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Foreign students are being forced into sexual slavery as people-smugglers target tertiary education, Australia’s only anti-slavery commissioner has warned universities. Cases of forced marriage, ­bonded labour, death threats and blackmail against international students have been referred to police, and universities sent written warnings by NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner James Cockayne.

As the federal government angers universities by clamping down on the influx of 577,000 international students in the past financial year, Dr Cockayne has warned of the exploitation by Australian employers and people-smugglers. He said law enforcement agencies were failing to adequately investigate or prosecute cases of forced labour and wage theft.

“We’ve seen situations of forced labour, deceptive recruiting, debt bondage, sexual servitude, international trafficking and domestic trafficking, and that’s just among the international student cohort,’’ he said.

“We’ve seen instances of international students forced to marry once here. People have been through fraud, force or coercion – forced to take work that they haven’t agreed to do.’’

Nationwide Problem

Dr Cockayne said he was confident the problem was happening across Australia. “It’s a movement of people into Australia, under the cover of a student visa, but actually for the purpose of exploitation work,’’ he said.

Dr Cockayne said that universities and private training colleges were not directly involved, but “there may be connections between some education providers and the recruiting agencies that bring students into those institutions’’.

“Quite frequently, students will be paying a fee to a recruiter that recruits them into a study place in Australia, and sometimes those are shonky operators,’’ he said.

Dr Cockayne spoke out after The Australian revealed that universities have failed to provide housing for 80 per cent of inter­national students, forcing some to trade sexual favours for a place to sleep. He said language barriers, poverty, a lack of family support and a poor understanding of legal rights made international students vulnerable to exploitation.

He said, “housing is at the heart’’ of the problem, as accommodation shortages and the cost of living pull students into “risky work and exploitation’’.

“We see what we believe is significant under-reporting of forced labour, deceptive recruiting and debt bondage in the inter­national student cohort, because they’re fearful of losing visa status,’’ he said.

“They’re fearful of retaliation against themselves, or in some situations, the family offshore. And they don’t trust the reporting pathways to provide them with support and assistance.’’

Dr Cockayne has written to ten universities in New South Wales to advise them of new statutory obligations in regard to the issue.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the federal government had “zero tolerance’’ for the exploitation of students in Australia’s $48bn international education sector.

“International students are back following the pandemic, but so are the shonks and criminals that seek to exploit them,’’ he said. “That’s why we are acting to strengthen integrity in the sector.” Mr Clare said universities and private training providers “must ensure that their education agents act ethically, honestly and in the best interests of overseas students’’.

Exploitation

Dr Cockayne said some international students were being forced to work without pay, having wages stolen, or denied entitlements such as superannuation or sick leave. He said the hospitality and retail sectors were the worst offenders, with some employers profiting from students by forcing them to work for free or paying below-award wages in cash.

“We see numerous cases every week,’’ he said. “In general, forced labour, although it’s a modern slavery offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, is not being investigated and prosecuted in this country. There needs to be a significant increase in resourcing of investigations … not only through law enforcement, but in collaboration with universities.’’

He said most universities were aware of the problem and “taking constructive steps’’ to prevent student exploitation. The University of Technology Sydney said that Anti-Slavery Australia, based in its faculty of law, provided free and confidential legal and migration advice to anyone impacted by modern slavery.

The University of NSW said it briefed students before they left their home country and again on arrival and held regular information sessions with NSW Police and UNSW security staff. “The briefings include advice about avoiding, detecting and reporting suspected scams and exploitations,’’ it said. A University of Wollongong spokesman said students were told during orientation programs about slavery and rights at work.

The Australian Federal Police investigated 340 reports of human trafficking and slavery last financial year – a 15 per cent increase in 12 months. A 35 per cent surge in complaints led to 73 reports of sexual servitude and 57 of forced ­labour. The AFP received 90 complaints of forced marriage – a 7 per cent increase – and 18 complaints of debt bondage. An AFP spokeswoman said the data did not show which offences involved international students.

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Republished with thanks to the Australian Prayer Network. Image courtesy of Adobe.