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JOURNAL of MODERN SLAVERY
A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Human Trafficking Solutions
COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY
Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
Cover Art Courtesy of Joel Bergner and Local Partners
The Impact of Covid-19 on the
Identification of Victims of
Modern Slavery and their Access
to Support Services in Australia
Dr. Nerida Chazal
University of South Australia
Ms Kyla Raby
Australian Red Cross
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of
Modern Slavery and their Access to
Support Services in Australia
Dr. Nerida Chazal
University of South Australia
Ms Kyla Raby
Australian Red Cross
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Red Cross for
providing the data for this project. They would also like to thank the service providers for
participating in the interviews that informed this paper. Finally, the authors thank the anonymous
reviewers for their generous and valuable feedback on this paper.
Abstract
This article examines how COVID-19 impacted the identification and access to support of
modern slavery victims in Australia during 2020. It is the first comprehensive analysis of the
pandemic’s impact on modern slavery victimisation in Australia. The key finding of the research
is that COVID-19 exacerbated existing barriers to identifying victims of modern slavery in
Australia and referring them to government funded support, related to the linkage of the
provision of support with criminal justice processes. The reliance on policing capacity to identify
and refer victims meant that when police and other government resources were diverted into the
large-scale COVID-19 emergency response, there was less capacity for police to undertake this
vital function, resulting in the under-identification and referral to support of victims of modern
slavery.
Keywords
Modern slavery, human trafficking, COVID-19, victim support, policing
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
30
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
Introduction
Modern slavery is a hidden phenomenon. Crimes such as human trafficking for sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, and forced labour rely on the coercion and exploitation of
vulnerable people and often occur behind closed doors . As such, detecting modern slavery
1
crimes and providing support to victims can be difficult . This is evidenced by a 2019 Australian
2
Institute of Criminology study which estimates that for every person identified as a victim of
human trafficking and modern slavery, there are at least four other unidentified victims . One of
3
the main barriers to identifying and supporting victims in Australia is the linkage of the formal
government funded victim support program to criminal justice processes . This linkage has
4
resulted in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) as the sole referring agency to the Support for
Trafficked People Program (STPP), run by the Australian Red Cross (Red Cross) and funded by
the Department of Social Services. Given that barriers victims may face in voluntarily engaging
with policing agencies to disclose their experience of modern slavery are well acknowledged ,
5
the identification of victims is therefore often heavily dependent on pro-active policing practices
or reactive police responses to information reported by government or community stakeholders.
This over-reliance on policing agencies means that in times of emergencies or when political
pressure diverts policing resources elsewhere, police are often under resourced to identify
modern slavery victims and refer them to appropriate support .
6
This article explores this issue by examining how COVID-19 impacted the identification
and access to support of modern slavery victims in Australia during 2020. It is the first
comprehensive analysis of the pandemic’s impact on modern slavery victims in Australia. The
article uses data from the AFP and the Red Cross to trace the impact of COVID-19 on the
identification of victims and their access to the STPP. The research finds that there was a drop in
the number of reports the AFP received of suspected instances of modern slavery and also the
number of victims the AFP consequently identified and referred to the STPP during the early
months of COVID-19 in Australia (April to June 2020). To better understand this decline, the
Deanna Davy, “Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking in Australia? Issues associated with Australia’s Criminal
1
Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons,” Contemporary Justice Review 20, no1 (2017): 115.
Marie Segrave and Sanja Milivojević, “Auditing the Australian Response to Trafficking,” Current Issues in
2
Criminal Justice 22, no.1 (2010): 63.
Samantha Lyneham, Christopher Dowling and Samantha Bricknell, “Estimating the Dark Figure of Human
3
Trafficking and Slavery Victimisation in Australia,” Australian Institute of Criminology Statistical Bulletin 16
(2019).
Davy, “Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking,” 115-131.
4
The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has previously identified that “many victims
5
of modern slavery may be unwilling or unable to approach AFP officers”. Joint Standing Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade. Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia. Hidden in Plain Sight
Report, December 2017. Par 6.70
Yvon Dandurand, “Human Trafficking and Police Governance,” Police, Practice & Research 18, no. 3 (2017):
6
322-336.
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
31
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
research draws on data from semi-structured interviews with key service providers working in
the modern slavery space in Australia.
This article begins by giving an overview of the methodology used in the study before
exploring how reports of modern slavery made to the AFP were impacted by COVID-19.
Although many individuals and groups can report suspected instances of modern slavery to the
AFP, the designated policing agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting human
trafficking and slavery offences in Australia, there is only one pathway to referring a reported
victim to the official government funded support program, the STPP, and that is through the AFP.
The AFP are the only agency who can determine if there is appropriate indicators and evidence
of modern slavery to constitute status as a ‘victim’ and eligibility for referral. This paper then
examines how the diversion of resources during COVID-19 impacted the number of victims the
AFP referred to the STPP, highlighting that the ratio of reports (to AFP) to referred victims (by
the AFP to the STPP) was significantly impacted by COVID-19.
