. Although I believe the Australian Govt does allow these students to earn a certain amount while in Australia.

If the girls were deceived by this pimp,how were they to pay him the money expended to get the visa in the first place?

It intrigues me that they were totally ignorant of what may eventuate.

I know first hand how some Asians will blatantly lie about mistreatment from their husbands once they land in Australia.

It is then their word against his and most get believed and arwe allowed to stay in Australia even though their two year period pre getting Permanent status has not been fulfilled.

Originally Posted by Aussie Tigger

However I would have to ask the question of the girls as to their honesty in applying for a Student visa in the first place.

Most know the score but there are some who do get hoodwinked into, by mostly friends of the family or local village touts, to take the trip expecting something different to the situation they get entrapped into.

The old saying "there is one born everyday" comes to mind here.

Originally Posted by Mid

The three women could be offered witness protection visas and allowed to stay in Australia.

interesting