Help-seeking strategies of victim/survivors of human trafficking involving partner migration

There is a diversity of experiences among victim/survivors of human trafficking across all aspects of the trafficking process. Recognising and responding to this diversity, and the challenges involved, is important in understanding human trafficking and the development of legal and policy initiatives to address it (Flynn, Alston & Marson 2012). While research is increasingly focused on the nature of, and responses to, human trafficking involving men and women exploited for labour purposes, including in the sex work industry (eg see Burn et al. 2011; Cullen & McSherry 2009; David 2010, 2008; Schloenhardt, Beirne & Corsbie 2009), to date, little has been documented about the help-seeking strategies of victim/survivors of human trafficking generally and victim/survivors of human trafficking involving partner migration specifically. This is largely because of the clandestine nature of human trafficking generally and the particularly hidden nature of exploitation that occurs in domestic settings (Lyneham & Richards forthcoming). However, the concern for human trafficking into domestic settings has received growing attention, with the Australian Government introducing criminal offences for forced marriage, as well as strengthening Australia's laws against domestic servitude and servile marriage in February 2012 (see Crimes Legislation Amendment (Slavery, Slavery-Like Conditions and People Trafficking) Act 2013). Human trafficking is defined by the Protocol to Prevent, Supress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (the Trafficking Protocol) and involves the recruitment or transportation of a person by means of deceit, force or coercion for the purpose of exploitation (see United Nations 2000 for full definition). Human trafficking is similarly defined under Australian legislation (Division 271 Criminal Code 1995).