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AUSTRALIA HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORT: AFP Police Confirm Complaints On Increase in 2022/23 Here’s What Is Known

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AceNewsDesk – Complaints of human trafficking in Australia continues to increase year on year, with the AFP receiving 340 reports of offences including forced marriage and sexual servitude in just 12 months over the 2022/23 financial year.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Dec.10: 2023: AFP Police News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

The increase in reports come as the AFP completes the national rollout of the Look-a-Little-Deeper campaign, a program aimed at helping law enforcement identify the indicators of human trafficking and slavery. The program has been delivered to more than 3000 participants from police agencies and other government departments, across 137 presentations.

The 2022/23 financial year data represents an increase of 46 reports compared to the 2021/22 financial year. In the 12 months of the 2022/23 financial year, the AFP received:

  • 90 reports of forced marriage;
  • 90 reports of trafficking (inclusive of entry, exit and child trafficking);
  • 73 reports of sexual exploitation;
  • 43 reports of forced labour;
  • 18 reports of debt bondage;
  • 16 reports of domestic servitude;
  • 6 reports of deceptive recruitment; and
  • 4 reports of slavery.

AFP Commander Human Exploitation Helen Schneider said the AFP took a victim-centric approach to human trafficking investigations, prioritising the victim-survivor’s needs, personal safety and interests.

“Disrupting human trafficking represents an excellent outcome. Instead of prosecuting a forced marriage, if we can prevent it from occurring in the first place then it’s a positive for the investigators and the would-be victim,” Commander Schneider said.

“Investigators also look for opportunities to disrupt and prevent human trafficking offences, as well as educating the community.”

In 2022, the AFP became aware of a woman who was being threatened with a forced marriage by members of her family. Assistance was provided to the woman, including relocating her to new accommodation and a travel alert was placed to prevent her from being forced to travel overseas.

Commander Schneider said the increase in reporting of human trafficking was an encouraging sign.

“We know that human trafficking is an under-reported crime type. Many victim-survivors feel ashamed or confused about what’s happened to them and those feelings are leveraged by offenders to maintain their silence,” Commander Schneider said.

“We hope that with an increase in public awareness, people who would have otherwise remained silent now feel empowered to report their experiences to the AFP.

“Australia is not immune to human trafficking but we will do everything we can to protect victim–survivors and put offenders before the courts.”

On 5 December, 2023, in Canberra the AFP presented the increased figures at the National Roundtable on Human Trafficking and Slavery, which is the primary consultative mechanism between government and civil society on human trafficking and slavery.

The Look-a-Little-Deeper program is an AFP initiative to help raise awareness of human trafficking by training law enforcement and other agencies with a human trafficking remit. The program aims to help front line responders understand the indicators of human trafficking, when they might be encountered and how to report suspected cases to the AFP.

The program is estimated to have reached more than 140,000 members of state, territory and Commonwealth agencies over the past four years.

Common indicators of human trafficking include:

  • Appearing to be under the control of someone else and reluctant to interact with others;
  • Not having access to personal identification such as a passport or other travel documents;
  • Appearing frightened, withdrawn, or showing signs of physical or psychological abuse,
  • Having no access or control of their earnings, and;
  • Showing signs their movements are being controlled or are under constant surveillance by another person.

A list of signs to identify potential human trafficking and slavery in Australia are available.

If you suspect that you or another person is experiencing, or at risk of, modern slavery or human trafficking, call 131 AFP (237) or use the AFP’s confidential online form. If you have immediate concerns for your safety, the safety of another person, or there is an emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).

The Support for Trafficked People Program is a key component of Australia’s response to support victims of human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, and is delivered nationally by the Australian Red Cross.

If you or someone you know is being exploited, help is available. For information and confidential advice please contact Australian Red Cross. Call (03) 9345 1800 or visit redcross.org.au/stpp.

Additional Notes

Human trafficking offences involve the physical movement of people across or within borders by coercing, threatening or deceiving them for the purpose of exploiting them when they reach their destination.

Slavery and slavery like offences involve the ownership of a person or exploitation of a person in circumstances similar to slavery.


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Australian News

BREAKING AUSTRALIA QLD POLICE REPORT: Ipswich Criminal Investigation Branch Charge Three Men With Weapon Related Offences

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AceBreakingNews – Detectives from Ipswich Criminal Investigation Branch have charged three men, aged 32, 27 and 25, following investigations after shots were allegedly fired at Goodna on December 6.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Dec.10: 2023: QPS Media on Dec 10, 2023 @ 5:46pm TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Weapons related offences, Goodna
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It will be alleged emergency services were called to Gorry Street around 1am, following reports of multiple shots being fired into a residence.

