Flying With Eyes Wide Open
Fuzz Kitto
Fuzz Kitto is co-Director of Be Slavery Free, a coalition of organisations seeking to end modern slavery through engagement with business, government and consumers. He believes we can only end slavery when we work together.
Some of us are starting to travel again. If you are, then learn to see what may be happening.
Professor Mark Hutchinson is Professor of Medicine at Adelaide University. Before covid he was flying from Italy to London City Airport. When boarding the plane, he noticed an elderly woman with a young man, perhaps her son. On arrival, he was lined up to go through Passport Control and the elderly lady was in front of him, but the young man was not to be seen. As they approached the booth the women suddenly kneeled. Mark thought “What is going on here?”
It turned out that her passport was destroyed mid-flight. It is a practise used to try and get asylum for victims by human traffickers. One of the security guards asked, “Do you know who this woman is?” And Mark said, “No, but I think she was traveling with someone else. And they're not here. So, I wonder if they're at the baggage claim.” When he went through to baggage claim he noticed the security people were arresting the younger man.
Upon arrival at his hotel the staff said that Scotland Yard had rung ahead and he needed to be interviewed by them before he could check in. His hotel was on the arrival card he had filled out so they knew where he was staying. By speaking up about what he had observed, he helped Scotland Yard police piece together what has been a practice of human traffickers shepherd a victim through the process, disappearing and leaving the victim to claim asylum while they loop around and do it again with another victim.
Because of Mark spoke up about what he had observed - Scotland Yard was able to apprehend the young man quickly, in what was surely a human trafficking case and part of a well-organised criminal network.
With travel back on the agenda, the Australian Federal Police put out a media release regarding the rise of human trafficking in airports. In Australia there's risk of people (usually young women) taken overseas for a forced marriage, tricked into coming to Australia and forced into servitude or be promised to have their visa sponsored through the offer of a good job but in reality are forced to work in theatening conditions for low wages.
Significant signs of trafficking that you might see in airports include:
reluctance to travel
movement is controlled by others
no or very limited access to their legal documents
Be alert, and call the Australian Federal Police Human Trafficking Team on 131 AFP (131 237) if you see anything suspicious in Australia or contact security if it happens overseas.