Accordingly, the discrepancy between reports and referrals can be better understood by
analysing the Australian government’s framing of modern slavery victim support within a
criminal justice response. As the AFP are the sole referrer to the STPP, referral of victims to
official support is based on the AFP’s capacity to assess and investigate reports of modern
slavery made to them. Additionally, after an initial period of 45 days on the STPP (90 days in
some circumstances), continuing victim support through the STPP (for all individuals except
those referred for reasons related to forced marriage) is contingent on the victim’s participation
in criminal justice processes, that is their willingness and ability to be involved in the further
investigation and prosecution of the modern slavery incident. The final section of the article
examines the way that COVID-19 exposed the limitations of this linkage of victim support with
criminal justice process by contextualising the data with the experience of service providers. The
key finding is that COVID-19 exacerbated underlying barriers to identifying victims of modern
slavery in Australia and referring them to government funded support. Specifically, the reliance
on policing capacity to identify and refer victims meant that when policing resources were
diverted into the large-scale COVID-19 response, there was less capacity for police to assess
reports made to them, identify modern slavery victims and refer them to the STPP.
Methodology
The data for this project was obtained through data requests to the AFP and the Red
Cross. The AFP data request asked for official data on the number of reports of suspected modern
slavery crimes the AFP received between July 2019 and September 2020, broken down by
month, state, and category of offence (i.e. human trafficking, forced marriage etc). Secondly, data
from the Red Cross was requested for the number of referrals the AFP made to the STPP between
July 2019 and September 2020, broken down by month, state, and category of offence. The data
was analysed to show key trends across the quarterly periods of 2020.
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
32
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
To contextualise this data the project involved semi-structured interviews with seven key
service providers working to support modern slavery victims in Australia. The governmental and
non-governmental organisations interviewed were selected based on their roles in identifying
victims and referring them to the AFP, working with victims whilst supported by the STPP, as
well as their broader role in supporting victims of modern slavery outside of the STPP. The
service providers remain anonymous in this paper, which helped enable open sharing of
experiences. The interviews were conducted between November 2020 and January 2021.
Interview participants were asked open-ended questions on the process of victim identification
and support in Australia and the impact of COVID-19 on these processes. The researchers
followed Charmaz’s grounded theory approach when conducting and analysing the interviews.
7
During the analysis of the interview data the researchers identified codes inductively , with
8
several overarching themes becoming apparent. For the purposes of this article, the key theme
identified in the interview data was the role of the AFP in referring victims to the STPP with all
interview participants discussing the linkage of victim support to criminal justice processes. As
such, this is the core issue explored in this paper .
9
Reporting Instances of Modern Slavery in Australia: The Impact of COVID-19
Modern slavery in Australia remains an under identified issue and the information
captured in official police-recorded statistics is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ . In Australia, official
10
data is captured by the AFP and the Red Cross, as the service provider of the STPP. Other data
captured by non-government organisations (NGOs) working to prevent and respond to modern
slavery can give much needed further context to the police-recorded statistics, although this data
can vary both in quantity and comparability due to a range of factors including, varying
definitions of a ‘victim’ of modern slavery, the broad spectrum of work undertaken by NGOs
11
and a lack of consistent reporting mechanisms which capture this varied work. These insights do,
however, act as vital qualitative data which can add depth to existing official statistics,
12
indicating that the number of victims interacting with support services outside of the STPP as the
official support program, is much higher. This observation is supported by a 2019 study using
multiple systems estimation (MSE) which suggested that the number of human trafficking and
Kathy Charmaz, Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis (London: Sage,
7
2006).
Ryan Gery and Russel Bernard, “Techniques to Identify Themes,” Field Methods 15, no. 1 (2003): 85-109.
8
This project received ethics approval from the University of South Australian Human Research Ethics Committee.
9
Jo Goodey, “Data on Human Trafficking: Challenges and Policy Context,” in Human Trafficking: Exploring the
10
International Nature, Concerns, and Complexities, ed. John Winterdyk, et al (Bocca Raton: CRC Press), 41.
Jacqueline Joudo Larsen and Lauren Renshaw, “People Trafficking in Australia”, Trends & Issues in Crime and
11
Criminal Justice no 441 (2012) Australian Institute of Criminology.
Jacqueline Joudo Larsen and Lauren Renshaw, “People Trafficking in Australia”.
12
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
33
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
slavery victims in Australia in 2015-16 and 2016-17 was between 1,300 and 1,900 , vastly
13
outweighing the number of reports made to the police and the number of victims identified by
police and referred to support. This finding matches a similar study in the United Kingdom
which found that official data captured only 20-30% of potential modern slavery victims .
