Police had 19 ongoing investigations into human trafficking last year and began 31 more. Photo: 123RF
An anti-trafficking expert says the idea that only 31 people are trafficked each year in New Zealand is very unlikely, given that an estimate puts modern slavery here at 8000 victims.
The minister in charge of the fight against organised crime says stronger action is needed to bolster the country's response to trafficking.
Police said they had 19 ongoing investigations last year, consisting dealing in slaves (three), sex or forced labour of children (three), people trafficking (eight), 'assisting' a child in prostitution (two) and employer exploiting worker (three).
They also had 31 new investigations.
Walk Free's Global Slavery Index estimated 8000 people in New Zealand were living in modern slavery, comparatively low compared to other countries and placing it 148th out of 160 states for slavery prevalence.
It praised moves in recent years to criminalise forced marriage and a national action plan against modern slavery, but called for a national referral mechanism (NRM) and resources for specialised support services.
This week, an INZ investigations manager spoke about the need for a police-led trafficking unit and NRM. Independent trafficking in persons legal specialist Rebecca Kingi echoed those concerns.
"We don't have systems in place to adequately collect data and intelligence around trafficking in persons," she said. "To my knowledge, the police do not have specific systems in place in relation to that, so it's going to be very hard without those systems, and also without dedicated specialist trafficking in persons, investigative units or members of staff.
"If somebody reports trafficking to the police, they're unlikely to actually pick up the phone and say, 'Hey, I've been trafficked'. Unless there is the right level of understanding, training and knowledge to recognise the indicators from whoever has received those calls or those reports on the front-line, it's very unlikely that trafficking may even be picked up."
New Zealand's operational approach seemed to be based on an old idea that trafficking only happened across borders, which was fixed legislatively only in 2015.
Kingi believed the country was falling behind, compared to trafficking responses overseas.
"It's really uncommon for an enforcement approach to be primarily led from an immigration agency. Firstly, trafficking is not an immigration crime - it's a crime, it could be a transnational organised crime, it's a very serious crime, it's a harmful crime, but it's not an immigration offence in and of itself.
"I think we have this historic misunderstanding of what trafficking is and that's embedded our approach primarily from an immigration enforcement perspective, and that is problematic. It's often connected to varied other types of criminal offending, whether that's transnational organised crime, money laundering, assault or sexual offences, such as rape."
Having Immigration New Zealand in charge of trafficking responses could deter victims from reporting crimes, as they may fear deportation.
Police would have the necessary resources to conduct proactive intelligence-led investigations, identify trends and go looking for trafficking.
"Other countries have usually got a primary model of police leading trafficking enforcement. For example, in the UK, it's the National Crime Agency.
"In Australia, it's the Australian Federal Police, and there are specialist units and specialist enforcement officers that have training in this, and specialise in this, because of the complexity that can evolve, because of the need to make sure that the correct approach with looking after and caring for victims is involved."
The number of investigations was "unlikely" to be representative of the crimes being committed, she added.
"This is a growing type of crime, because it is profitable for the criminal actors involved, so we have to be robust and then proactive in our efforts to combat it. Those numbers do seem very low to me in terms of what I would expect of a domestic profile in New Zealand."
A bid for a national referral mechanism by INZ staff to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment bosses said trafficking victims were not properly supported.
"For cases that are detected, we are not resourced or trained to be providing support to victims, but are providing such support anyway, because it is critical to do so. There is a risk that victims are not being supported appropriately, a risk to the wellbeing of the staff providing that support and a risk to the success of other investigations, if such staff are being taken away from their investigatory duties."
That advice predated the current government and Associate Immigration Minister Casey Costello said she had not received similar advice.
"That said, as you know, I'm receiving advice from a ministerial advisory group on organised crime, and a key theme is that we need a stronger system response to all of the aspects of serious crime, including trafficking and migrant exploitation.
"I'll soon be receiving the group's final report and advice, and that will inform a stronger response in this space."
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