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The latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery reveal that 50 million people are living in modern slavery. Of this group, 28 million are in forced labour and 22 million are trapped in forced marriage.

Of great concern is that 12.5 million children are living in modern slavery, representing 25% of total numbers.

These devastating numbers represent a significant increase of 25% or 10 million people since the last estimates, 5 years ago. Modern slavery is found in every region of the world.

The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery are produced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Walk Free and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

According to the ILO,

Forced Labour

• 86% of cases of forced labour are found in the private sector
• 23% of cases are forced commercial sexual exploitation where almost 4 out of 5 are women and girls.
• 63% were in other forms of commercial exploitation
• One in 8 of all people in forced labour are children, and more than half are in commercial sexual exploitation
• Migrant workers are more than three times likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant workers, indicating their vulnerability as a result of irregular or poorly governed migration, unfair and unethical recruitment practices.

Forced Marriage

• 22 million people were living in forced marriage, an increase of 6.6 million since 2016.
• The true incidence of forced marriage is likely to be much greater.

ILO Director- General Guy Ryder said:“It is shocking that the situation of modern slavery is not improving. Nothing can justify the persistence of this fundamental abuse of human rights. We know what needs to be done, and we know it can be done. Effective national policies and regulation are fundamental. But governments cannot do this alone. International standards provide a sound basis, and an all-hands-on-deck approach is needed. Trade unions, employers’ organizations, civil society and ordinary people all have critical roles to play.”

Causal factors: Compounding crises

According to the Executive Summary of the report,

“The COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change have led to unprecedented disruption to employment and education, increases in extreme poverty and forced and unsafe migration, and an upsurge in reports of gender-based violence. Together, these serve to heighten the risk of all forms of modern slavery. It is those who are already in situations of greatest vulnerability, including the poor and socially excluded, workers in the informal economy, irregular or otherwise un- protected migrant workers, and people subject to discrimination, who are most affected.”

The report proposes the following recommendations that would make a significant impact on ending modern slavery:

• Improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections;
• ending state-imposed forced labour;
• stronger measures to combat forced labour and trafficking in business and supply chains;
• extending social protection, and strengthening legal protections, including raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exception.
• addressing the increased risk of trafficking and forced labour for migrant workers,
• promoting fair and ethical recruitment,
• greater support for women, girls and vulnerable individuals.

The report can be downloaded from this page.

The report in response to the NSW Committee on Community Services inquiry to improve access to existing and alternate accommodation to address the housing shortfall in NSW was released on 18 August 2022.

There are currently 50,000 applicants on the social housing wait list in NSW as a result of a chronic shortage of social and affordable housing.

The inquiry made a number of recommendations including:

1. The NSW Government should continue to increase investment in the provision and maintenance of public and social housing to address the critical shortage of housing options for those who are eligible for it.
2. That the Department of Planning and Environment co-designs with housing and homelessness experts, a framework for meanwhile use that covers suitability of the property, support services for tenants, minimum timeframes, types of buildings, conversion costs and factors, and local community consultation.
3. That the Department of Planning and Environment provides grants to local councils and housing providers for innovative housing programs, such as home sharing and tiny homes while longer term solutions are developed.
4. That the Department of Planning and Environment works with local councils and community housing providers to reduce barriers to the provision of meanwhile use, social and affordable housing.
5. That the Department of Planning and Environment consults with local councils on ways to speed up the planning approval process for meanwhile use.
6. That the Department of Planning and Environment works with community housing providers and local councils to address policy barriers that hinder the use of government land for social and affordable housing.
7. That the Department of Planning and Environment reviews data on vacant private dwellings and considers reforms to maximise the use of unoccupied dwellings.

The Mercy Foundation’s submission cautioned the Committee about the use of stop-gap, short term and transitional forms of housing, especially for older women who require secure, permanent, affordable and appropriate housing to age in place well and remain in their community. People experiencing chronic homelessness require permanent housing and access to services so that they can lay down roots, look to the future and address any challenges they may face. Families need an affordable, appropriate and secure home to thrive.

