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Exit trafficking reports on the rise but awareness lags, even among survivors
Reports of exit trafficking in Australia are increasing, yet many victims, including survivors, remain unaware it is a crime. The first charges in the ACT have been filed, and advocates call for more funding and awareness.
Exit trafficking, a form of human trafficking and modern slavery, is on the rise in Australia, yet awareness remains low—even among those who experience it. Two recent cases in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) highlight the issue: one involving a woman who was allegedly stranded overseas after her visa was cancelled, and another involving a woman who says her husband exploited her visa status to control and threaten her.
Coverage comparison
ABC Australia reported on both cases, providing detailed accounts from survivors and advocates. The broadcaster's coverage includes interviews with Rupali, a woman who chose that name to protect her identity, and Farah, another survivor who experienced coercive control. Both stories describe how perpetrators used the migration system to exert power over their victims.
In a separate report, ABC Australia detailed the first criminal charge of exit trafficking in the ACT. A 35-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on charges related to allegedly fraudulently cancelling his wife's visa while she was overseas.
Key claims
Rupali, a woman in her 20s who came to Canberra on a temporary visa in an arranged marriage, says she experienced domestic violence that escalated into exit trafficking. She alleges her husband monitored her movements, confiscated her bank statements, and demanded more than $150,000 to sign paperwork for her permanent residency application, threatening to revoke his visa sponsorship.
Farah also faced coercive control and abuse, with her husband using her temporary visa status to threaten her, according to her account as reported by ABC Australia.
Vanessa Burn, head of migration law at the Women's Legal Centre ACT, says she has seen cases of migration-related abuse and believes funding to address the issue is insufficient.
Gulnara Abbasova, head of Settle Services International's Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response team, says perpetrators often use the migration system to control victims.
The Human Trafficking Visa Framework allows victims of exit trafficking to return to Australia to seek justice.
A Canberra man has become the first person in the ACT to be charged with exit trafficking, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 years in jail.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has urged the public to call 131 AFP if they suspect someone is experiencing or at risk of modern slavery or human trafficking.
Perspectives
Advocates
Advocates like Vanessa Burn and Gulnara Abbasova highlight the systemic nature of the abuse, noting that perpetrators exploit visa sponsorship and migration rules to control victims. They call for more funding and awareness to address the issue.
Police
Police have charged the first individual in the ACT with exit trafficking, emphasizing that such actions constitute human trafficking and modern slavery. They urge the community to report suspicions and not stay silent.
How this outlet told it
ABC Australia
Framing: Exit trafficking and domestic violence against migrant women — Informative and supportive
Facts Included:
Rupali's story of experiencing domestic violence and exit trafficking
Farah's story of experiencing coercive control and abuse
Vanessa Burn's comments on migration-related abuse and funding
Gulnara Abbasova's comments on perpetrators using the migration system to control victims
The Human Trafficking Visa Framework and Support for Trafficked People Program
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimRupali, a woman in her 20s, experienced domestic violence and exit trafficking after coming to Canberra on a temporary visa in an arranged marriage.
ClaimVanessa Burn, head of migration law at the Women's Legal Centre ACT, has seen cases of migration-related abuse and believes that funding to address the issue is insufficient.
ClaimGulnara Abbasova, head of Settle Services International's Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response team, says that perpetrators often use the migration system to control victims.
ClaimThe Australian Federal Police (AFP) has urged the community not to stay silent about migration-related abuse and to call 131 AFP if they suspect someone is experiencing or at risk of modern slavery or human trafficking.