14
As this large ‘dark figure’ indicates, understanding the true extent of modern slavery
victimisation is difficult . Many victims of modern slavery crimes are reluctant to report
15
perpetrators, who may be employers, family members or partners, for many reasons, including
that they may be reliant on these individuals for support. Additionally, victims may be unable or
unwilling to report due to distrust of people in positions of authority, fear of retaliation, or
because of trauma they have experienced. These barriers can make it difficult for victims to
come forward, meaning that frontline community stakeholders, NGOs and authorities play a
crucial role in detecting instances of modern slavery. However, there are also numerous barriers
that make modern slavery hard to detect for these groups and pose challenges for investigation
by authorities. Poverty and a lack of economic opportunity are just some of many drivers of
modern slavery and the intersection of racism, discrimination and disadvantage means that an
individual’s experience of slavery can be vastly different, depending on their particular
circumstances, presenting challenges for ‘categorising’ situations of exploitation for the purposes
of identification. Some forms of modern slavery occur in personal settings and can be intwined
within complex cultural, religious, gender and generational power structures, posing challenges
for understanding, identification, and investigation by actors not familiar with such dynamics.
When in commercial settings, modern slavery is often deeply imbedded into complex supply
chains which rely on a disconnect between tiers to avoid accountability for upholding workers’
rights and entrench a degree of worker exploitation into profit models whilst making it
challenging to detect and eliminate. Some even argue modern slavery is an endemic feature of
the socio-economic systems which have been instituted by business , suggesting a degree of
16
acceptance of exploitative practices as a normal part of the capitalist system. Finally, modern
slavery practices commonly feature an international component which can mean that varying
legislation, definitions of crimes and capacity of policing agencies across jurisdictions presents
further challenges. The barriers to victims reporting and the challenges in detecting modern
slavery mean that reliable figures on the true extent of victimisation are limited.
Reliable data on the number of suspected instances of modern slavery in Australia which
are reported to the AFP by other actors is, however, recorded. This includes reports made by staff
Samantha Lyneham, Christopher Dowling and Samantha Bricknell, “Estimating the Dark Figure of Human
13
Trafficking”.
Kevin, Bales, Olivia Hesketh, and Bernard Silverman. “Modern Slavery in the UK: How Many Victims?”
14
Significance 12, no.3 (2015): 16-21.
Samantha Lyneham, Christopher Dowling and Samantha Bricknell, “Estimating the Dark Figure of Human
15
Trafficking and Slavery Victimisation in Australia”.
Steve New, “Modern Slavery and the Supply Chain: The Limits of corporate social responsibility?” Supply Chain
16
Management 20, no. 6 (2015): 697-707.
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
34
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
in various government agencies, such as immigration officials, state and territory police agencies
and the Fair Work Ombudsman, as well as representatives from various embassies and
diplomatic missions located in Australia . Hospital staff and medical practitioners, industry
17
representatives, NGOs, and community members including concerned individuals or co-workers
of suspected victims are also common sources of reports made to AFP in relation to suspected
instances of modern slavery . The number of reports made to the AFP have been steadily
18
increasing over the last decade . Within the 13-year period from 2004 when data was first
19
recorded until 30 June 2017, the AFP received 841 reports . Analysis of these figures shows that
20
between 2014 and 2016, there was a notable increase in the number of reports, rising from 119 in
the 2014/15 financial year to 169 in the 2015/16 financial year , indicating a growing awareness
21
of these issues in the Australian community. Continuing this trend, the number of reports made to
the AFP during the 2019/20 financial year reached a record high number of 223 in a 12-month
period. It is important to note that when a report is made to the AFP of a suspected instance of
modern slavery, it may involve circumstances that effect multiple people and therefore each
report may result in numerous victims being identified.
While the number of reports of suspected instances of modern slavery made to the AFP
had initially been increasing throughout the 2019/20 financial year, the outbreak of COVID-19 in
2020 impacted the quantity of reports. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Australia was
reported on 25 January 2020 by the Victorian Health Authorities , and as of 1 March 2021, there
22
had been 28,970 cases confirmed thereafter . The presence of COVID-19 in each state and
23
territory in Australia to-date has varied significantly, with the most densely populated cities,
Sydney, and Melbourne, seeing the highest number of cases . Late March and early August
24
2020 feature as key dates within the timeline of the number of new COVID-19 cases reported
each day in Australia across each states and territory (see Figure 2). The former being the period
in which the country saw the presence of the virus in each jurisdiction simultaneously, and the
Interdepartmental Committee On Human Trafficking And Slavery, TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS The Australian
17
Government Response 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015, (2016) https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/criminal-justice/files/
report-anti-people-trafficking-interdepartmental-committee-july-2014-june-2015.pdf viewed 5th February 2021
(accessed April 14 2021).
