Child Exploitation Risks in Unregulated Voluntourism
Warning: This content discusses child sexual abuse and child trafficking. If you need support, contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
Voluntourism is often promoted as a way for travellers to give back to vulnerable communities. Yet behind some programs lies a more complex legal and ethical reality.
International reports have linked certain forms of unregulated voluntourism, particularly orphanage volunteering, to child exploitation, trafficking, and an increased risk of sexual abuse.
Over many years, Australia has responded to modern slavery, trafficking, child exploitation, and child sexual abuse with legislation that extends to conduct overseas. However, some experts believe stronger safeguards and further legislative reform are still needed.
Regulated and unregulated voluntourism
Not all voluntourism poses a risk to child safety, but certain unregulated practices have been documented as a risk factor. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, Ms Mama Fatima Singhateh, has said:
Regulated voluntourism generally involves background checks, robust safeguarding policies, and volunteers with skills that contribute to sustainable, long-term outcomes. Unregulated voluntourism, by contrast, is often marketed as a short-term experience involving direct contact with children, with no skill requirements and rarely any background checks or safeguards.
A 2025 ECPAT International report on protecting children in travel and tourism recommended several measures to reduce these risks, including creating a regulated system for all forms of volunteering and strengthening existing laws to address all forms of child exploitation.
Orphanage voluntourism and trafficking
In 2018, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ran its Smart Volunteering campaign, discouraging Australians from volunteering in orphanages. It is estimated that 80 per cent of children living in orphanages have at least one living parent. Instead, children are placed in institutions because of poverty or social exclusion, or through orphanage trafficking.
The practice is sometimes called “paper orphaning”, where recruiters remove children from their families and place them in orphanages for profit. A 2016 study in Haiti found orphanage directors paying recruiters to find children, with families either paid to give up their children or deceived into believing their children would have a better life.
The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) requires large entities to report on modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Australia was the first country to formally recognise orphanage trafficking as a form of modern slavery. Researchers have recommended further reform so that orphanage trafficking is explicitly captured by the criminal law.
The government has also proposed a new offence for large companies that fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains.
Trafficking offences are set out in Division 271 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), which criminalises trafficking in persons, including children. Extended geographical jurisdiction applies, so even where the alleged offence occurs wholly outside Australia, the Division applies if the person was an Australian citizen or resident at the time. The provisions can also apply to bodies corporate incorporated under Commonwealth, state, or territory law.
Limits reflecting the principle against double jeopardy apply. If a person has been convicted or acquitted in another country of an offence in respect of the same conduct, they cannot be convicted of a trafficking offence in Australia for that conduct.
The risk of abuse
Both orphanage trafficking and unregulated voluntourism can increase the risk of child sexual abuse. A report by the Australian Institute of Criminology documented tourists being allowed to spend time with children outside orphanages, and suggested the industry can attract volunteers who perpetrate exploitation in the region.
Division 272 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) criminalises child sexual abuse offences committed outside Australia against children under 16, including sexual intercourse and other sexual activity.
Like the trafficking offences, Division 272 applies to Australian citizens, residents, and bodies corporate with a relevant connection to Australia, even where the conduct occurs wholly overseas.
Abuse within Australian institutions
Child sexual abuse has also occurred within Australian organisations and institutions. Survivors of historical abuse may have several pathways to civil compensation, including where the abuse was perpetrated by a volunteer, such as in youth organisations or sports clubs.
In Bird v DP (a pseudonym) [2024] HCA 41, the High Court held that vicarious liability is confined to employment relationships and does not extend to relationships “akin to employment”. Several jurisdictions have since legislated or introduced bills to extend vicarious liability for child abuse beyond employees, with the ACT’s reforms expressly covering volunteers and Victoria introducing its own bill.
In AA v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle [2026] HCA 2, the High Court held that an institution can owe a non-delegable duty of care to a child under the care, supervision, or control of a person performing a role for that institution, and that the duty can be breached by that person’s intentional criminal act. In doing so, the Court overturned New South Wales v Lepore [2003] HCA 4 to the extent it held otherwise. Importantly, the person need not be an employee. The duty may extend to priests, teachers, volunteers, and carers acting within their role. Read our analysis of the AA decision.
As a result, survivors of child sexual abuse may be able to seek compensation from institutions that assumed responsibility for their care, supervision, or protection, even where the perpetrator was a volunteer rather than an employee.
In NSW, there is no limitation period for child sexual abuse claims in most cases, although individual circumstances still matter.
If you experienced abuse in an institution, you may be entitled to compensation. Learn more about institutional abuse compensation, or contact us confidentially below.
