THE reality of human trafficking in Australia has been highlighted by the inclusion of a Brisbane nun on a new international network to deal with the problem.
And in a trafficking-related incident close to home, a north Queensland couple last week were the first in the state to be jailed on slavery charges.
Co-ordinator of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Working Against Human Trafficking Sr Pauline Coll was among 33 women religious from 26 nations who came together to launch the International Network of Religious Against Trafficking in Persons (INRATIP).
The group met in Rome in October, to launch the organisation, believed to be the first ever international, inter-congregational religious network against trafficking in persons.
Sr Coll, who works out of the Good Samaritan Foundation office in Brisbane, said she had been selected as INRATIP’s Asia/Pacific regional representative.
She said there were an estimated 1000 women being trafficked for sexual or labour exploitation in Australia.
“As far as we know INRATIP is the first network of its kind to issue a statement that directly addresses traffickers themselves,” Sr Coll said.
Five women, including Sr Coll, are on a steering committee to work on the further establishment of the network.
Representatives are from both eastern and western Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Sr Coll said the development of INRATIP was particularly relevant following Queensland’s first convictions for slavery offences.
A 59-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife were sentenced to combined jail terms of 12 years in Townsville’s Supreme Court on December 6.