IDC Reports, 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015, 1 July 2015 – 30 June 2016, 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017
18
Australian Red Cross, Support for Trafficked People Program, Data Snapshot: 2009-2019, https://
19
www.redcross.org.au/getmedia/7a957782-a7a1-4b25-97c0-86930dbf0f53/ARC-Support-For-Trafficked-People-
Program-Data-Snapshot-2009-to-2019-small.pdf.aspx, (accessed February 5 2021).
Interdepartmental Committee on Human Trafficking and Slavery, “ Report 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017”, 68.
20
Interdepartmental Committee on Human Trafficking And Slavery, 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017.
21
Greg Hunt, MP Minister for Health and Aged Care, First confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Australia, 2020,
22
https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/first-confirmed-case-of-novel-coronavirus-in-
australia (accessed February 5 2021).
Department of Health, State and Territories Report.
23
Department of Health, State and Territories Report.
24
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
35
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
latter being the period in which only one jurisdiction, the state of Victoria, saw the highest
number of cases recorded per day . In response to the presence of community transmission of
25
the virus, each state and territory government instituted a range of measures designed to control
its spread including the temporary closure of state borders and suspension of services including
medical, educational, hospitality, retail, sporting and other businesses and community functions.
From March to June 2020, all individuals in Australia experienced a degree of ‘community
lockdown’, however by the end of June, restrictions in each jurisdiction had started to ease and
continued to do so over the coming months in all areas except Victoria. Between August and
October 2020, due to a large outbreak of the virus in that particular state, residents in Victoria’s
largest city, Melbourne, endured what has come to be known as one of the longest and strictest
lockdowns in the world , whilst the remainder of the country adapted to ‘COVID-normal’.
26
The impact of COVID-19 on the number of reports of suspected instances of modern
slavery made to the AFP can be better understood by breaking down the data into quarters for the
year of 2020. Analysis of this data, displayed in Figure 1, shows that the three-month period
between April and June 2020, when Australia’s national COVID-19 response was the most
restrictive (in response to the peak in daily reported cases in late March 2020 visible in Figure 2),
saw the lowest number of reports in the period recorded (n=43). However, although elements of
community lockdown in place across the country may have impacted the number of reports made
to AFP during this time, these reports continued at just over 70% of the average number in the
three quarters prior. In the subsequent three-month period between July and September 2020, the
number reports of suspected instances of modern slavery to the AFP increased to a rate higher
than the previous 4 quarters (n=72). This was despite a second peak of daily reported COVID-19
cases in August 2020, however as described earlier, these cases, and therefore the associated
restrictions, were contained to the state of Victoria. During this period the rest of the country saw
low numbers of daily cases and lived with limited restrictions.
Department of Health, State and Territories Report.
25
Gavin Fernando, “Is Melbourne's coronavirus lockdown really the longest in the world? Here's how other
26
countries stack up”, SBS Australia, September 9, 2020 ( https://www.sbs.com.au/news/is-melbourne-s-coronavirus-
lockdown-really-the-longest-in-the-world-here-s-how-other-countries-stack-up
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
36
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
Despite the impacts of the pandemic on the number of suspected instances of modern
slavery reported to the AFP during April to June 2020, the total number of reports made to the
AFP between July 2019 to June 2020 (the 2019/20 financial year) was also higher than any other
12-month period. Thus, while COVID-19 slightly impacted the number of reports made to AFP
during the 2019/20 financial year during the period when COVID-19 restrictions were at their
most widespread, there were still a steady number of reports being made. As indicated, despite
restrictions affecting the major Australian city of Melbourne, data on the number of reports made
to the AFP also continued to follow the general upward trend recorded in recent years during the
subsequent quarter, July to September 2020.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) , the Commonwealth agency responsible for
27
coordinating Australia’s domestic response to modern slavery, commented on this drop in reports
stating, ‘victims of human trafficking and modern slavery have significantly decreased capacity
to seek support and report crimes due to COVID-19. This has affected the capacity of law
enforcement to directly engage with victims. During the period April-June 2020, the AFP
observed a reduction in reports being received, as compared to the previous quarter (January-
March 2020)’ . In part, this decline can be explained by less proactive work undertaken by
28
police and government agencies which can often lead to the detection of victims, due to the
The Department of Home Affairs brings together Australia’s federal law enforcement, national and transport
27
security, criminal justice, emergency management, multicultural affairs, settlement services, and immigration and
border related functions. See Department of Home Affairs website https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/
Department of Home Affairs, Home Affairs Portfolio Submission to the Inquiry into Criminal Activity and
28
Enforcement during the COVID-19 Pandemic Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, https://
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Law_Enforcement/COVID-19 (accessed 1 March
2021): np.
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
diversion of resources elsewhere. This is discussed in more depth in the next section of this
article.
