"Some have no choice over who they have sex with or what kind of sex work they
do. They may not have access to the same health and safety services or work
conditions as other sex workers," it reads.
Twilight at noon: Multimedia report on Queensland's illegal sex tradeMost of
the women in question are from Thailand and other Asian countries, with a
smaller percentage from Eastern Europe.
An AFP spokeswoman said the ads were part of the Government's long war on
people smuggling.
Criminologist Paul Wilson said there were examples of trafficking involving
extortion and blackmail with a woman's "trip" paid for by an agent and
sometimes crime gangs.
"She must then work as a prostitute to repay the debt. Many are willing
participants but some did not know they are going to be prostitutes," he said.
"Some will service clients all day and night and are sometimes physically
abused."
"Sometimes there are threats made against (Asian-based) relatives of the woman
and the amount of money demanded be repaid is often an inflated figure."
Spokesman for the Queensland Adult Business Association Nick Inskip likened it
to rape.
"The hardest thing to detect is when they come here for a few months and go
home with their $1000 or $2000, having made the crime gangs $20,000 or more tax
free," he said.
Spokesman for the Eros Foundation Robbie Swan warned authorities were "never
going to win this war" while refusing to issue proper working visas to overseas
prostitutes.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said there were no plans
to review the classification of overseas prostitutes.
Scarlet Alliance president Janelle Fawkes said there had been very few
convictions for sex trafficking in Australia and only one in Queensland under
laws created to crack down on international sex slavery.
She said there could be between 300 and 400 women in Australia working under a
trafficking contract, but only a small percentage of those were in Queensland.
