INTERNATIONAL CRIME

Interpol - point

utilise cooperation to protect domestic communities from transnational crime yet can only interfere with criminal activity when cooperation is present

EVI 1 - rescues through global operation

Operation Weka II (2022) rescued nearly 700 human trafficking victims across 44 countries

• scale of modern slavery (50 mill people) Interpol coordinated operatyion by sharing intelligence on trafficking routes

• coordinate international action and achieve real-world outcome

EVI 2 - Disruption of trafficking networks

Operation Global Chain 2023 - Interpol pooled case intelligence from multiple jurisdictions —> national authorities could dismantle trafficking rings operating across Africa Asia and Europe

• Interpol roles as intelligence hub translates to concrete arrests and network disruption

EVI 3 - Sovereignty restricts enforcement

Interpol cannot itself arrest suspects, success dependes on national authorities acting on its alerts. Non-operating states create safe-havens for traffickers 

• “criminals to slip through INTERPOL’s fingers” (EU REPORT 2023)

• reliance on member state compliance limits INTERPOL ability to consistently achieve justice

Interpol context

1923, worlds largest police org. with 195 members states — politcally neutral and faciltiates cooperation in tackling transnational crime but cannot directly arrest

Human Trafficking

Australia’s legislative and executive response to human trafficking demonstrates the laws ability to modernise and remain responsive to contemporary issue that threatens  AUS domestic security OR individual human rights

Context

Previous definition to “possessing” a slave based upon International convention to suppress Slave trade and slavery 1927 incorporated into domestic legislation Criminal Code Act 1995

EVI 1 - Modernised responsive

R v Tang 2008 HCA - brothel owner declared women she owned were not ‘locked up’, though she possessed passports and return tickets (unable speak English = vulnerability)

• led to 2013 Slavery Act - amending definition of slavery to include vulnerability of victim - expanding to fits how slavery manifests in modern society.

• result: enhances legislative framework by expanding range of exploitative behaviour criminalised (forced marriage also included)

EVI 2 - AFP

By expanding framework to include forced marraige —> AFP have been able to 

• “protect 52 potential victims of human trafficking” (AFP gov. media 2022)

• 75% women and more than half children

AFP intervention - removing victims from harm, working with partner agencies to provide safe accomodation, preventative education in community about AUS laws and rights

• “safely move on with their lives”(AFP gov. media 2022)

EVI 3 - Nigeria :Global cooperation to tackle transnational trafficking

Nigeria domesticated Palermo Protocol and UN convention against transnational organised crime 2000 through National Agency for Prohibitions of trafficking persons

• NAPTIP bilateral cooperation with Euro countries e.g Italy to dismantle networks

• rescued 22,000 since inception

• global dimension of responsiveness —> coordinated frameworks combat trafficking beyond domestic borders.

Human Trafficking non-legal

Non-legal responses such as NGOs and media campaigns play a vital role in raising awareness, influencing policy, and addressing the root causes of human trafficking where legal measures fall short.

Context - non-legal

While human trafficking remains one of the world’s most pervasive human rights violations, with 49.6million in modern slavery (walk free 2025), non-legal responses like NGOs and the media have become powerful tools in mobilising global attention and compelling action.

EVI 1 - Media being an agency for legal responses

“Michelle Obama raises pressure over kidnapped school girls.” (The Guardian 2014) 

• abduction of more than 300 girls from a school in Chibok

Tweeted picture of herself #bringbackourgirls hashtag

⇒ (UN News 2014) ”UN calls for immediate release of abducted school girls in north-eastern Nigeria”

EVI 2 - NGO cooperating with national agencies - Pathfinders

Pathfinders aim to prevent sex slavery and prevent enslaved women and girls through direct eradication of roots causes.

• “By establishing best-practices in Nigeria for eradicating sex-trafficking (a global hotspot for trafficking), we create a blueprint the world can use to eradicate sex-trafficking anywhere”. (Pathfinders)

• Works in collaboration with NAPTIP to make “100,000 young women in Edo State “slave-proof” by 2025.”

⇒ Pathfinder executive director named in US trafficking 2023  Report ‘hero’.

EVI 3 - Walk free- NGO for Australia

Perth - based NGO that became international, using the Global Slavery Index→worlds most comprehensive data set of modern slavery to drive for change against human rights abuses.

• Taking global slavery index to ICJ to “provide evidence to the prevalence of modern Slavery” (Grace Forrest - walk free founder, Instagram Post 2024)

“Modern Slavery legislation is being driven by NGOs” – Grace Forrest, walk free one of the main campaigners for the Modern Slavery Act in 2013.