Another factor that limited the number of reports of suspected instances of modern
slavery to the police during the peak of COVID-19 was the widespread closure of community
services which often provide informal pathways for the identification of victims. One of the
service providers interviewed for the project noted this, stating:
The closure of several services also meant that victims had no options or maybe very,
very limited options to actually report what was happening for them. So as a result of
that, identification was very limited, if anything, because they would not really have any
ways of communication.
Service closures particularly impacted the identification of forced marriage victims, with
the DHA stating that for the April to June 2020 quarter ‘reports of allegations of forced marriage
dropped approximately 60 percent from the previous quarter’. The DHA cites border closures
29
and the restriction of international travel as a major reason for this drop in reports of forced
marriage . Service providers further contextualised this drop, highlighting that school closures
30
and the limited ability to reach out to individuals at-risk of forced marriage also impacted the
number of forced marriage reports made during the periods where states were most heavily
impacted by COVID-19. For example, one service provider stated that this was an issue:
We haven't got the traditional reporting through the schooling system…particularly being
located in Victoria where schools were closed for quite a long time. We run other
programs in schools and it's where we get referrals inadvertently.
This discussion demonstrates that many of the informal measures and support services
that often identify modern slavery victims were impacted by COVID-19, thus limiting the
number of reports made to the AFP. Accordingly, the drop in reports from April to June 2020
coincides with the period where the most stringent community restrictions were in place across
the entire country and the most intensive diversion of police resources seen in response to
escalating COVID-19 daily case numbers in each state and territory of Australia.
Diversion of Resources, Decline in Support: Identification and Referral of Victims to
Support During COVID-19
In order to further understand the impact of the diversion of police resources on the
identification and support of victims of modern slavery, this article will now analyse data related
Department of Home Affairs, Home Affairs Portfolio Submission.
29
Department of Home Affairs, Home Affairs Portfolio Submission.
30
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
to the number of individuals referred to the official Australian government funded victim support
service, the STPP. Since 2012, the Australian Red Cross has supported an increasingly higher
number of individual victims of modern slavery referred to the STPP from the AFP each
financial year, with this number more than doubling between 2016 and 2020 (as shown in Figure
3).
Comparison of data on the number of reports of suspected instances of modern slavery
made to the AFP, and the number of victims referred by the AFP to the STPP indicate that as the
number of reports made to the AFP have progressively increased during the past 8 years, so too
has the number of people referred into support. This correlation appears to follow the logic that
as the AFP receive more reports of matters, they undertake a higher number of investigations
which results in a higher number of people being identified as victims. However, the number of
referrals to the STPP as a percentage of reports to the AFP over a financial year period has
fluctuated between 22% and 40% from 2012 to 2020.
As this data demonstrates, although reports to the police and referrals to the STPP have
been on an upward trajectory since the 2012-2013 financial year, the percentage of referrals to
the STPP resulting from the number of reports to AFP has remained at a relatively low
percentage, consistently 40% or below, despite the fact that a single report may also involve
multiple individuals. This highlights the central role the police play in shaping official statistics
on modern slavery victimisation in Australia. Such a process of attrition in victim numbers as
they progress through formal government response pathways, as seen in Figure 3, has been
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
39
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
described as the ‘funnelling effect’ of the criminal justice system . The funnelling effect sees a
31
small proportion of the estimated 1,300 modern slavery victims (estimated through conservative
MSE studies) reported to police, and a significantly smaller number of people identified as
victims (40% or below) and referred to government funded support. While attrition is a common
issue in criminal justice systems , it is particularly problematic in modern slavery crimes where
32
the process of providing support to victims is intricately linked with prosecutorial processes. In
Australia, this linkage is evident as a policing agency is the only organisation able to assess and
refer victims to the STPP. This can result in a narrow legislative/prosecutorial focus when
assessing victimhood and consequently referring victims to support. Extended periods of support
for those referred for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation or exit trafficking through the STPP
is also only available to those victims who are willing and able to assist in further investigations
and prosecutions.
This discussion demonstrates that under the current structures, police act as ‘gatekeepers’
to the provision of support to people impacted by modern slavery in Australia. This poses
problems when policing priorities change, which is demonstrated by the impact on police
referrals to the STPP during COVID-19. The quarterly 2020 data measuring AFP referrals to the
STPP corresponds with the drop in reports to the AFP within the three-month period between
April and June 2020, as the same period also recorded the lowest number of referrals to the
STPP. During this time only 6 individuals were identified as victims and referred to the STPP,
compared to 36 individuals in the first quarter of the period from July to September 2019, 25
individuals between October to December 2019 and 20 individuals between January to March
2020. After this drop to only 6 individuals having been referred to the STPP between April to
June 2020, the number of individuals referred increased again to 19 in the July-September 2020
period.
Satyanshu Mukhaerjee et al., The Size of the Crime Problem in Australia, Australian Institute of Criminology
31
(1987).
