The issue of human trafficking has gained a lot of attention lately in both the popular media and with government and social services. Unfortunately the way the issue is portrayed, largely through sensationalized news coverage and on prime time TV shows, promotes a skewed perception of what human trafficking is all about and how it is actually impacting the lives of many women, men and children, both here in Canada and in countries around the world.
Canada has been designated as a 'source', 'transit' and 'destination' country by the U.S. State Department. What this means is that Canada has at least 100 victims a year who originate from Canada, pass through Canada enroute to another country or end up in Canada. The U.S. State Department monitors countries around the world and publicizes an annual report on human trafficking. The purpose of the report is to identify what each country is doing about the issue. Countries are rated as Tier 1, 2, or 3 according to how well they are responding to the issue, with a Tier 1 rate for countries that have managed to do the minimum required to combat the issue. Tier 1 and 2 are reserved for countries that have not done quite enough to rate the minimum standard, according to the State Department. Canada's Tier 1 rating is a result of the changes to the criminal code to make Trafficking in Persons a criminal offence and the creation of a few services for people identified as victims. For the most part, Canada has been focused on the trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual exploitation - which is definitely an important issue to focus on, however the needs of most adult women and men who are trafficked are largely ignored.
This newsletter is meant to contribute to the discourse on human trafficking, in an attempt to highlight issues that will be of importance particularly to service providers who work with women who have experienced violence. The lack of focus in the articles on men or children who have been trafficked should not be interpreted as an attempt to devalue or ignore their experiences. It is acknowledged that there are similarities and overlapping issues, however, human trafficking has a specific gendered dimension that is often overlooked, and is the focus of these articles.
Kamala Kempadoo is a Professor of Sociology at York University and author and editor of several books including: 'Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work and Human Rights'. This book explores some of the myths around human trafficking and looks at the problem of sexual exploitation in the larger context of labour and global capitalism. Her article provides some insight into the origins of human trafficking and begins to unpack several of the assumptions that are becoming commonplace in public discourse about human trafficking.
Loly Rico, Co-Director of the FCJ Refugee Centre in Toronto has worked extensively with women who have been trafficked and has a great deal of expertise in advocating around this issue. Loly is also a member of the Canadian Council of Refugees, an organization that has developed a campaign to encourage the Canadian government to change existing immigration policies that foster increased risk of trafficking by increasing women's vulnerability to exploitation during migration. Loly was interviewed by Elvina Rafi of Springtide Resources to get her perspective on what's happening on the ground for women who have been trafficked and what community service workers need to know.
Clara Ho is a lawyer in Toronto who has worked for years to raise public awareness about human trafficking and the rights of women who experience this type of violence. Clara has written a short article on some of the legal and rights based issues that are important for us to know about Trafficking.
The newsletter also contains an excerpted article from Anupriya Sethi's work entitled 'Domestic Sex Trafficking of Aboriginal Girls in Canada: Issues and Implications' originally published in 2007 in 'A Journal of Innovation and Best Practices in Aboriginal Child Welfare.' Anupriya raises an important point about what's been missing from public policy and current discourse on human trafficking; the domestic trafficking of First Nation's girls and women. To access the entire article, go to:
http://www.fncfcs.com/pubs/vol3num3/Sethi_57.pdf
Resource details:
Author: Margaret Alexander is the Program Manager at Springtide Resources.
Type/Format of Resource: EWA Newsletter
Category/Topic of interest: Woman Abuse; Sexual Abuse; Human Rights
Population Group: Victims / Survivors; Social Service Providers; Education
Year of Publication: 2008
