What does modern slavery look like? It’s not always what you think.

What does modern slavery look like? It’s not always what you think.

01 Sep 2023

CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault, and may be distressing to some readers. 

When Sarah first heard the term ‘debt bondage’, she didn’t know what it meant, let alone that she herself was a victim of it. It was a conversation that changed her world. She knew she desperately needed to leave her current situation, but didn’t recognise herself as a victim of human trafficking, and had no idea of where to go or how to get help. 

At just 21 years of age and having just completed a nursing degree, Sarah left the extreme religious cult she was raised in. It blew her family unit apart, and she also lost the only social connections and community she had ever known. 

Isolated and alone, a young and vulnerable Sarah fell in to a complicated relationship with a man who was physically, emotionally, psychologically and financially abusive. Her life began to crumble - she stopped nursing and became even more isolated. 

Sarah found the courage to leave that relationship, but was left with a large financial debt, working as an exotic dancer to help relieve the financial burden she faced. But Sarah’s past trauma and experiences had left her vulnerable to exploitation, and it was in this setting she was introduced to a man who promised to help her. 

“When I first met this guy – it was a very classic grooming process. I was told this person would solve all my problems, I’d be set up financially, I could leave whenever I want, I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do. He said all the right things.

Through a deceptive recruitment and grooming process, Sarah agreed to relocate interstate to work for this man in Sydney, lured by the promise of the freedom money would bring, flexible work on her own terms, and being part of a community of women. The reality however, was very different.

 "In the world he created for us, we became increasingly isolated and we were told we had to keep everything a secret, he made us feel like we’d get into trouble if we told anyone”. 

Soon Sarah’s perpetrator was controlling every aspect of her life and as the relationship intensified, she began to realise she was trapped. She was being sent interstate and overseas for the purposes of sex work, and she was being forced to provide services she did not consent to. 

Essentially, Sarah found herself repeatedly sexually assaulted for the profit of another person. 

Watching other girls try to leave, and being heavily penalised financially, emotionally and physically, to the point where they felt it was safer to stay, Sarah knew she had get out but didn’t know how. 

“I was really scared. He was physically violent when he was angry and I was like ‘I don’t know how to do this’. None of us had anywhere to go. None of us had another form of income, how could we leave”?

Eventually, Sarah was told she could leave if she paid an exorbitant amount of money, but she also knew he was going to make it as difficult as possible for her.

Secretly contacting a lawyer for advice, she was introduced to the concept of debt bondage for the first time, and it was also during this conversation that she understood that she was a victim of human trafficking. Like many, she associated trafficked people with migrants, perhaps with visa issues or withheld passports, kept out of site and made to work for little to no money and in very poor conditions.  But that didn’t describe her situation at all. 

Even though sex work is legal in NSW, Sarah was still afraid that the authorities would not be able to help her. She didn’t realise that her perpetrator was breaking the law by making a living off the sex work of another person(s), and by compelling people to do sex work under conditions of duress and force (Sexual servitude).

Had she known what this looked like and what her rights were, Sarah might have been able to leave sooner. In 2020, the operation was disbanded and Sarah and her colleagues were free, but the ordeal is far from over.

Sarah was able to fall back on her nursing career, joining St Vincent’s emergency nursing team where she worked for two years while trying to make sense of what had happened to her. Simultaneously she began the criminal justice process which remains ongoing. 

Despite her own trauma, the thought of other people going through similar experiences became too much and Sarah says she got to a point where she needed to speak out publicly. 

“I can’t change what happened to me – I’m never going to be able to undo that – but I can change it for someone else – and that’s really important to me”. 

She founded a survivor support group called Survivor Connections – a safe space for survivors of modern slavery, trafficking and related exploitation to connect with others, and has been working in the public advocacy space since 2022. She was appointed Lived Experience Advisor to the Office of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner in early 2023. 

“I talk about my situation because it doesn’t necessarily fit the stereotypes people think of around these issues. What are the vulnerabilities? Financial desperation and social isolation are the two key things and it doesn’t matter if you’re a migrant worker who’s socially isolated and financially desperate for a variety of reasons, whether you’re someone who’s just come out of an abusive relationship and are vulnerable for those reasons or whether you’ve had a family breakdown and someone has groomed you on Tinder - there is a whole variety of ways that this happens and we need to start to understand it differently”.

Research suggests that the vast majority of people in situations of modern slavery intersect with healthcare services during their time of exploitation, presenting a crucial opportunity for intervention. As a woman with Lived Experience and as a nurse, Sarah is now working to support the development of public health education about this issue, to help people identify earlier, and ultimately to support them to safely leave their situation. She’s also determined to remove the shame that a lot of victims associate with, often believing it’s their fault, and she’s committed to empowering people to address this challenging topic in a meaningful way.

“One of the reasons advocacy hasn’t happened in this space is because people don’t want to re-traumatise the survivors, but then this other thing happens and it’s almost like you’re muted. Where this really big thing has happened to you and everyone is silencing you on it. Like the perpetrator silenced us, he didn’t let us talk to anyone about what was happening – he 100% thought we would never be strong enough to speak about this. 

This kind of abuse lives in silence and darkness, because the minute people start speaking out that’s when it loses its power because these people are held to account on some level.

For me, part of it, is reclaiming my voice now and having a say about these things and saying no, this did happen”.

Sarah is working with St Vincent’s Health Australia’s Anti-Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking to help inform training for our staff. She is a member of the pilot Survivor Advisory Council to the Federal government on matters of human trafficking and modern slavery and a Lived Experience Advisor to the NSW Office of the Anti-slavery Commissioner.

If this story has raised any issues for you, please call:

• 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Access EAP Healthcare Employee Hotline: 1800 571 199