Kathleen Daly and Bridgitte Bouhours,“Rape and Attrition in the Legal Process: A Comparative Analysis of Five
32
Countries”, Crime and Justice 39 (2010).
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
40
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
However, the most substantial finding comes from comparing the number of reports of
suspected instances of modern slavery made to the AFP with the number of referrals the AFP
made to the support program for the COVID-19 impacted period. Comparison of quarterly
figures from the 2019/20 financial year shows a significant drop in the number of referrals to the
STPP as a percentage of reports to the AFP during the April to June 2020 quarter. During this
period, the number of reports made to the AFP declined to 43 reports from 63 in the previous
quarter, and the number of people identified as victims of modern slavery and referred to the
STPP declined to only 6 individuals, from 20 in the previous quarter, meaning that only 14% of
reports resulted in referrals of individuals to support, compared to the previous quarter where this
was 32%. During the subsequent quarter from July to September 2020 however, the number of
people identified as victims of modern slavery and referred to the STPP was 19, which is a rise
back up to 26% of the 72 reports of suspected instances of modern slavery reported to the AFP.
The significance of the decline in the number of referrals to the STPP as a percentage of reports
to the AFP during April to June 2020 to only 14% is highlighted further when referring back to
Figure 3 which shows that analysis of financial year data from 2012-2020 finds the same
percentage has never dropped below 22% in this period.
This significant drop in the percentage of reports resulting in referrals during April to
June 2020 coincides with the most prominent period of Australia’s COVID-19 national response
during which there was the most widespread restrictions in place across the country. The
pandemic significantly changed the landscape of crime, justice and law enforcement in Australia.
Reflecting this, the Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement established
an inquiry into criminal activity and law enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
41
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
‘the pandemic and related social distancing measures…are likely to have affected the capacity of
law enforcement to combat crime and enforce the law’ . Submissions to this inquiry by key
33
policing bodies across Australia highlighted that the pandemic saw the rise of new types of
crimes such as criminal profiteering (particularly in relation to PPE), fake medical supplies,
fraud of government support initiatives, identity fraud, cyber security, and online child
exploitation , all of which required increased police attention. As the Australian Institution of
34
Policing (AiPol) noted ‘illicit economies have changed, criminal actors have adapted and
policing has been so focused on reacting to the pandemic and the subsequent public emergency,
that there has been little time for policing agencies to analyse and adapt to the new criminal
environment’.
35
The pandemic meant that significant law enforcement attention and resources needed to
be swiftly diverted from normal duties to support not only new criminal activities, but also the
large-scale response to COVID-19. The DHA commented on this in their submission to the
inquiry stating that they ‘redirected resources, shifted priorities and created specialised task
forces to swiftly respond to the changing threat environment’ . For the DHA, this response
36
included activities such as the national coordination of non-health responses to COVID-19,
preparedness planning as a result of social distancing measures, risk and safety measures
associated with managing positive COVID-19 cases within correctional facilities, and supporting
supermarkets and supply chains impacted by panic buying.
The AFP also played an essential role in the national emergency response, launching
“Operation Protect” in March 2020 to help manage safety measures that were put in place to
contain the spread of the virus. This included redeploying 102 staff to COVID-19 related
37
activities including the management of airport and cruise ship arrivals, quarantine of Australians
returning from overseas, protecting remote and vulnerable Indigenous communities, the
enforcement of state border checks, and patrols to monitor adherence to social distancing
measures, public health orders and government instructions . The AFP commented on this in
38
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, “Inquiry into Criminal Activity and Law Enforcement
33
During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Media Release, June 24, 2020, https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/
Committees/Joint/Law_Enforcement/COVID-19/Media_Releases (accessed 26 January 2021).
Australasian Institute of Policing. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement: Inquiry into Criminal
34
Activity and Law Enforcement During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Submission 19.
Australasian Institute of Policing. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Submission.
35
Department of Home Affairs, Home Affairs Portfolio Submission.
36
Australian Federal Police, AFP deploys members to NT to help protect vulnerable communities from COVID-19,
37
April 2 2020, https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-deploys-members-nt-help-protect-vulnerable-
communities-covid-19, (accessed January 15 2021).
Australian Federal Police, Annual Report 2019-2020, https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/PDF/Reports/
38
02112020-afp-annual-report-2019-20.pdf (accessed January 15 2021): 62-63.
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
their submission to the inquiry stating ‘new demands have been placed on police, such as the
requirement to enforce social distancing and quarantining directions’ .
