The first obstacle to counter the crime is the inability of all concerned in the anti-trafficking community to come together and create a comprehensive, truly multi-sector strategy that works towards reducing human trafficking. There is a certain lack of recognition amongst police personnel about their role in combating the crime.

Much could be achieved to counter trafficking if the police sought to be more community focused, rather than act simply as an arm of an often unsympathetic government. Anti-trafficking efforts would be greatly aided by a shift in policing culture and approach by promoting closer links between the police and at-risk communities.

Police have to grasp the economic dynamics of the trade so that effective interventions can be made in the trafficking chain. Three simple characteristics define a successful trafficker -one who stays out of the gaol, stays alive, and stays profitable. Much money and time has been spent against trafficking, and yet the international community often decries its lack of impact on the trade. This lack is largely due to the limited range of interventions and the failure to employ criminal intelligence methods to determine the same. Very often the actual act is identified at the end of the trafficking sequence. At best, victims are passed off as illegal migrants or asylum seekers. The continued deprivation of the victim's liberty is tantamount to the state authorities sanctioning the act.

Human trafficking as generally perceived in the eyes of the public and law enforcement is a lesser crime than say homicide. In numerous cultural contexts specifically in the Commonwealth, the concept of human servitude is accepted, particularly in the case of women and children. The extent to which the trade in humans is facilitated by social acceptance, or at least a lack of social opposition, varies in degree and nature from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but plays an important role in inhibiting enforcement in many countries.

Government, international organisations and academia, continue to debate on basic concepts of trafficking despite international conventions such as Transnational Organised Crime Convention and its Trafficking Protocol having offered internationally agreed definitions of the crime. If a police officer fails to comprehend human trafficking on a basic conceptual level, then investigating it on the ground level becomes almost impossible.

There is a distinct lack of access and knowledge about laws governing human trafficking. This problem is one that can be addressed by, for example targeted media campaigns, workshops for at-risk people, and telephone hotlines designed to provide assistance to possible victims of trafficking.

Tight migration controls, especially over labour movements, serve to frustrate the trafficking sequence often leading to traffickers in adopting desperate measures for the 'smuggling' phase of their operation and taking greater risks in concealing the crime. With a human cargo, this can often prove to be fatal. There has to be change at policy level for the police to be able to deal effectively with human trafficking. Most of the Commonwealth legal systems require that for violations against persons to be recorded, as opposed to states, there must be a tangible human victim who is the complainant. In the absence of such a complaint, the police are not empowered to act. In case of trafficking, victims are generally reticent to file a complaint or are deemed as unfit witnesses and thus not competent complainants.

Human trafficking is not just any illegal trade being carried out across borders but concerns real people whose basic right to live is under constant threat. An attempt to combat it effectively can be made if only a more humane approach is adopted by the police who are tasked with protecting every person's dignity and rights.

Brian Iselin
Former Sr. Liaison Officer
Australia Federal Police