#8: The latest in the roadmap to counter modern slavery & OSEC: Australia's world-first online safety industry codes

This month in...

Australia

• Last Wednesday, Lynn Bell was appointed as #Australia’s new Ambassador to Counter Modern Slavery, People Smuggling and Human Trafficking. We are excited to work with the new Ambassador.

• eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant and her team established world-first, enforceable online safety industry codes. These codes will make it harder to access harmful online content, including child sexual abuse and pro-terror material. Operating under Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021, the codes will cover 5 sections of the online industry. Of the 8 codes drafted by the online industry, the eSafety Commissioner rejected 2, as they failed to appropriately deal with illegal and harmful content online. We support the eSafety’s Commissioner’s position on these codes. See our media release.

• Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has released a strong joint statement with Katy Gallagher, Acting Attorney-General, Minister for Finance, Minister for Women regarding the Modern Slavery Act Review, which was tabled in Parliament late last month. Importantly, she called attention to the alignment between the Labor’s Party’s election commitments and the review recommendations, including the introduction of penalties for non-compliance with reporting requirements and the establishment of a Federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner.?

Countering Modern Slavery and OSEC

There has been momentum in the fight against modern slavery and OSEC - here are some of the highlights:

Cases

• A couple in Melbourne are facing court for modern-day slavery offences, after allegedly keeping a female in domestic servitude for 10 months. Well done to the AFP on their work in addressing instances of #slavery in the country!
• A Filipino woman has been arrested and 5 Filipino children have been rescued from online child sex abuse (OSEC), after an Australian man was caught with OSEC on his phone. The investigation revealed messages between the Australian and Filipino woman coordinating payment to access the live-streamed abuse of the children.
• After a 7-month search, a 6-year-old girl has been rescued from #OSEC. Well done to all involved in bringing rescue to this child! Learn more about Jolene’s story (pseudonym used to protect the survivor) via this Foreign Correspondent episode.
• A UK man has been regarded as a ‘transnational child sex offender’ after travelling to Nepal and the Philippines to sexually abuse children. He also coached others on the dark web on how to groom victims. He will serve 21 years in prison.

Global Developments

• The European Parliament have agreed on its position regarding the Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligience (CSDDD). As part of this process, the #CSDDD would require large companies to identify and address any potential risks of the business’s activities on human rights and the environment. This is a significant development that will help ensure that businesses are doing their part to address and mitigate risks of environmental degradation and human rights abuses.?
• In the US, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would provide clear guidelines for online service providers to report child exploitation and sex trafficking. The proposed bill would also secure mandatory reporting.
• In Singapore, a #Facebook page that was sharing online child sex abuse content was shut down by #Meta within 24 hours of being notified. This is in line with the nation’s Online Safety Act that requires social media platforms to remove harmful content within hours of being notified.

Quote of the month

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." — Martin Luther King Jr.

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Because we're all short on time and there is a lot happening in the anti-slavery space, we're breaking things down into the choicest, bite-size pieces.?

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