39
An integral part of Australia’s response to COVID-19 has been border closures between
states, with state borders often shutting with minimal notice due to localised outbreaks. In 2020,
this meant constantly shifting priorities for both the AFP and state police and the redirection of
significant operational resources from other core law enforcement activities’ . Policing the
40
borders became a very resource intensive operation . As state and territory police forces
41
allocated considerable resources into policing state borders, enforcing quarantine measures, and
undertaking COVID-19 compliance checks , they required the assistance of the AFP. For
42
example, the AFP was deployed to 14 locations throughout the Northern Territory to implement
biosecurity and border control checkpoints and assist in community policing measures . The
43
AFP also assisted key policing counterparts in Western Australia, South Australia, New South
Wales, Victoria and Queensland . As this highlights, COVID-19 impacted the capacity of law
44
enforcement agencies to respond to the normal crime types as police were ‘consumed with
dealing with public order issues, state border controls, quarantine measures, pandemic outbreaks,
and enforcing COVID-19 restrictions’ .
45
The above challenges help to explain the drop in the number of victims of modern
slavery identified and referred to the STPP by the AFP. The diversion of police and other
government resources during COVID-19 impacted the AFP’s capacity to undertake their vital
function of investigating reports of suspected instances of modern slavery made to them, meeting
with and assessing eligibility of individuals for referral to the STPP. This reduction in capacity
was witnessed by service providers. For example, one interview participant stated:
Initially there was a drop in the referrals to the STPP, which obviously in itself was
somewhat concerning because we're sure that the victims didn't just disappear. It was
probably more to do with the fact that they're not being identified, which is obviously a
concern for us….
Australian Federal Police. Submission by the Australian Federal Police, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law
39
Enforcement: Inquiry into Criminal Activity and Law Enforcement During the COVID-19 Pandemic, (2020) file:///
C:/Users/langlenj/Downloads/Sub04_AFP%20(3).pdf (accessed January 15 2021).
Australasian Institute of Policing, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Submission.
40
Police Federation of Australia, Submission Inquiry into Criminal Activity and Law Enforcement During the
41
COVID-19 Pandemic, Submission 17, (2020), https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/
Law_Enforcement/COVID-19/Submissions (accessed January 15 2021).
Nigel Hunt, ‘Top Detective Appointed to Manage COVID-19 Police Operations,’ The Advertiser, August 7, 2020.
42
Australian Federal Police, Submission by the Australian Federal Police, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law
43
Enforcement.
Australian Federal Police. Submission by the Australian Federal Police, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law
44
Enforcement.
Australasian Institute of Policing. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Submission.
45
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
Another service provider offered observations that further contextualises the decline in the
number of individuals referred to the STPP:
The AFP was just responding to the pandemic needs so their focus was not necessarily on
things like identifying and referring potential people that have faced a situation of
exploitation.
Service providers provided further comment on the reasoning for this reduction:
That it came through a reduction in activities from all preventative measures from
authorities in one way, because they weren't doing as many investigations. Border Force
weren't doing the proactive work, such as going out to agriculture farms and checking in
with their operations and things like that.
As these comments highlight, when policing and other government agencies’ resources were
diverted into COVID-19 responses there was a reduced capacity for reporting suspected
instances of modern slavery, investigating reports and pursuing prosecutions, which meant fewer
victims were identified and referred to the STPP.
The Limiting Effect of the Criminal Justice Response to Modern Slavery Victims
As the above discussion shows, in Australia, as with many other jurisdictions globally,
the Commonwealth Government’s framework for responding to the issue of modern slavery,
including the identification of victims and provision of support services, is closely linked to
criminal justice processes. The positioning of trafficking as an issue of criminal justice, and a
particular focus on sexual exploitation of women and children has meant that responses have
been dominated by crime control models, led by policing agencies . Research from the United
46
States context has found that police are not always well placed to investigate modern slavery
crimes as they typically define human trafficking in a relatively narrow manner and are often
reactionary in their identification of victims .
47
The limiting effect of the linkage of victim support with criminal justice processes, and in
particular of the AFP as the sole referrer to the STPP, has been widely acknowledged both
nationally and internationally including by Ms Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, previous Special Rapporteur on
Trafficking in Persons, who noted the ongoing linkage between criminal processes and access to
Alicia Jurek and William King, “Structural Responses to Gendered Social Problems: Police Agency Adaptations
46
to Human Trafficking.” Police Quarterly 23, no1 (2020): 25-54.
Yvon Dandurand, “Human Trafficking and Police Governance,” 322-336.
47
Journal of Modern Slavery, COVID-19 and MODERN SLAVERY, Volume 6, Issue 2, 2021
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
support services in Australia ‘imposes an additional burden on victims of trafficking’ .
48
Recognising that many victims of modern slavery may be unwilling or unable to approach AFP
officers, the Parliament of Australia has also previously recommended that ‘the Australian
Government extend the ability to refer potential victims to the Support for Trafficked People
Program and the Bridging F visas beyond the Australian Federal Police’ . All service providers
49
interviewed for this research discussed the limiting effect of official victim support measures
relying on police investigations and prosecutorial focused definitions of modern slavery. One
aspect of this is the high threshold of indicators that individuals must meet to be labelled as a
victim of modern slavery crimes and to have their case pursued by the AFP:
The standard of proof to make that criminal code in criminal offenses is very high and it
can be difficult to meet and difficult to prove. It can mean that because it's under the
criminal code, people don't necessarily recognize what a victim looks like or what their
circumstances look like. So, they're not necessarily being recognized as a victim of
modern slavery.
