#2 Happy 4th birthday to the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act!
International Justice Mission Australia
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This month in ...?
Modern Slavery
Did you know? One year ago, on 19 November 2021, the amended New South Wales #ModernSlaveryAct was passed. By commencing this legislation, New South Wales became the first state in Australia to introduce an Anti-Slavery Commissioner. Dr James Cockayne started in that role in August and gave his inaugural address at NSW Parliament this month. In a captivating speech, the Commissioner provided a strong call to the audience that slavery not only induces horrendous conditions on its victims, but negatively impacts overall #sustainabledevelopment. He explains this with consideration of 10 different ways that slavery leaves us all worse off. Read the full speech here.
Meanwhile, yesterday (29 November) marked four years since the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act was passed by both Houses of Parliament. The Australian Government is now reviewing the legislation and submissions for the Review of the MSA closed earlier this month – read IJM Australia’s submission here. The Human Rights Law Centre ’s recent ‘Broken Promises’ report reviews a second round of company statements under the MSA. Human Rights Watch ’s “Obsessed with Audit Tools, Missing the Goal”: Why Social Audits Can’t Fix Labor Rights Abuses in Global Supply Chains points out the limited effectiveness of auditing suppliers, arguing for due diligence and – we think – the need to go beyond compliance if we are really to stamp out modern slavery. Rachel Williamson points out that the clean energy sector’s supply chains may not be clean at all.
In our region, Senator Penny Wong , Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, has signed an agreement with #Thailand to combat #humantrafficking. The partnership involves Australia supporting the launch of an anti-trafficking training centre. Addressing human trafficking requires collaboration between government and NGOs. We look forward to supporting Minister Wong in her anti-slavery efforts and continuing to partner with the Thai Government to eradicate cross-border trafficking and #forcedlabour in the region.
Also in #SoutheastAsia, the last few months have seen increasing reports in Australian media about people trafficked to #onlinescamming centres, especially in #Cambodia. See Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports here and here, and quotes from Steve Baird (IJM Australia) and Jacob Sims (IJM Cambodia) in Anna Patty’s recent article.
Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC)
IJM Australia’s Advocacy team headed to Canberra to host a Parliamentary Screening of The Children in the Pictures documentary. Thank you to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Shadow Minister for Communications Sarah Henderson for co-hosting the event (his speech and her speech). The documentary was followed by a stellar panel discussion that featured Acting Commander Jayne Crossling, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman - Grant , the Australian Institute of Criminology ’s Dr Rick Brown , and 众达律师事务所 lawyer Leah Ratcliff . There were several acknowledgments honouring the tireless service of retiring Detective Inspector Jon Rouse APM , who features in the documentary and is globally recognised for his child protection efforts over many years. Incidentally, The Children in the Pictures has just released additional content through their podcast, including never-before-seen investigative and arrest details. Find it on Apple, Listnr and Spotify.
In Canberra, we also met with Opposition Leader The Hon. Peter Dutton MP , who spoke up about the importance of tech companies protecting children from OSEC in The Australian . The article shares that offenders are using mainstream media platforms to pay for and direct the abuse of children.
Over in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron has launched the Children Online Protection Laboratory, a collaborative initiative intended to help keep minors worldwide safe online. Campaigners, researchers, and tech companies will be invited to collaborate and formulate best practices regarding online child safety. Companies like 谷歌 , Meta and 微软 (and the NZ Government) have signed. The announcement comes at a critical time in the pursuit to address online child sex abuse.
Collaboration is also happening through #ProjectBoost, with Meta, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and IJM's Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children joining forces to boost law enforcement capacity to respond to CyberTipline reports. Beginning in select countries in Africa, the initiative is already yielding results with two child victims identified and a successful arrest by authorities in #Kenya trained through Project Boost.
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The month ahead
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Quote of the month (Nelson Mandela)
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
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