While Australia has strong legal protections including criminal sanctions for forced labour and servitude, a Pacific mobility scheme raised the eyebrows of a United Nations special rapporteur.
UN special rapporteur on slavery Tomoya Obokata found people in the Pacific Australia Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme and those on working holiday, student or temporary skill shortage visas faced exploitation.
The scheme and visas primarily cover the agriculture, horticulture, food processing, hospitality, cleaning and aged care sectors.
UN special rapporteur on slavery Tomoya Obokata has recommended reforms to protect workers. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
There was credible information workers experienced underpayments, excessive wage deductions, unreasonable requirements, racial discrimination, dangerous working conditions, harassment and sexual and gender-based violence, he said.
"The problem here is that they are attached to a particular employer and they cannot escape," he said of the scheme's workers.
The federal government has implemented several reforms to protect workers in the scheme from exploitation, including a minimum hours measure to stop them from going into debt to minimise the risk of exploitation.
It's reviewing the minimum hour threshold, accommodation standards and allowing workers to jump across jobs, as they're locked into a single employer unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Mr Obokata recommended the latter to decrease the risk of exploitation due to a power imbalance and a lack of options for Pacific workers to leave abusive environments "without the fear of being deported".
He also examined Indigenous people experiencing intergenerational trauma stemming from centuries of forced labour and domestic and sexual servitude.
"In addition, gender-based and other forms of violence, disappearance and murder of women and children continue to occur to this day and this increases the risk of exploitation and abuse," he said.
Mr Obokata recommended an Indigenous and survivor-led national truth and reconciliation body so people can tell their stories and boost efforts to address the negative legacies of colonialism.
Forced marriage is one of the most reported contemporary forms of slavery in Australia, with young women predominantly affected, and the vast majority younger than 18.
There are instances of "exit trafficking" where victims are forced or deceived into leaving the country and marrying people overseas, and once trapped, those in forced marriages often face sexual exploitation, servitude and domestic violence.
The special rapporteur recommended increasing the age of marriage to 18 with no exceptions in Australia to mitigate the risk of forced marriage.
Asylum seekers and refugees are also vulnerable to abuse as they don't have working rights or access to Medicare, forcing them to work illegally and face criminal and sexual exploitation.
To mitigate the risk of slavery and abuse across Australia, he recommended giving victims access to effective assistance and compensation as well as putting in place a legal obligation for large businesses to undertake due diligence.
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