No one was injured during the incident.

Investigations into the incident, which included assistance from additional specialists and support units, resulted in multiple search warrants being executed and the arrests of three men and a firearm being seized (pictured). 

A 32-year-old Crestmead man has been charged with ten offences, including dangerous conduct of a weapon and possession of a sawn-off rifle (Category H), silencer, a ballistic vest and drug offences. He has also been charged with three counts of contravene a domestic violence order.

He has been remanded in custody and is next due to appear in Ipswich Magistrates Court on January 19.

A 25-year-old Collingwood Park man has been charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, unlawful possession of a shotgun (Category A) in public and unlawful disposal of a weapon.

He is due to reappear in Ipswich Magistrates Court on December 11.

A 27-year-old Goodna man has been charged with unlawful possession of a rifle (Category H), obstruct police and possess utensils or pipes.

He is due to reappear in Ipswich Magistrates Court on January 12. 

Investigations remain ongoing to locate any further items of interest from the initial incident, and appeal to any members of the public who may have information that may assist police to come forward.

Weapons related offences, Goodna
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Ace Breaking News

PRESS RELEASE GOV.U.K STATEMENT REPORT: Ambassador James Kariuki: UN General Assembly On Humanitarian Aid

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AceBreakingNews – The UK is investing $1.2 billion in effective humanitarian systems: UK statement at the UN General Assembly

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Dec.10: 2023: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Thank you, Mr President. Colleagues, every year we meet here to reflect on global humanitarian needs. Yet again, we are faced with a sobering picture. 258 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from. One in five children are living in or fleeing from conflict. One in 73 people are displaced, a number which has doubled in the last ten years. We are simultaneously witnessing dire humanitarian situations in Israel and Gaza, Sudan, Syria, and in Ukraine. Alongside many more across the world. The levels of need are overwhelming the humanitarian systems. Colleagues, we all have a role, and a stake, in reversing these worrying trends.

President, on 20 November our Prime Minister launched the UK’s International Development White Paper. This sets out our commitment to getting the Sustainable Development Goals back on track. And it includes a strong commitment to protecting the most vulnerable in the face of ever-growing needs driven by conflict and climate. We will focus on three key areas. 

First, we will invest in an effective humanitarian system. We will contribute $1.2 billion to humanitarian assistance from 2024 to 2025.

And we will also establish a UK Humanitarian Crisis Response Fund for specialist technical expertise, search and rescue, and emergency medical teams. We call on all Member States, including new and emerging donors and partners, to step up their support.

Second, we are shaping a system that is accountable to the people it serves.

The UK is proud to have supported the START network from its inception to deliver rapid, early and locally-led humanitarian action around the world. We will invest more in local leadership on humanitarian action and will explore how our engagement, terminology, delivery, and approach can change to support local partnerships.

Third, we will build a system which can anticipate shocks and act early.

This is proven to mitigate the impacts of disasters, save more lives and deliver value for money. We will continue to champion the CERF’s scale up of a system-wide approach to ‘Early Action’, including through our contribution of a further $65 million to the fund this year. Finally, colleagues, we must prevent today’s problems from turning into tomorrow’s crises.

This will need a whole of system response, in partnership with the UN, civil society, the International Financial Institutions, and, increasingly, the private sector. This is why, alongside our humanitarian efforts, we are supporting initiatives that will reduce need and prevent humanitarian caseloads.

We will scope a separate fund alongside our humanitarian funding, to build in climate resilience and adaptation alongside delivery of humanitarian relief. This will reduce the impact of future disasters and help communities to prepare and adapt for crises that we can anticipate.

We will continue to advocate for compliance with international humanitarian law and sustainable and inclusive ends to conflicts, which remain the most outstanding blocker to development and prosperity. We look forward to working with you all to deliver this.

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BREAKING NEWS

BREAKING INDONESIA NEWS: About 400 Stateless Displaced Rohingya Land Increasing Surge Of Recent Arrivals

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Dilapidated boats carrying an estimated 400 ethnic Rohingya arrived in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sunday, chief of a provincial fishing community has confirmed, adding to a recent surge of Myanmar’s Muslim minority arriving in the country.

Prior to Sunday’s arrivals, the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) said that 1,200 Rohingya people, a persecuted minority from Myanmar, had landed ashore in Indonesia since November.

Miftah Cut Ade, chief of the fishing community in Aceh, said that two boats landed in the province early on Sunday morning, one each in the districts of Pidie and Aceh Besar: Each boat was carrying an estimated 200 Rohingya, he said.