The Committee’s report can be downloaded here.

The Mercy Foundation’s submission can be read here.

A Grant to End Homelessness was awarded to QShelter and Zonta to provide a better understanding of home ownership options for older women on low incomes, who are at risk of homelessness. The report included a deep dive into shared equity schemes along with research with 166 women to learn more about their current financial status to better understand their ability to repay a loan.

The report included financial modelling of a number of scenarios for women at different ages, income levels, available savings for deposits, various mortgage terms and property values.

The results showed that a shared equity scheme may be suitable for:

• single women aged 45 – 55 years
• earning $55,000 – $80,000
• property price: $300,000
• equity share: 50%
• maintenance costs per fortnight: $200
• mortgage term: 15 years
• deposit available: up to $30,000

Modelling showed that shared equity would be affordable for this cohort of women in terms of housing cost (less than 30% of income) and cost of living benchmarks (less than 80% of gross income).

QShelter has shared the research with the private sector, financial sector and community sector representatives to investigate alternative ways to finance housing, including shared equity for older women.

QShelter plans to continue running workshops and making presentations to State and Federal Government and other key stakeholders with a view to piloting a scheme in the near future.

The report can be downloaded here: Shared Equity Schemes for Older Women in Queensland – Gold Star Project

The Give Me Shelter report by Housing All Australians in partnership with SGS Economics provides an economic analysis of the long term costs to Australia if we do not provide sufficient housing for everyone.

The study shows that the lack of investment in housing has led to a decrease in social housing from 6% to 4% of housing stock. That’s an actual decrease of 33%.

The report estimates that the failure to act on shelter needs will cost the community $25 billion per year by 2051. The economic return is stated as ‘every $1 the Australian community invests in social and affordable housing will deliver $2 in benefits.’

The report makes the case for investing in social and affordable housing as offering strong economic and social returns. And it’s the right thing to do.

Read about the report and download it here.

The USA’s Trafficking in Persons report for 2022 was recently released. The annual report includes topics of special interest, such as forced labour and clean energy transition and the climate crisis and its impact on trafficking. The report ranks each country by tier, with tier 1 being the highest and 3 the lowest. The tier is determined by their government’s efforts to combat trafficking. The report provides a narrative for each country with recommendations.

Australia is given a tier 1 ranking and the report offers a number of recommendations, including:

• increase efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups
• further de-link the provision of service from participation in the criminal justice process
• continue efforts to train police, immigration officials and other front line officers,
• increase efforts to investigate and hold accountable foreign diplomats posted in Australia suspected of complicity in trafficking
• establish a national compensation scheme for trafficking victims.

Read the report here.

A report from Monash University to inform the next National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 was released on 14 July. The report places housing at the forefront of the next National Plan, requiring significant investment in social housing and affordable housing that is tailored to the meet the needs of the family or individuals impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence.

Housing is viewed by stakeholders as the foundation to healing and recovery from domestic and family violence.

The key findings on desired outcomes for housing are:

• Housing must be at the forefront of the next National Plan.
• The Commonwealth Government should undertake a national review to determine the level of demand, supply and cohorts’ needs for a fully funded safe housing system.
• The next National Plan should commit to delivering a significant investment into social housing for individuals impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence. This must include investment in long-term housing (covering at least a two-to-three-year period).
• There is a need to deliver specialised and inclusive housing options, including for First Nations populations, LGBTQIA+ communities, and for individuals from migrant backgrounds
• The Safe at Home program should be expanded, and evaluations embedded to determine effectiveness to enhance women’s safety and economic recovery from COVID-19.
• Housing options for perpetrators removed from the home should be expanded to increase feasibility and safety of women and children remaining in the home.

