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The U.S. State Department says Canada should be doing a lot more to mitigate human trafficking in the country.
The U.S. released its annual report “Trafficking In Persons” — reviewing human trafficking laws in 170 countries covering a period from March 2007 to March 2008 on Wednesday.
Although the report recognizes that Canada meets the minimum standards to eliminate, indentify and protect victims of human trafficking, it also says Canada needs to address the trafficking challenges associated with hosting the world at the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
University of British Columbia law professor and of one of Canada’s leading experts in human trafficking Benjamin Perrin agrees Canada isn’t doing enough tin terms of law enforcement.
He says he is not surprised by the report’s harsh recommendations for the Canadian government.
“Canada has been falling behind on combating human trafficking for quite a long time,” Perrin told Canada AM from Quebec City on Thursday, adding that smuggling people in one of the most serious offences according to the criminal code.
In 2007, Canada did not convict a single person for the crime of human trafficking, and only four victims were granted federal protection. The report put into sharp focus that these numbers are not indicative of the country’s problem.
“I think Canadians would demand more of our response to this serious transnational crime,” Perrin said.
In 2004, the RCMP estimate about 600 people are trafficked to Canada for sexual exploitation each year, said Perrin. Another 1,500 to 2,200 are brought through the country on their way to the United States.
Perrin notes that human trafficking in Canada defies traditional stereotypes. He says it’s not just women from Asia and Central and Eastern Europe brought here and exploited in the sex trade, but many cases he comes across relate to Canadian women and girls “for sale.”
“We’ve really not followed up on action here,” Perrin said. “The main reason for that appears to be that we are not putting the law enforcement resources into this across the country.”
But positive discussions did come out of the report, says Perrin. For the first time the federal government focused on the threat of human trafficking at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
An influx of over a million visitors, typical of an international event like at the World Cup, the Olympics and even the Grand Prix auto race in Montreal, increases the demand for sex trade workers. The commercial void at big events creates ample opportunity for traffickers to make money by exploiting others, especially women. The UN estimates that the illegal industry brings in $32 billion globally.
Perrin applauds London’s efforts to keep trafficking at bay for the 2012 Summer Games.
“They’ve been dealing with this risk for years now, and we’ve only just now gotten on this. So, we are really late to the game,,” Perrin said.
Roughly 205 million people worldwide are believed to be victims o f human trafficking, most of whom are women and children.
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