A young woman who has worked fighting against human trafficking for years has shared her shock at how few Aussies know it exists in the country.
Stephanie Clarke said in a TikTok video in early May that human trafficking was much more prevalent than a lot of people realised.
In the viral video, which has been seen more than 700,000 times, Ms Clarke said she had been aware of the dark industry for more than a decade.
‘I’ve been aware of human trafficking, the industry itself, for a really long time, probably close to 15 years,’ she said.
‘I’ve worked in the anti-trafficking space for close to four years now, and I have seen a lot. I’ve educated myself on a lot.
‘And something that surprises me is, here in Australia, how (many) people still deny that human trafficking happens here.’
Ms Clarke has worked for four years with Australian-based organisation Every Daughter Matters, which operates along the border of Nepal.
She told Daily Mail Australia the industry was growing with figures from The Global Slavery Index revealing 41,000 people were living in modern day slavery in Australia.
A young woman (pictured, Stephanie Clarke) who has worked in anti-human trafficking for years has shared her shock at how few Aussies know it exists in the country
In the clip, Ms Clarke wondered if she was hyperaware of the extent of human trafficking due to her work in trying to prevent it.
‘I’m genuinely curious as to how many people don’t know about it?’ she asked.
‘Because I think when you work in an industry or you’ve been researching an industry for a really long time, you expect more people to be aware of it because you’re so aware of it.’
‘But then you start having conversations and you start talking about it, and people think it’s such a big, far away issue that doesn’t happen here in Australia in our own backyard.’
Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry globally. It involves the coercion, recruitment, harbouring or transfer of individuals for exploitative purposes.
It can be involve forced labour, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) reported 382 cases related to human trafficking and slavery in the 2023–2024 financial year.
They included 69 reports of forced labour, 59 of sexual exploitation, and 21 of domestic servitude.
Stephanie Clarke said in a TikTok video in early May human trafficking was much more prevalent than a lot of people realised
The Australian Institute of Criminology previously estimated for every known victim of human trafficking and slavery, approximately four victims remain undetected.
Ms Clarke said the disturbing industry is growing in Australia.
‘Part is that it’s also a growing industry, and I believe that schools need to start teaching on this,’ she said.
‘Because teaching about human trafficking, the signs, what to see, is also gonna educate people around spotting the signs for predators and grooming.’
Many social media users said the issue was not well-known enough.
‘I’m forever telling people, and no one believes me. They think it doesn’t happen here in Australia,’ one wrote.
‘Never heard of it in Australia,’ another said.
‘To be honest, until recently I was not aware of it here in Australia. I was very naive and ignorant,’ a third wrote.
‘As a (domestic violence) worker here in (Australia), I feel the exact same about my work and how unaware people are about domestic violence and how common it is,’ another said.
One said human trafficking can take more forms than people realise.
‘I believe the general public has a perceived image of what they think trafficking really is, when in reality they have no idea,’ she wrote.
‘It’s happening under their noses. It’s not simply people being sold.’
Others shared times they believed they were close to being trafficked.
‘I was 15 and ran for my life from two men yelling after me, saying I would cost a lot, that was the scariest day of my life, and that was the day I found out what it was,’ one woman said.
