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In 2006 in the Victorian County Court Wei Tang, a
Victorian woman, was found guilty of possessing and using a slave
and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment with a non-parole period
of 6 years. Wei Tang appealed this decision to the Victorian
Court of Appeal which found that the trial judge had misdirected
the jury on some points. The case was scheduled for a retrial,
but in the meantime the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
sought leave to appeal the Victorian Court of Appeal decision
to the High Court of Australia.
On 13 and 24 May 2008 there was a full High Court hearing: a process of testing
the arguments and submission about the meaning of the slavery offences in the
Criminal Code.
The transcripts from the High Court hearing are
available:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/HCATrans/2008/180.html
The Queen v Tang
The case was also the subject of the Law Report on the morning
of 13 May:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2008/2241462.htm#transcript
There has been a lot of uncertainty about the meaning of the slavery
provisions in the Criminal Code and it will be very important to
get some interpretation from the High Court about what 'ownership'
of a slave means. The decision is pending.
The process included arguments presented by the Office of the
Director of Pubic Prosecutions, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, the Solicitor General for the Commonwealth, and Wei
Tang's lawyers to supplement the written submissions already given
to the Court. There were many observers at the Court
including the Australian Institute of Criminology, Director of
Public Prosecutions, Attorney General’s Department, Law Students,
Anti-Slavery Project, Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking
of Humans, Scarlet Alliance, and Project Respect.
The issue was the definition of the condition of slavery in the
Criminal Code being
'any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are
exercised, including where such a condition results from a debt
or contract made by the person.'
270.2 Slavery is
unlawful
Slavery
remains unlawful and its abolition is maintained, despite the repeal by the Criminal
Code Amendment (Slavery and Sexual Servitude) Act 1999 of Imperial Acts
relating to slavery.
270.3 Slavery
offences
(1) A
person who, whether within or outside Australia, intentionally:
(a) possesses
a slave or exercises over a slave any of the other powers attaching to the
right of ownership; or
(b) engages
in slave trading; or
(c) enters
into any commercial transaction involving a slave; or
(d) exercises
control or direction over, or provides finance for:
(i) any
act of slave trading; or
(ii) any
commercial transaction involving a slave; is guilty of an offence.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 25 years.
On Tuesday, 27 May 2008, Anti-Slavery
Project (ASP) hosted a very successful Court Room Observer Training
Session.
This was opened by Professor Jill McKeough (Dean of the Faculty
of Law UTS) who, in her inspiring words of welcome to the participants,
affirmed the high regard of UTS for the work of the Anti-Slavery
Project, and assured everyone of the teaching and practical expertise
of Robyn Pettit of the Faculty of Law UTS who was to give input
on Court Protocol.
Mary Mooney outlined the history of her
involvement with ASP especially as Coordinator of the Volunteer
Court Observers. In this, she shared some personal experiences
of attending Courts involving trafficking cases, and issued an
invitation to participants to join the Roster. To this end, she
drew people’s attention to the prepared
brochure and application form.
After Robyn’s practical and valuable input, Jennifer Burn
added to the information-sharing by distributing reference material
including media reports about both a Sydney case (of which the
sentence will be brought down in July-August) and the Melbourne
case that was recently heard in the High Court. The latter led
to discussion about the matter of this Case, viz. ‘What constitutes
slavery in Australia?’ To focus on this, Jennifer had included
papers outlining the relevant sections of the Criminal Code and
the transcript of the submission made to the High Court by the
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
On the morning of 3 June 2008 a group assembled
for a general information session re trafficking, slavery, human
bondage and related issues.
Jennifer Burn had prepared a Power Point which presented an overview
of the issues and some of the ways they are being addressed by
the UN, Governments and NGOs. In their folders, participants had
a copy of the Power Point slides and complementary documents: Definitions
(of slavery, trafficking, people smuggling, debt bondage, and forced
labour), UN Documents (Millennium Goals, and Recommended Principles
and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking), Australian
Responses (Australian Government’s 2004 Action Plan to Eradicate
Trafficking in Persons, Jennifer’s 2008 submission of the
15 recommendations to better protect victims of human trafficking,
and a Fact Sheet re Government Support for Victims of People Trafficking),
and some specific information about the Anti-Slavery Project (brochure,
Forum Notice and Advance Notice re Kevin Bales’ public lecture).
In her inimitable way Jennifer led the session with great expertise,
beginning by referring to each document in the folders, and then
concentrating on the slides in the Power Point. Because of the
small size of the group it was easy to have interaction, so there
was much quite spirited comment and discussion.
On Wednesday, 12 March 2008, Liberal Senator
ELLISON (Western Australia) drew the Senate’s attention to
the Vienna Forum and its implications for Australian initiatives
against human trafficking.
That the Senate—
(a) notes that at the first ever global forum to fight the crime
of human trafficking, the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking
was held from 13 February to 15 February 2008 and convened by
the United Nations (UN) Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking,
an initiative launched by UN Office on Drugs and Crime and several
UN partners in 2007; and
(b) urges the new Government to continue the initiatives of the
previous Government to combat human trafficking:
(i) by ensuring that Australian agencies are properly funded in
the upcoming budget to fight human trafficking and continues to
be a world leader in this important area,
(ii) developing initiatives with regional partners to address this
important issue, and
(iii) requiring the new Government to report to the Senate on the
measures it will take to ensure that Australia is at the forefront
of combating human trafficking.
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