HUMAN TRAFFICKING
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Kidnapping, Trafficking in Persons, Hostage
Taking and Abduction
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What is human smuggling?
It's the illegal movement of people
across international borders – usually for a great deal of money.
Canada and the United States share the
world's longest undefended border, and it has many gaps where people try to
sneak from one country into the other. Often, they have come from someplace
else, stay in Canada briefly and then head south to the United States.
Sometimes, smugglers try to sneak migrants
into Canada aboard cargo or fishing ships.
There have been several high-profile
cases in recent years:
In another celebrated case, a group of
Moldovan women posed as the Moldovan women's underwater hockey team, which was
going to take part in the World Underwater Hockey Championships in Calgary in
July 2002. They got to Canada but never showed up at the tournament. There was
a similar incident two years earlier at the same tournament in Tasmania. That
time it was the Moldovan men's team.
What is human trafficking?
Many have called human trafficking a
modern form of slavery. According to the RCMP, trafficking in persons is a
serious crime that involves:
The United Nations – in its Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons – defines it this way:
"Trafficking in persons shall mean
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction,
of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability
or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of
a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs…"
As well, the UN protocol states that
trafficking is a crime even if a person has given their consent to the
exploitation.
The UN estimates that 700,000 people
are victims of human traffickers around the world each year. The vast majority
are women and children. The UN says the global market for human trafficking is
worth about $10 billion a year.
The RCMP's Criminal Intelligence
Directorate estimates that up to 2,200 people are trafficked from Canada into
the United States each year. Canada is largely a destination and transit
country for women who are trafficked for the purposes of exploitation. Most
arrive from Asia, Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe.
The issue of human trafficking began
attracting substantial attention in the late 1990s as concerns grew over what
was being called the "white slave trade" as large numbers of women
from former communist-bloc states came to North America to work in the sex
trade.
What is Canada doing about human
trafficking?
On Nov. 25, 2005, the federal
government passed legislation that strengthens sections of the Criminal Code
dealing with human trafficking. The changes created three new offences that
deal specifically with the issue:
Which agencies are policing
trafficking/smuggling operations?
The RCMP's immigration and passport
section employs 184 officers in more than a dozen areas across the country
devoted to human trafficking/smuggling. About a third of the officers are based
in Ontario.
The Mounties work with local and
regional police forces in provinces where the RCMP is not responsible for local
policing.
They also work with United States Customs
and Border Protection and Interpol.
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Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized
Crime |
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For the purposes of this
Protocol: |
UNITED STATES
The keystone of the U.S. government's response to modern day slavery is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), enacted into law in October 2000. Designed to intensify the fight against trafficking and increase penalties, the TVPA requires federal agencies to combat trafficking domestically and to work with other nations to address this problem internationally.
The President reaffirmed the administration's commitment to this issue when he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act in December 2003.
The TVPA declares trafficking to be a crime and calls on the U.S. government to prosecute and punish traffickers, protect and rehabilitate the victims, and prevent these criminal activities.
Victims of trafficking may apply for a T Visa if they are physically present in the U.S. on account of the trafficking, have complied with any reasonable request for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of the acts of trafficking, and would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm upon removal from the U.S. Victims are entitled to privacy, physical protection, and other forms of assistance while their cases are prosecuted.
On December 16, 2002, President George W. Bush endorsed the goals of the TVPA by signing National Security Presidential Directive 22, in which he directs federal agencies to "strengthen their collective efforts, capabilities, and coordination to support the policy to combat trafficking in persons." This directive also identifies prostitution as inherently harmful to women.
To confront the evil of sex tourism, especially involving children, in 2003, the U.S. Congress passed the "Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act." Under the "PROTECT Act," it is now a crime for any person to enter the United States, or for a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident to travel abroad, to sexually abuse children.
The President's Interagency Task Force oversees U.S. anti-trafficking policies and programs. The Task Force is chaired by the Secretary of State and its directives are implemented by the Senior Policy Operating Group, which consists of high-ranking federal government officials from ten agencies and departments. The task force and the operating group ensure that all aspects of the fight against trafficking are addressed by the appropriate government agencies