People Trafficking and Child Exploitation: Australia's Aid Program Response

The trafficking of women and children for sexual or labour exploitation is a serious problem confronting many developing countries, particularly those in the Mekong subregion - Cambodia, southwest China, Lao PDR, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.

Australia supports projects in this region that aim to reduce the incidence of women and children trafficked and improve the protection, recovery and reintegration of women and children who have been trafficked.

Preventing the trafficking of women and children involves a range of activities from providing early warnings to potential victims about activities of traffickers through to police apprehending and charging traffickers with criminal offences and successfully prosecuting traffickers.

Australian assistance aims to improve the capabilities of organisations and persons to support trafficking victims, especially women. This includes improved sub-regional and national communication and cooperation, particularly through legal, administrative, policy and advocacy measures.

Current activities

Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project (ARTIP)

Contribution: $21 million
Duration: 2006-2011

The Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons (ARTIP) Project directly contributes to preventing human trafficking in the Asia Region. The purpose of the Project is to promote a more effective and coordinated approach to people trafficking by criminal justice systems of governments in the Asia region. ARTIP began in August 2006.

Initial partner countries include Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Burma with Indonesia expected to join in the first year (subject to formal agreement). The Project will expand to include other ASEAN countries at a rate of no more than one per year.

The three core components of ARTIP are:

strengthened specialist and general law enforcement responses
strengthened judicial and prosecutorial responses
improved policy, legal, research and outreach capacity.

ARTIP builds on the achievements of the recently completed Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking Project (ARCPPT).

IOM Return & Reintegration of Trafficked Women & Children

Contribution: Phase II $665,000
Duration: 2004 -2007

The total project aims to develop sustainable support mechanisms and structures for the identification, return, recovery and integration of victims of trafficking. Support mechanisms will be developed within government and NGO agencies in and between selected countries of the Mekong region ( Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and Lao PDR).

The purpose of the Australian-assisted portion of the project is to strengthen the capacity of government agencies, mass organizations and NGOs in Lao, PDR and Burma to provide recovery, orderly return and integration assistance for trafficked women and children. The project also is strengthening the capacity to cooperate nationally and across borders between sending and receiving countries, on issues related to return and integration of victims of trafficking.

Return and Reintegration of Trafficking Victims from Australia to Thailand (Thai Returnees Project)

Contribution: US$327,000
Duration: 2006- 2008

The goal of this project is to improve the capacity of referral agencies to support and reintegrate suspected victims of trafficking who return from Australia to Thailand. Initially the project will work with Thai agencies and NGOs to improve their ability to receive and care for returning Thais and others. The project will also work to improve their ability to monitor the reintegration of victims and to investigate and prosecute traffickers (who could be Australian or other nationalities).

Project outputs include a common operational framework for government and non-government agencies working on these issues in Thailand. Outputs will also include an information package on services available for victims once they return to Thailand and information brochures available in Bangkok airport.

This project is part of the Australian Government's $20 million initiative against people trafficking announced in October 2003. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will manage the project.

UNICEF's Sixth Country Program for Children (CPC VI) in the Philippines – Children in Need of Special Protection component

Contribution: US$2.3 million
Duration: 2005- 2009

Australia's contribution of A$22.8 million to the overall program is supporting the Government of the Philippines to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child through a national 'Child-Friendly Movement' (CFM). The program helps communities in their effort to provide universal immunisation, pre-natal care, child growth monitoring, education and child protection.

The child protection component focuses on the needs of children in armed conflict areas, and protecting children against trafficking. Partnerships are developed with local government and capacity building is provided for caregivers working with at-risk children to improve professional responses to child protection issues.

Child Wise: Preventing the Sexual Exploitation of Children in ASEAN Tourism Destinations through Community and Professional Education

Contribution: $690,000
Duration: 2004- 2007

The aim of this project is to establish 'Child Wise Tourism' principles in the work of the National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) so that they continue to work regionally in preventing child sex tourism. Regional ownership of the 'Child Wise Tourism' principles and strategies will ensure that action against child sex tourism will continue in a region where child sex tourism is a significant problem. Participating countries include Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Burma.

The Australia-China Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program (HRTC)

HRTC program (to date): $8 million
Duration: 1997 - ongoing
Contribution to anti-trafficking: $453,270

Since 1997, Australia has supported activities under the HRTC to help strengthen the promotion, protection and administration of human rights in China. Between 2002 and 2005 this included a series of training activities and workshops for officials and community-level workers on practical methods to combat trafficking of women and children, focused in the provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan. Among the activities supported was a regional anti-trafficking workshop involving officials from Vietnam and Thailand.

The HRTC has also supported many other activities in the legal reform and justice sector and women’s rights. Issues addressed have included penitentiary reform (including reform in juvenile justice), training on criminal procedures and a series of workshops on domestic violence.

South Asia Governance Fund

Contribution to trafficking-related activities: $284,428
Duration: 2006-07

Under this Fund, support has been provided for 3 stages in an IOM-implemented program in Bangladesh. This stage expands on earlier immigration training and sets up an investigative unit within Special Branch (Immigration). It establishes a document examination centre and develops operational guidelines to promote immigration clearance and control. The expected outcomes are future institutionalisation of the Bangladesh immigration system; strengthened capacity of Special Branch (Immigration) and identification of irregular migration.

Completed activities

Media releases:

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April 2007