- Target:
- Canadian Federal Government and BC Provincial Government
- Region:
- Canada
- Website:
- www.thefuturegroup.org
Human trafficking in Canada, and the Vancouver area in particular is a problem that the governmental and non-governmental authorities are now beginning to confront. There have been concerns raised that the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver will present an opportunity for human traffickers.
On May 29, 2007, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women recommended “[t]hat the government, in collaboration with provincial and municipal counterparts as well as experts from the police, international organizations and NGOs develop and implement a plan prior to the opening of 2010 Olympics to curtail the trafficking of women and girls for sexual purposes during the games and after.”
The RCMP Criminal Intelligence directorate estimated in a 2004 report that 800 people are trafficked into Canada each year- 600 destined for sex trade. An Additional 1500-2200 people are trafficked from Canada into the US annually.
As a result of these factors, Vancouver was recently singled out in the US State Department’s trafficking in persons report (2007) as being a destination cirty for trafficked persons from Asia. The report also exposed that “[a] significant number of victims, particularly South Korean females, transit Canada before being trafficked into the United States.”
To date, not a single person has been successfully prosecuted for the offence of trafficking under Criminal Code. During the two years after the implementation of the “United Nations Trafficking Protocol”, Canada identified 31 trafficking victims, the United States found 17,000. Certainly Canada falls short of the mark in its effort to combat human trafficking and protect its victims by providing proper investigation, support and prosecution of the traffickers.
In the light of the upcoming 2010 Olympics, it is expected that the numbers for human trafficking victims will rise due to an increase in demand for prostitution. Second, traffickers may attempt to bring trafficked persons posing as “visitors” into Canada for the Olympics, only to exploit them in other cities or transit them into the U.S.
Human trafficking is taking place today in Canada; this major sporting event just provides added impetus to the implementation of better laws and immediate funding. We want the Olympics to be a chance for us to portray the best of Canada to the world and not to be a flashpoint for Human Trafficking.
We, the undersigned ask the Canadian National and the B.C. government, in conjunction with the newly created B.C. Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons to devote their anti trafficking efforts in the following areas:
1) Proper investigation of human trafficking in the Vancouver area in the months leading up to the 2010 Olympics to pro-actively identify and disrupt both
domestic and international trafficking networks.
2) Provide comprehensive training to the border security to distinguish between genuine tourists of the Olympic games, and potential victims of human trafficking in transit.
3) Protecting trafficked persons by ensuring that sufficient arrangements are made to provide them with safe and appropriate housing, counseling, legal aid, temporary residence status, translation and medical assistance while they recover from their ordeal and decide whether to be a witness against their traffickers in criminal prosecution.
4) Implementation of harsher laws against perpetrators of human trafficking so it acts as a major deterrent for the continuation of this international crime.
5) Deterring traffickers and potential commercial sex users through effective public awareness campaigns before, during and after the 2010 Olympic. Members of the Canadian public and those visiting Canada during the 2010 Olympics need to be advised of laws against sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Prevent Human Trafficking in Canada during 2010 Olympics petition to Canadian Federal Government and BC Provincial Government was written by Sumedha Sharma and is in the category International Affairs at GoPetition.