Australia’s Response to Trafficking Issues: Women as Agents, Refugees and Victims

In this presentation I will examine the tensions between the constructs of women in the refugee law context and in the trafficking context where women are often seen as agents of their own destinies. By contrast in refugee law, women are constructed as victims in a ‘culturally relative’, patriarchal society. This paper explores the tensions between these constructs and practical responses to protecting trafficked women. Taking Australia’s policy response to the trafficking of women in the Asia-Pacific region as an example, I will describe how the trafficking/smuggling distinction is blurred by constructing trafficked women both as victims/witnesses and as free agents rather than as rights bearing individuals. I will explore the practical impacts of these tensions and distinctions in migration law and make recommendations for practical responses.

Susan Kneebone is an Associate-Professor at the Faculty of Law Monash University Australia. She is the author of many articles on refugee issues including ‘Women Within the Refugee Construct: ‘Exclusionary Inclusion’ in Policy and Practice - the Australian Experience’ (2005) 17 International Journal of Refugee Law 7-42. She has organised several international workshops on refugee issues which have led to edited collections including The Refugees Convention 50 Years On: Globalisation and International Law (Ashgate, 2003) and New Regionalism and Asylum Seekers: Challenges Ahead (Berghahn, 2006, forthcoming). She is currently on study leave visiting Professor Francois Crepeau, Scientific Director, Centre for International Studies, Université de Montréal.