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smooth · 11-15-2004, 08:41 PM

Fate, since you appear to be Canadian, I thought you might find these canadian perspectives interesting.

Quote:

Combating A Modern Scourge—Trafficking in Persons
by Peter McKinnon

A group of Malaysian women looking for a better life agree to be smuggled into Canada, only to be locked in tiny rooms and forced to work as prostitutes in Vancouver.

More than 20 illegal migrants—some under the age of 18—are discovered during a raid of Toronto massage parlours. The women and girls say they’d been promised legitimate jobs in Canada, only to be held against their will and forced into the sex trade.

Each day, around the world, thousands of women and men, desperately seeking better futures for themselves and their families, are lured into nightmarish traps. Others, particularly children, do not even choose to leave their homes and are abducted or sold.

The practice, known as trafficking in persons, has spread rapidly around the globe in recent years and has become the world’s fastest-growing form of international crime.

It has been called “the new global slave trade.”

The European Union estimates that 120,000 people are trafficked in Western Europe annually; the United States Department of State believes the annual toll worldwide to be between 800,000 and 900,000 victims.

Not all trafficking in persons involves forced prostitution. In many cases, victims are compelled to work in other hazardous occupations in sweatshops, agriculture or any profitable enterprise, coerced by threats of violence against them or their families.

Several factors have contributed to the recent proliferation in trafficking—but first and foremost, though, is money.

“Unfortunately, selling people—to brothels or sweatshops—is incredibly profitable,” says Ashley Garrett, of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an agency dedicated to providing a humane response to migration issues.

“The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that crime syndicates make more than $8 billion each year from trafficking in persons.”

Indeed, trafficking in persons is so lucrative, only illegal drugs and arms generate more profits. And while the scourge of slavery is as old as recorded history, trafficking in persons is a modern phenomenon fueled by globalized trade.

“Migration patterns have shifted significantly,“ says Garrett. “In recent years, an increasing number of women have migrated to make money and provide for their families back home. Criminals devise a variety of schemes to exploit these women.”
Nature of the Crime

Two schemes—smuggling and trafficking—feature similar elements, but lead to dramatically different consequences for victims.

Smuggled migrants are released once they’ve arrived at their destinations; trafficked individuals, on the other hand, are sold and enslaved.

Many victims don’t know which category they fall into until it’s too late. In many cases, people in poor and war-ravaged countries answer advertisements promising jobs in the West. They agree to be smuggled across international borders, but end up losing their freedom.

To help raise awareness among Canadian judicial and law-enforcement officials, the Department of Justice and IOM hosted a seminar in early March for police, Crown prosecutors and immigration, customs and consular officials.

“Response to the seminar was overwhelming,” says Gillian Blackell, a Justice lawyer who organized the conference and co-chairs the federal Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons.

“Law-enforcement and judicial professionals were keen to find out more about this disturbing trend in organized crime, and share techniques and best practices on how to assist victims and prosecute offenders.”

At the conference, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, a long-time international human rights advocate, pledged to make the fight against “this persistent and pervasive assault on human rights in our day” a top priority.

Cotler vowed Canada would become a global leader in the fight against what he called a “scourge against humanity.”

“Trafficking is an assault on human personhood, on human dignity, on human rights and, in particular, on the rights of women and children,” the Minister said. “While this is a truly global phenomenon, we in Canada are not immune from this nefarious bartering in human beings.”
14 languages

Canada has already adopted a multi-faceted approach to fighting trafficking.

To help prevent foreigners from being victimized, thousands of brochures—in 14 languages—are being distributed worldwide through Canadian missions and non-governmental organizations.

To complement existing Criminal Code provisions (such as kidnapping, extortion and prostitution-related offences), a specific offence of human trafficking was added to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This offence carries some of most stringent penalties against human trafficking in the world—sentences of up to life in prison and fines of up to $1 million. The law also lists aggravating factors—such as subjecting victims to humiliating or degrading treatment—that courts can take into account when determining penalties.

On the international stage, Canadian officials have played an important role in the fight. Canada is one of the few western nations to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and related protocols against trafficking and smuggling.
Raising Awareness

At the conference, Cotler announced a 10-point proposal to bolster Canada’s efforts, both domestically and internationally.

The Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, which includes representatives from 14 federal departments and agencies, has been mandated to devise a federal strategy to fight trafficking in persons.

As part of the strategy, officials will review the Criminal Code to create new provisions to deal with trafficking and will work with their provincial and territorial counterparts to improve inter-jurisdictional collaboration and coordination.

To increase public awareness, the Department will stage a public forum in partnership with Status of Women Canada and the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, and launch a national poster campaign.

Cotler also pledged to work with other countries in developing effective legislation and will meet with United States Attorney General John Ashcroft to discuss how the two countries can better work together “to tackle this transnational problem head-on.”

The Minister also announced the RCMP will set up a special investigative unit to coordinate domestic investigations and to conduct international probes with other countries. As well, the RCMP will join with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to raise awareness among municipal police forces.

“If we are to succeed in combating this new global slave trade, this assault on innocents, a new Canadian and global constituency of conscience has to arise—a partnership between governments, domestic and international, with non-governmental organizations and individuals,” Cotler said.

“It took a constituency of conscience to end the slave trade in the 19th century. It will take a constituency of conscience … to overcome the new global slave trade in the 21st century. Working together, we will do it.”

Blackell, who has devoted much of her career to the issue, hopes Canada’s multi-faceted approach will help stem the tide in human trafficking.

“I believe that Canadians would be shocked to learn that such a despicable crime happens here,” she says. “And once they learn the facts, they’ll be motivated to eradicate trafficking in persons—not only here, but also around the world.”

--http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/jc/vol4/no2/page4.html

and here are a long list of links I googled: http://justicenetworkcanada.com/HUMAN.htm

I hope your essay addressed this very real aspect of prostitution. Either to suggest ways to address it if legalization were to occur, or just that you recognize it as an issue that must be weighed in the equation.