The Migration pilot Project is funded by the Australian Federal Government until June 2011. The project aims to enhance the capacity of sex worker peer educators in Australia to provide support to migrant sex workers. To this end a peer Migration Project Officer is available at the Scarlet Alliance national office two days a week to provide referral, advice and information on laws, migration rights and responsibilities, services and access to justice, to sex worker peer educators in Australia to improve service delivery and peer education to migrant sex workers. Training sessions and joint outreach trips with state sex worker organisations have occurred with more planned for the next 12 months.

On the 8th Dec 2009, 19 peer educators were supported to attend a National Migration Training in Sydney. This meeting explored gaps in current peer education resources, with a view to directing the work of the project to produce documents to fill those gaps. The findings of this meeting have informed the resource development in the project with resources currently being developed on sex work laws in Australia; visas that allow sex work and their conditions; rights and responsibilities when dealing with or detained by Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and/or Australian Federal Police (AFP); and what to do if trafficking happens, all of which will be available in Chinese, Korean and Thai. A number of translated resources have already been uploaded onto the Scarlet Alliance website with many more on the way.

The project also works in partnership with Empower Foundation in Thailand to provide information and support on legal and migration rights and responsibilities to people considering travelling to Australia for sex work. The networking between Empower and Scarlet Alliance continues to develop a strong body of work for the two organisations; identifying the gaps in human rights for sex workers travelling to Australia and proposing peer education information solutions for outreach and support to this target group. A visit to Australia was organised for 2 representatives working on the project from Empower. During this visit a networking workshop with AFP, DIAC, AGD, Anti-Slavery Project, ACRATH, Red Cross and Samaritan Accommodation was organised and facilitated by the Migration pilot Project. Empower increased participants understanding of issues for sex workers in Thailand though sharing their experiences as an organisation of sex workers directly affected by trafficking policy.

The Steering Committee involving Empower, Zi Teng in Hong Kong, peer educators in state sex worker organisations and sex workers from Chinese, Korean and Thai language backgrounds helps guide and evaluate the project. It is also an opportunity to exchange information and knowledge and to keep up to date with issues that effects the migrant sex worker community. The Steering Committee provides the project with a solid evidence- based policy to support our advocacy work and in delivering recommendations on anti-trafficking policy development and services. If you are a migrant sex worker in Australia, from Thai, Korean or Chinese background, you are eligible to participate in the Steering Committee, please contact Jules, Birdie or Miya at the Scarlet Alliance office to get involved!

The Migration Research Project is funded by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to conduct a survey of sex workers in Australia in Chinese, English, Korean and Thai. The research aims to fill the evidence gap in accurate, objective, primary research on sex workers in Australia and to identify any differences in health, access to services and law, and industrial conditions between migrant and non-migrant sex workers. Sex workers have been involved in every step of this research project which is based on the 2006/7 Zi Teng/ Scarlet Alliance research of Chinese sex workers in Australia.

The survey construction process included a ‘Research Instrument Development’ workshop in which multilingual peer educators, the AIC and the Scarlet Alliance staff reviewed and updated the survey. A reference group was consulted for the purpose of improving the research instrument. Members of the reference group included representatives and members from Scarlet Alliance, state-based organisations where the survey would be carried out, and international partners. This included Respect, SIN, and multilingual members of Scarlet Alliance. International partners included Empower in Thailand, and Zi Teng in Hong Kong. The involvement of these partners ensured that the survey is linguistically accurate and culturally sensitive. The resulting survey was then put through focus groups composed of the Scarlet Alliance Migration Reference Group and its broader membership, the new staff recruited and trained for this project, the AIC, the Scarlet Alliance Executive and focus groups of migrant sex workers that make up the target population. A Migration Project Steering Committee comprised of migrant sex workers from Thai, Korean and Chinese backgrounds assisted in deciding the appropriateness of the questions and the direction of the survey and its dissemination. Potentially sensitive questions have been marked as optional.

The survey has passed through ethics approval from a number of different ethics committees and MOU’s have been signed with sex worker organisations in different states where collection has taken place. The survey collection is done only by sex workers with a number of collectors who speak Chinese, Korean or Thai. Prior to commencing survey collection the peer collectors participate in a training session which covers basic outreach training and methodology to ensure confidentiality and consistent delivery of the survey. It is made clear to the participants the purpose of the survey and that it is voluntary, confidential and de-identified. Informed consent is obtained prior to commencement and a small contribution to recognise the time and expertise of the participants is provided.

Survey collection has been a great success and is continuing in brothels, private, street, massage establishments, clinics and at sex worker organisations until October 2010. Collection has already occurred in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Toowoomba, Townsville and Brisbane. Collection in Canberra, Perth and Kalgoorlie has been planned for the next few months including further visits to the other cities. Over 500 responses are expected and will be published in a report with translated summaries in Chinese, Korean and Thai. Both will be available to sex workers, sex worker organisations and the Scarlet Alliance membership and will be used to better inform policy and service delivery and in making recommendations regarding access to justice and services for migrant sex workers in Australia and industrial conditions for sex workers in Australia.