Various Forms Of Modern Slavery

The various forms of modern slavery are best read as descriptions of what an offender does, rather than as categories of person or industry. Australian law recognises eight: human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced labour, debt bondage, deceptive recruiting for labour services, forced marriage and the worst forms of child labour.

Reading them as conduct changes where you look. Debt bondage is the imposition of a debt the person cannot realistically repay. Deceptive recruiting is a promise broken somewhere between the offer and the job. Servitude removes personal freedoms beyond the work itself. Australian Red Cross puts the common thread simply, describing offenders who use coercion, threats or deception to exploit people and undermine their freedom.

This is why one situation often satisfies several forms at once. Someone recruited on false promises, held by a debt and unable to leave is not a puzzle to be sorted into a single box before anybody acts. Red Cross notes that modern slavery can be difficult to identify precisely because it takes so many different forms.

The form does matter in one practical respect. Support in Australia does not come through a single door. The Support for Trafficked People Program, delivered by Australian Red Cross and funded by the Department of Social Services, covers most forms, while forced marriage is now handled by a separate specialist support program. Nobody needs to know which form applies before asking for advice, and Red Cross takes confidential calls from people worried about a colleague or a customer, not only from people affected themselves.

For an organisation this sits alongside ordinary governance, risk and compliance work, and alongside the workplace culture that decides whether anyone says anything at all. Circumstances differ and the law changes, so treat this as general information rather than legal advice.

Sentrient’s modern slavery course covers these forms for a workplace audience, within the wider compliance training courses.