Domestic and family violence is a key driver of women’s homelessness. Many stakeholders voiced concern that there was no section on housing in the previous National Plan and the desire for housing to be a key area of focus in the next National Plan.

The National Plan Consultation Reports are accessible here.

On July 6, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, issued a landmark judgment on diplomatic immunity and human trafficking, in the case of Basfar v Wong [2022] UKSC 20. The judgment of the Court, delivered by a majority of 3-2, limits diplomatic immunity in cases involving human trafficking, servitude or other forms of modern slavery.

The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Siobhan Mullaly, noted that  “This is a hugely important judgment, and is likely to influence state practice and international law developments on diplomatic immunities and the protection of migrant domestic workers world-wide. Until now, the dominant interpretation of international law tilted the balance of power in favour of a serving diplomat, even in the face of egregious human rights violations. This has now changed.”

Read the full statement here

Read more about domestic servitude in Australia here

Domestic Violence is a key driver of homelessness for women, with many women forced to live in poverty when they leave a violent relationship. A new report by Anne Summers AO PhD, A report into domestic violence and its consequences in Australia today, provides disturbing information about the untenable choices women face in a violent relationship: Stay in a violent relationship or leave and live in poverty.

In 2016,

• 275,000 Australian women had suffered physical and/or sexual violence from a current partner.  90,000 women wanted to leave, however they felt unable to do so, with a quarter of them saying the main reason was lack of money or financial support.
• A further 82,000 temporarily separated but returned again. Fifteen per cent of them said that  they had no money or nowhere to go.
• An estimated 185,700 women who had experienced violence by a previous partner were living as single mothers with children under 18 years of age.
  • 75% left behind property or assets
  • 60% were working, however their earnings were insufficient to support themselves and their children and they experienced considerable financial stress
  • 50% relied on government benefits as their main source of income
• Single mothers relying on the Parenting Payment are forced to go onto JobSeeker when their youngest child turns 8. JobSeeker is the second lowest unemployment benefit in the OECD, after Greece.

In the recommendations, Anne argues that

• the Parenting Payment must be available to all single parents until their child is 16 years or leaves high school
• the Parenting Payment must be raised to match the age pension rate (currently 66% of the pension)

“Government policy, through the current National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010–2022,8 is ostensibly to encourage and support women to leave violent relationships. But government policy, through payments policy and other welfare measures, ensures that as many as half the women who choose to leave will end up in poverty. These two arms of government policy are in direct conflict with each other when it comes to tackling domestic violence. The government may not be able to immediately stop domestic violence, but it could stop poverty. It chooses not to.”

The full report can be accessed here.

Summers, A. (2022). The Choice: Violence or Poverty. University of Technology Sydney. https://doi.org/10.26195/3s1r-4977)

A recently released Working Paper by Professor Hal Pawson and David Lilley from UNSW City Futures Research Centre, Managing Access to Social Housing in Australia: Unpacking policy frameworks and service provision outcomes, highlights some sobering statistics and information about social housing in Australia. A few points from the Executive Summary:

• In 2020-2021, less than 30,000 applicants were granted a social housing tenancy in Australia, compared to 52,000 in 1991.
• The national population is now 41% higher than in 1996, yet social housing has expanded by 3% over that period.
• From 2018 – 2021, social housing wait list numbered grew by 16% to 164,000 households, and the annual number of greatest-need applications grew by 48%
• The large cohort of applicants newly registering for social housing each year is accompanied by substantial numbers exiting lists without being allocated a social housing tenancy.
• Some states have not changed income limits for social housing, effectively tightening the eligibility criteria over time.
• Between the states there significant variations in waiting list eligibility.

To find out more about the policies and quantitative data associated with the management of social housing in Australia, the Working Paper can be downloaded here.

An article about the report in The Conversation can be read here.

Our June update provides information about our work with the UN, recent grant recipients for both the Social Justice Small Grants program and the Grants to End Homelessness program, and a good news from recently funded projects. Read the update here.