Worker Exploitation: Federal Court finds diplomats not immune

7 November 2023

The decision of the Federal Court of Australia to order a former Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Navdeep Suri Singh, to pay more than $189,000 to an exploited worker shows that diplomats are not immune for worker exploitation, said the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne. 

"The recent decision of the Federal Court in Shergill v Singh puts diplomats in Australia, and beyond, on notice that they are not immune from modern slavery litigation", said Dr Cockayne. "This sends a powerful signal worldwide."

On 3 November 2023, in the case of Shergill v Singh [2023] FCA 1346, Justice Raper ordered Mr Singh to pay the Applicant, Ms S, $136,276.62 in unpaid wages, plus $53,427.09 in interest. 

Mr Singh brought Ms S to live and work with him when he came to Australia as India's top diplomat in 2015. He removed her passport and forced her to cook, clean, wash and garden for himself and his wife, for 17.5 hours each day. She was forced to work for over a year, without a single day off. 

Ms S was paid less than $10 a day, and was not allowed to leave the residence. Speaking and reading no English, and knowing no one in Canberra, Ms S was isolated and vulnerable. 

Eventually Ms S ran away and slept rough. She was assisted by the Salvation Army's Trafficking and Slavery Safe House Program, and the Fair Work Ombudsman. She was referred to Clayton Utz, who provided pro bono legal assistance. 

Justice Raper relied in part on the reasoning of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in Reyes v Al-Malki [2017] UKSC 61; 3 WLR 923. Both cases turned on the interpretation of a key provision in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which gives diplomats immunity from the laws of the country in which they operate. 

"These powerful precedents make clear that diplomatic immunity does not permit diplomats to violate the human right to be free from modern slavery", said Dr Cockayne. "We can expect courts worldwide to apply this reasoning, removing one of the most significant barriers to justice for victims of modern slavery in diplomatic contexts around the world."