WHAT HAPPENS TO TRAFFICKED WOMEN ONCE THEY’RE PLACED IN DEBT BONDAGE?

Women who are deceived about their role in the sex industry are frequently subjected to significant and systematic violence on arrival in Australia. Multiple rapes and threats of harm to a woman and her family are known as the “breaking in” stage.

This violence serves two functions. Pre-prostitution violence breaks women’s will, and reinforces their powerlessness in the face of the traffickers’ demands. It aims to stop them from escaping, or seeking help by telling their customers about their plight. Secondly, the breaking in stage teaches women how to perform commercial sex, impressing on them that they must ‘satisfy’ their ‘customer’, and mustn’t refuse their customers or the sex they demand, including sex without condoms.

Women who come to Australia knowing they will do prostitution may also be subjected to pre-prostitution violence. Initially, trafficked women are prevented from leaving their residence, quite often the trafficker’s home, a residence guarded by the traffickers or their associates, or are chaperoned. Common misconceptions such as women chained to beds is less likely in Australia.

The next stage in the exploitation of women through prostitution is when the traffickers make a return on their investment. The debt that trafficked women must pay off is generally in terms of ‘dollars’, ‘jobs’ or ‘months’. A debt for a woman may range from $35,000 to $50,000. Typically a woman must work between 500 and 1,000 jobs to pay off her debt. Even then, some traffickers demand women stay on even though the debt is paid.

Women are prostituted for many hours a day, frequently up to six days a week. They may have the odd day off if business is quiet. They may use this ‘free’ day to earn a small amount of money for themselves in the trafficker’s brothel. If they’re allowed to keep some of their earnings, they typically send it back home to parents or their children. Often women aren’t given food or essentials so what little they do earn might also be spent on food, medicine and clothes.

How long does it take a woman to pay off her debt?

Many women pay off their “debt” very quickly, often between two and six months. Traffickers force them to work long hours so that they can maximise their profit as quickly as possible. Once the women accept there is no escape, they just want to pay off the debt as soon as possible. They see no way out of their situation, and are forced to accept the traffickers' conditions.

[How are women trafficked?]