Facts About Trafficking in Persons And Consequences for Vancouver's Sex Workers
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Definition
Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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 of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.[1]
1. The majority of trafficked persons are women and children.
“Globally, women and children make up the vast majority of trafficked persons. This is, in part, due to the gendered nature of sex work and domestic work internationally. Dr. Annalee Lepp of Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women Canada reported that up to 80% of trafficked persons are women.”[2, pp.9]
“The RCMP estimates that 600 women and children are trafficked into Canada each year for the purpose of sexual exploitation and that this rises to 800 when broadened to include those trafficked into Canada for other forms of forced labour.”[2, pp.9] However, media coverage of trafficking typically focuses on trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
2. The term “Trafficking in Persons” (TIP) should not be conflated with the consensual movement of sex trade workers within Canada.
“The conflation of sex work and trafficking can result in policy and enforcement responses that negatively affect the lives of sex workers” (Tamara O'Doherty, Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group). [3]
“According to the findings of the Vancouver Roundtable on Trafficking in Persons, the term ‘trafficking in persons’ (TIP) is used to encompass situations of coercion, forced migration, forced labor, slavery-like conditions and other situations of human rights abuses. It is not a term commonly used to discuss the movement of sex trade workers or sexually exploited youth within Canada, and the relationship between TIP, the sex trade and sexual exploitation in
Canada needs further discussion” [2, pp.16).
In the U.S., the conflation of trafficking with sex work has led to an anti-prostitution campaign, and we must ensure this will not happen in Canada. In 2007, Ann Jordan addressed the US House of Representatives regarding the problematic nature of such a conflation. [4] In essence, she argued that the conflation of sex work and trafficking has shifted the agenda of anti-trafficking to anti-prostitution in the U.S. with serious consequences for sex workers, their clients, and NGOs. She argued that this shift may divert federal funding from anti-trafficking measures to anti-prostitution initiatives which increase the stigma faced by sex workers, impinge on their essential human rights, and potentially impact the realm in which traffickers can feel free to operate.
3. In police measures against sexual trafficking, a rising number of police raids on locations of sex work such as massage parlours have led to the unlawful arrest of sex workers who are legal Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
In response, the public should call for responsible police practices which do not target sex workers, especially those of colour.
“In December 2006, a major police raid of 18 massage parlours across the Lower Mainland led to the arrests of 100 people on suspicion of human trafficking. The seventy-eight women apprehended were found to be in Canada legally either as citizens or permanent residents, but police still were concerned that they could have been exploited and used in the sex trade against their will.” [5, Article 4.41]
4. Women of racial and ethnic minorities and migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to increased restrictions on their work and movement across borders.
“Measures aimed at protecting women from exploitation and abuses often serve to restrict women’s movement within national borders, conflating migration with trafficking. These measures often result in driving trafficking further underground and removing women’s agency.” [2, pp.9]
“Due to the particular vulnerabilities of racial and ethnic minorities and migrant workers to coercive or exploitative working conditions, programs have been developed to reach these groups. In particular, the Philippine Women’s Centre and SWAN have been targeting groups of Asian women in their work, as well as educating other front-line organisations about developing culturally-sensitive programming.” [2, pp.16]
5. The media and some NGO’s have contributed to sensationalized or unrealistic portrayals of levels of sexual trafficking during the sporting events.
The spread of misinformation can have negative consequences. Studies have found that in both the cases of the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the 2004 Athens Summer Games: “…NGOs played a vital role in creating important public awareness and prevention campaigns although at least some mistakenly provided inaccurate and, indeed,
highly unrealistic information about the situation. Rather than providing responsible reporting on a critical issue, the media, in both cases, acted almost instantly to sensationalize and exploit the issues of sex work and trafficking…In such an environment, convictions can fuel assumptions that, although unfounded, can have far-reaching and even possibly adverse impacts” [5, Article 2.34]
The media bear a collective social responsibility towards accuracy and objectivity when reporting on this issue. According to a study by the International Organization for Migration: "Many were disappointed by journalists who were just after “sex ‘n crime” stories, also just searching for further support of the 40,000, and not much interested in other accounts. Some NGOs felt they had first been ignored by the media with their assessment of a moderate
increase in trafficking or even none at all; after the World Cup some press articles blamed the NGOs across-the board for putting up a wrong and unfounded figure. Many NGO experts were unsatisfied with how the media mingled the issues of (legal) prostitution and THB." [6]
6. The projections for high increases in trafficking during the Vancouver Winter Olympics are inconsistent with the experiences of other countries that held major sporting events.
A recent study on international sporting events worldwide suggests that “there is no evidence the number of sex workers and trafficking victims increased dramatically in those locations during the events.”
"In relation to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, public statements have been made which project an alarming increase in this human trafficking. These claims are inconsistent with the evidence in this research document, that trafficking and mega-events are not linked." [7, pp.1]
7. More research is needed on the potential impact of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on trafficking in persons.
“To date, comparatively little Canadian-based research has been undertaken on the topic of trafficking in persons.” … “Media attention on the issue is highly sporadic and typically dependent on enforcement activities and, most recently, fears about an increase in trafficking to Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games” [5]
Sources:
1 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Article 3, paragraph (a),
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-traffickin....
2 Vancouver Roundtable on Trafficking in Persons (TIP): Roundtable Report. Prepared by Sarah Hunt, for the
National Crime Prevention Centre Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.
November 1-4, 2004, Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
3 Major report debunks supposed link between sex trafficking and 2010 Games. Pivot Legal Society. June 11,
2009. http://www.pivotlegal.org/News/09-06-11--human-trafficking_0611.html.
4 Testimony of Ann Jordan, Director, Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons, Global Rights, Before the House
Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism Hearing on Crossing the Border: Immigrants in
Detention and Victims of Trafficking, Part II . March 20, 2007.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:N4BYtlFScj8J:www.globalrights.org/s...
_070320.doc%3FdocID%3D7843+ann+jordan+testimony&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a
5 Human Trafficking, Sex Work Safety and the 2010 Games: Assessments and Recommendations. Sex Industry
Worker Safety Action Group. June 10. 2009. http://vancouver.ca/police/diversity/2009/HumanTrafficking.pdf.
6 Trafficking in Human Beings, and the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Henning et al. International Organization for
Migration. September 2006.
http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/projects/document....
pdf.
7 2010 Games won't bring surge of sex trafficking: study. From CBC.ca with files from the Canadian Press. June
11, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/11/bc-olympics-s....