| Australia's international reputation has
| |
| | within and across their borders," said
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| taken a hit in a new United Nations
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| | the executive director of the UN's Office
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| report on the illegal global trade in
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| | on Drugs and Crime, Maria Costa said in a
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| humans.
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| | statement.
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| The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime's
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| | "Efforts to counter trafficking have so
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| report on human trafficking put Australia
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| | far been uncoordinated and inefficient.
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| in the second highest category of
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| | The lack of systematic reporting by
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| destination countries in the global
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| | authorities is a real problem.
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| trade.
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| | Governments need to try harder.
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| Ten countries were ranked as "very high"
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| | "Traffickers capitalize on weak law
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| destinations. Australia was one of the 19
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| | enforcement and poor international
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| countries ranked as "high" in the index
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| | cooperation. The low rate of convictions
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| of destinations that ranged from "very
| |
| | for the perpetrators of human trafficking
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| high" to "very low".
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| | is a matter of serious concern which
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| Australia had the highest ranking in the
| |
| | needs to be addressed.
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| Oceanic region, which also includes New
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| | "Protecting the victims may sound
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| Zealand and Fiji.
| |
| | obvious, but in practice they are all too
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| The report, Trafficking In Persons:
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| | often treated as criminals who may face
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| Global Patterns, was released yesterday.
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| | charges for violating immigration or
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| It said that most of the people smuggled
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| | anti-prostitution laws. "
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| into Australia were young women from
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| | The report says that organised criminal
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| Thailand and the Philippines.
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| | gangs behind human trafficking are often
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| The majority were destined to work in the
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| | multi-national in their membership and
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| sex industry in Australia.
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| | operations.
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| Other countries of origin were Vietnam,
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| | "Governments need to get serious about
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| Malaysia and the Democratic People's
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| | identifying the full extent of the
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| Republic of China.
| |
| | problem so they can get serious about
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| The report said the best way to tackle
| |
| | eliminating it," Costa said. "The fact
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| the global trade in humans was to
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| | that this form of slavery still exists in
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| diminish demand in destination countries
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| | the twenty-first century shames us all."
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| through better law enforcement.
| |
| | The countries named as "very high"
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| But it criticised destination countries
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| | destinations for people traffickers were
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| for failing to acknowledge that they were
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| | Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy,
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| a vital part of the illegal global trade.
| |
| | Japan, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and
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| "Our experience in compiling this report
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| | the USA.
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| has been that some countries of
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| | Countries ranked "high" alongside
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| destination have great difficulty in
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| | Australia included Canada, Cambodia,
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| acknowledging the level of trafficking
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| | India, Pakistan, Poland and Saudi Arabia.
|