Another service provider noted that linking support to criminal justice processes can leave
victims subject to strategic and practical prosecutorial decisions without access to much needed
ongoing support:
The support program is linked to the criminal justice process…. So, if the AFP decides
that they don't have enough evidence or a victim is not going to be able to provide a
statement or be a witness because of the impacts of what's happened to them it's likely
that they won't pursue the case. And then the person will need to transition out of
support.
In addition to this, and as identified by the Parliament of Australia in their recommendation for
an additional referral pathway to the STPP, stakeholders saw that the linkage of support with the
criminal justice process presents a barrier for many victims to even engage with police in the first
instance.
Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons,
48
especially women and children, Addendum, Mission to Australia, 18 May 2012, A/HRC/20/18/Add. 1: 14.
Parliament of Australia, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Inquiry into
49
establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia. Hidden in Plain Sight Report, December 2017. Par 6.70https://
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/ModernSlavery/
Final_report (accessed April 14 2021).
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
..needing to be assessed by the criminal justice lens is a barrier for engagement for a lot
of people. That’s pretty well recognized as being around fear of authorities and people's
previous experiences with authorities in other countries or just community attitudes or
the fear of shame or stigma from community if they do make reports to authorities.
The Australian Institute of Criminology has identified that fear of authority as a
significant factor in shaping help-seeking behaviour, further evidencing the limiting impact that
50
a reliance on the AFP as the sole referrer to the STPP has on the access of support to victims of
modern slavery.
In Australia, despite the presence of several civil society stakeholders active in the anti-
slavery space, there is limited support for victims of modern slavery who are not part of the
official government funded victim support program. One service provider described victim
support outside the STPP as ‘very fragmented and inadequate’. Another service provider said
that victims that fall outside the official support paradigm ‘really do just fall through the gaps of
the social services system’. During COVID-19, the stakeholders who were providing services to
victims of modern slavery faced many challenging when forced to quickly adapt to the changing
social and economic conditions presented by lockdowns to try to ensure support services for
vulnerable individuals continued. One service provider explained the situation:
…we were literally just putting together a patchwork of services to meet that person's
needs. And it's wholly inadequate. And it really leads to incredibly poor health and
wellbeing outcomes, including…severe mental health decline because of the stress and
not being safe. It puts people back into situations of risk to experience exploitation,
Given the detrimental impact of the pandemic on individuals mental health, at the same
time as trying to meet basic needs with limited physical and financial resources, service
providers described having to extend their support to include increased emotional support for
victims in precarious situations:
[COVID-19] required a lot of additional emotional support from workers just because
there was, of course, the need for covering that emotional gap.
In addition, vulnerable individuals who fell outside of the STPP faced barriers in
accessing basic support from mainstream services, in particular for housing, as a service provider
describes:
Australian Institute of Criminology, The nature and context of forced marriage in Australia and New Zealand.
50
2018, p. 58 and 81.
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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery and
their Access to Support Services in Australia. Chazal. Raby.
really, in those first few months, we escalated into crisis response because people were
just, you know, almost homeless, didn't have any money, no food, couldn't look after their
children. It became very dire.
Housing shortages was a particular issue raised by many service providers who identified
this was linked to a sudden drop in employment for vulnerable individuals.
These discussions highlight the key role that service providers play to support those
individuals affected by modern slavery who are unable to access STPP as the official government
funded victim support program, however also the vulnerability of these services themselves
when under the pressures placed on them by a pandemic. The limiting effect the criminal justice
response to modern slavery victims in Australia has on their identification as victims and their
access to support is therefore clearly visible when analysing the COVID-19 emergency response.
Conclusion
This article has provided the first comprehensive study of the impact of COVID-19 on
the identification of victims of modern slavery and their access to support in Australia. The
difficulties associated with detecting victims of modern slavery in Australia and the numerous
barriers that prevent victims from accessing support services is widely acknowledged . This
51
article found that these underlying issues were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic,
resulting in the under-identification and referral to support of victims of modern slavery. The
positioning of support for modern slavery victims within a law and order framework is a
common feature of global responses to modern slavery. A sole reliance on a single policing
agency to identify victims and refer them to government funded support, however, is not. This
over-reliance on a policing agency meant that when Australia’s large-scale nation-wide
emergency COVID-19 response led to policing and other government resources being diverted
elsewhere, police were under resourced to undertake this vital function. The impact of this is that
victims of modern slavery were either supported by other service providers who faced significant
challenges meeting basic needs due to the pandemic, were unsupported, or remained unidentified
in situations of exploitation.
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