Living in Library Due to Rental Housing Shortage
"Some Provide Sex Work to Landlords"
The high housing and living costs in Australia are driving international students in the country into sexual exploitation and forced labor, reported The Australian daily on the 25th (local time).
According to the Australian Federal Police, 340 human trafficking cases were investigated in the last fiscal year (July 2022 to June 2023). This represents a 15% increase compared to the previous year. Among these, there were 90 reports related to forced marriage, 73 reports of sexual exploitation, and 57 reports related to forced labor.
In response, James Cockain, chair of the New South Wales (NSW) Anti-Slavery Commission, stated, "A significant number of the victims in these cases are international students," adding, "They are targeted for exploitation due to language barriers, poverty, lack of family support, and insufficient understanding of their legal rights."
Cockain also emphasized, "The biggest reason international students are driven into 'dangerous labor and exploitation' is the shortage of rental housing and high living costs," stressing that "housing is at the core of the problem."
Currently, it is known that over 700,000 international students reside in Australia. However, only a small portion of them can stay in university dormitories, forcing hundreds of thousands of international students into the private rental housing market.
The problem is that finding housing in the private rental market is extremely difficult. Recently, a large influx of immigrants into Australia has rapidly increased housing demand, while housing supply has stagnated due to rising construction costs. As a result, in the first quarter, rental prices in major Australian cities rose by 10.5% compared to the same period last year, and vacancy rates were only around 1%.
The civic group Sydney Community Forum pointed out, "There has been a noticeable increase in university students living in university libraries because they cannot find a place to live, or offering sexual favors or cheap labor to landlords to reduce rent."
Cockain criticized, "Considering that international students hesitate to report due to fear of losing their visas, the actual number of victims is much higher than reported," adding, "This constitutes modern-day slavery crimes, but proper investigations are not being conducted." He further explained, "We plan to cooperate not only with law enforcement agencies but also with universities so that international students can learn about their legal rights and available support information."
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