By Kate van Doore
Orphanage volunteering is generally viewed as a positive contribution to developing nations. However, child protection advocates have long reported the harm it causes children; including how demand for orphanage volunteering leads to children being trafficked into orphanages for profit.
Yesterday, the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, the Honourable Alex Hawke MP, introduced the Modern Slavery Bill to the Australian federal parliament. The introduction of the Bill followed strong recommendations of the Inquiry into whether Australia should have a Modern Slavery Act held in 2017. One of the major issues considered throughout the Inquiry and its final report, Hidden in Plain Sight, was orphanage trafficking.
Orphanage trafficking occurs when children are recruited into orphanages for the purpose of exploitation and profit. The demand for orphanage trafficking is often driven by vast amounts of funding that flows to orphanages, and profit made from orphanage tourism, where people pay or donate to
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