Victim says significant government action is needed to help sex trafficking survivors report abuse. Photo / 123rf
Content warning: This story discusses the sexual abuse of children. A list of helplines is available at the bottom of this page.
By Gill Bonnett of RNZ
A woman kidnapped as a small child says the extent of sex trafficking in New Zealand is hidden and underestimated.
She says significant Government action is needed to help survivors report abuse, get free and reach professional support.
Most cases that hit the headlines here happen elsewhere – cases of New Zealanders trafficking and exploiting people overseas, some as tourists and others who got caught after emigrating.
Christchurch man Matthew Isaac Wolfe pleaded guilty in July 2022 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, admitting he moved to the US from New Zealand in 2011, to work for fellow New Zealander Michael James Pratt.
He was sentenced to 14 years' jail. Pratt was sentenced to life in prison for child sexual abuse material, sexual exploitation and sexual assault in the United States.
But it also happens here – children being trafficked for sex, prostitution or forced marriage.
Synteche Collins was almost 4 when she was taken from her family overseas, and was later sexually exploited as an 8-year-old in New Zealand. She has early memories of the events, but has also been told some of what happened, and believed there was an organised crime element.
“I got an incredibly fortunate outcome where they gave my immediate family the opportunity to buy me back. And they basically spent their whole life savings doing so and that really left us in a dire situation. But it meant that I stayed alive and I wasn’t on-sold to someone else.”
However, Collins was not out of the woods.
She was not trafficked to New Zealand, but after coming here at the age of 8 she was sexually exploited.
Trafficking takes place across borders, but mainly involves domestic trafficking – within New Zealand.
Collins is deputy director of Survivor Engagement at Ecpat Child Alert New Zealand, an international NGO formerly known as End Child Prostitution and Trafficking.
It is fielding calls from victims, including those trafficked decades ago, who are now coming forward to seek help in dealing with the abuse they suffered. They also need to know how to approach authorities if they want to pursue criminal charges.
Some did not know if their abuse was even classed as trafficking, Collins said.
“This is what I feel we’re starting to deal with. Those people [trafficked many years ago] are now confronted with what those experiences mean for them in terms of their wellbeing and their lives. And seeking advice on what’s available and you know, we don’t have any dedicated support services available.
“When you don’t have an anti-slavery commissioner, you don’t have a dedicated office to streamline the responses. The call I have after this is with someone who wants to find out if their experiences as a child constituted trafficking. And so that’s the reality – we don’t have that public awareness driven by a government office and campaign – which is where it should sit, given that these are crimes.”
Collins fears the numbers of complaints the NGO receives is the tip of an iceberg – people do not report because they choose not to, think it will not help, or do not know who to call.
Not even a dedicated helpline exists for sex trafficking victims, she says, so it is down to victim-survivors to know whether sexual violence, child abuse, migrant exploitation or labour exploitation, best describes their situation before looking for help.
Police, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Department of Internal Affairs, Oranga Tamariki and Customs are among those trying to help, but each plays a different role which lead to a fragmented system where it is also hard to collect data, she says.
That also led to the issue of trafficking being shared across many ministerial portfolios.
“Without a national referral mechanism – which would need a government-driven awareness campaign, where we have things like signs in airports and public bathrooms to educate people on what it looks like – there’s significant under-reporting when it comes to knowing that your experiences does constitute exploitation and trafficking.”
She is echoing calls made last week for modern slavery legislation and an anti-slavery office, as are in place elsewhere.
“That umbrella term captures not just labour exploitation but also sexual exploitation and trafficking. So the thinking is, if we can at least get the office which would be then the central coordinating body for working with these agencies, then we’ll have a better idea of the level of exploitation is happening and will be far more coordinated and it will be better resourced to deal with the volume.”
The Five Eyes countries of New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom are working together on trafficking and sexual exploitation, Collins says, and survivors who have experienced child sexual abuse are among the most important voices who can contribute to that work.
Sex trafficking includes children forced into prostitution and marriage.
One woman in New Zealand told researchers: “Initially, as a child, I did not understand that my situation was wrong. I thought that it was a normal life condition and I had to do whatever I was told. I am a survivor of child marriage and forced labour.”
Others told of how hard it was to report their abuse, or know how to get it investigated.
The US publishes a global report on trafficking each year, and New Zealand does not meet its minimum standards in key areas, giving it “tier 2″ status of a country making significant efforts to improve.
“The Government initiated fewer trafficking investigations and, for the fourth consecutive year, did not report prosecuting or convicting any traffickers for labour trafficking crimes,” the latest report said.
“Despite prosecuting and convicting offenders in a case that involved the exploitation of children in commercial sex, the Government did not report any efforts to identify the children as trafficking victims or provide them with trafficking-specific services; courts sentenced one offender in the case to only three months' imprisonment for non-trafficking related crimes. The Government has never identified a child victim of sex trafficking or victims from New Zealand.”
RNZ has asked Police how many complaints of sex trafficking it has received, but has not received a response.
One ministerial staffer said “we don’t have data because there’s no regime”.
Data released under the Official Information Act shows from June 2023 to May 2024, Immigration New Zealand found 1097 complaints had possible indicators of people trafficking.
INZ’s national investigations manager Jason Perry said the nature of people trafficking was that it was a hidden crime and hard to detect.
“We work closely with our partners internationally, across government [including Department of Internal Affairs, NZ Police, Oranga Tamariki and NZ Customs], and in the community.
“We also need all New Zealanders to be alert to the signs that someone may be being trafficked and be proactive about raising concerns; for example, signs such as they live at their place of work; have ‘rehearsed’ statements and stories; do not have money or any form of ID because their passport is being withheld; work long hours and have no time off; have an ‘escort’ or ‘translator’ who speaks on their behalf.”
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said people trafficking and slavery were serious crimes.
“New Zealand has legislation and policies in place to address domestic instances of people trafficking, slavery and forced labour. I haven’t received any advice on a new agency to support victims of sex trafficking.”
A team of human trafficking and legal experts published a draft anti-slavery law on Thursday, and hope that MPs will get behind it.
The proposed bill covers modern slavery crimes such as forced prostitution and child labour, debt bondage or the trafficking of people and exploitative or forced labour.
If passed into law, it will also mean companies with revenue over $50 million have to report any exploitation risks in their international operations and supply chains.
Victim provisions in the bill include clean-slate provisions for those convicted of crimes that they were forced to do by traffickers, with redrafted laws around prosecutions, and a proposed single office that would streamline the monitoring, recording and reporting of sex trafficking.
“It’s about us, my fellow modern slavery survivors – the average New Zealanders [who] walk among us,” Collins said.
“There are thousands of us that have lived almost our whole lives without any kind of meaningful support, and this bill could really change that for us. It’s actually kind of an incredible thing really.”
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