Andi Susanto, a local military official, said about 180 Rohingya had landed in Pidie at 4 a.m. (2100 GMT), and that officers were coordinating in the field to collect data: Susanto confirmed the military was aware of a second boat but did not have information of where it had landed or how many were on board.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a statement on Friday that he suspects human trafficking is behind the recent escalation in boat arrivals and has promised to work with international organisations to handle the issue.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees but has a history of taking in refugees when they arrive on the country’s shores.

But the high volume of recent arrivals has prompted a backlash on social media and some pushback from people in Aceh, the westernmost region most boats land.

For years, Rohingya have left Buddhist-majority Myanmar where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse.

When seas are calmer between November and April every year, members of the persecuted minority leave on wooden boats for neighbouring Thailand and Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.

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Feed Reader Bot 2, [Dec 10, 2023 at 07:30]
World News | Latest Top Stories | Reuters.Com/ Reporting by Ananda Teresia: Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Shri Navaratnam

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Australian News

FEATURED AUSTRALIA PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE AGRICULTURE FOOD REPORT: Thirty Five Recommendations For Food Security

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AceFoodDesk – Appointing an Australian minister for food and establishing a food council are some of the ways the nation could improve food security, the Australian Parliament’s agriculture committee has found.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Dec.10: 2023: ABC Rural News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

A year-long inquiry released its findings this week, after examining ways to strengthen and safeguard Australia’s food security, focusing on production, supply chains, and key inputs as well as climate change, biosecurity, and food insecurity.

Committee chair, Meryl Swanson, said it was the most substantial inquiry into Australia’s food systems in a decade.

“We talked to farmers, food tech people who are involved in science and soil [and many more fields], and we’ve come up with 35 very solid recommendations to address food security in our country,” she said.

“We absolutely grow a lot of food; we export about 70 per cent of what we produce.

“However, there are also many in our country who can’t afford food or don’t have access to it.”

International inputs

The inquiry received 188 submissions from various interest groups and Ms Swanson said almost all recommended a food plan for Australia, a measure many comparable countries already had in place.

“We need a map to show us what’s grown where at what time, we need strategies around the best use of soil and water, and we really do need a minister for food,” she said.

“The most successful cases across the world, like Scotland, the United Kingdom, and Canada have all faced challenges and all have some similarities to us — they have a food council and the concept of a food minister.”

Ms Swanson said although an ABARES insights report released by the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment in 2020 found Australia was one of the most food-secure nations in the world, other global studies found Australia was the 22nd most food-secure.

“There are certainly improvements that we can make,” she said.

“One of the areas where we do need to become a little more self-sufficient is inputs, like fertiliser. We need to not be at the whim of some of those supply chains that can be easily interrupted. COVID and the war in Ukraine showed us that.”

Handful of urea
Ms Swanson says Australia needs to rely less on international commodities, such as fertiliser.(ABC Wimmera: Andrew Kelso)

War on waste

Food waste in Australia is a $36 billion problem that Ms Swanson said desperately needed to be addressed.

“But it’s not only in terms of scrapings from the plate, but also in terms of what we grow,” she said.

“How do we conserve things like soil nutrients and water and minimise the use of inputs?”

Amid growing calls from farming bodies and politicians for an investigation into the cost of food and revenues of the major supermarkets, Ms Swanson said rising food prices was making healthy food inaccessible for some. 

“Why is it that at the farm gate the prices are much lower than they seem to be at the supermarket — who is making the money?” she said.

Shelves of fresh produce at a grocery store - red capsicums, cauliflower, kale and cucumbers
A parliamentary committee has examined ways to strengthen and safeguard Australia’s food security.(Unsplash: nrd / licence)

That is definitely something that the food council would want to be working on, and we’ve made some really solid recommendations around that.

“And looking at the consumer code, grocery code, and working with the big two supermarket chains to see that Australians do receive good value for money when it comes, particularly, to fresh produce.”

National Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said a National Food Plan would keep decision-makers accountable for the impact their choices had on the farm sector and Australians’ cost of living.

“There’s a terrific opportunity here for the government to seize on this and properly prioritise the needs of the farm sector,” he said.

“A National Food Plan would hopefully provide a lens through which policies that harm the sector could be scrutinised, and supportive policies could be fast-tracked.

“Currently, we’re facing an avalanche of bad ideas that will see deep cuts to farm production — including taking water, land, and workers away from agriculture.”

President of the Victorian Farmers Federation David Jochinke standing in front of a harvested paddock.
NFF president David Jochinke has welcomed the agriculture committee’s recommendations to ensure Australia is food secure.(Supplied: VFF)

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