New guidelines to stop exploitation of Asian students in Australia - Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner

Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Helen Szoke, says the rapid growth of the international student market has created numerous opportunities for exploitation.
Dr Szoke has just issued a set of principles to 'promote and protect the human rights of international students', which she presented to the Australian International Education Conference in Melbourne today. She says that since 2009, when there were reports of a spate of attacks on Indian students, a number of other issues relating to discrimination and exploitation have come to light.
"I think what the attacks did was reveal a whole lot of other things that were happening to international students," she told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program.
Dr Szoke was race discrimination commissioner for the state of Victoria when the reports of robberies and assaults against Indian students began making headlines.
Promoting good practice
"So we began to hear, for example, the issues around discrimination and employment where students weren't being paid appropriately, and all the concerns around safety and accommodation."
She says the issues relating to over-crowded and over-priced accommodation, where it is common to find students 'hot-bedding', or sleeping in shifts, were among the most concerning.
There is no single body or organisation responsible for addressing these issues in Australia and the Principles are intended to promote principles of good practice and help with policy development.
They have four main aims: to enhance the human rights of international students; to ensure all international students have access to human rights and freedom from discrimination protections; to help understand the diverse needs of international students; and to empower international students during their stay in Australia.
Asserting students' rights
"We shouldn't underestimate the opportunities for exploitation, which don't necessarily have boundaries in terms of race," she said.
"Probably for most of the students from North America and Europe, they don't have any problems in terms of exerting their rights but its the students that come from south-east Asian countries who are less confident about actually asserting their right to be protected under the domestic laws because they concerned about visa requirements and all of those sort of things."
The Principles were developed in consultation with key individuals and organisations, including international students and their representative bodies, representatives of the international education sector, academics, government departments and agencies and organisations that provide services to international students.