Child Trafficking in Canada International Bureau for Children’s Rights Conference: “Making Children’s Rights Work:

1. Child Trafficking in Canada International Bureau for Children’s Rights Conference: “Making Children’s Rights Work: National and International Perspectives” Montreal, Quebec November 20, 2004

2. Human Trafficking: Global Phenomenon • Trafficking in humans – modern day slavery, unprecedented in scope, incidence and impact. • Victims: primarily women and children for sex trade but also for forced labour or as drug mules; children also trafficked for forced begging, body organs, child soldiers and camel jockeys. • Incidence: UNICEF estimates 1.2 million children worldwide are trafficked each year. • US (June 2004) – estimates 600,000-800,000 persons trafficked globally as follows: • Girls: 23% into commercial sex trade; 11% into other forms of exploitation • Boys: 10% into commercial sex trade; 6% into other forms of exploitation • Women: 33% into commercial sex trade; 14% into other forms of exploitation • Men: < 1% into commercial sex trade; 3% into other forms of exploitation.

3. Human Trafficking: Global Industry • Trafficking into Canada: estimated 800 persons are trafficked into Canada and between 1,500 - 2,200 persons are trafficked from Canada to the U.S. each year. • Flow: predominantly from developing to developed nations; and within countries. • Profit: TIP generates billions of dollars annually and ranks 3rd behind drugs and firearms as top revenue generator for organized crime. • International Organization for Migration - estimates illegal trade in trafficking and smuggling of persons produces close to $10 billion U.S. per year globally.

4. Children: Risk Factors • Children’s physical, economic, social and legal dependency on adults. • Greatest risk of sexual abuse: from someone known to child or family member. • Commercial sexual exploitation of children – fuelled primarily by local demand, exacerbated by child sex tourism. • Demand: UNICEF estimates 1-2 million children, worldwide, exploited annually in multi-billion dollar sex trade industry.

5. International Legal Framework • International legal response addresses TIP as human rights, criminal, immigration and labour issues and includes following child-specific instruments: • Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children, as amended by the Protocol to Amend the Convention for the Suppression of the Trafficking in Women and Children, 1947; • Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; • Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 2000; • Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, 2000; • ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999; • Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, 1993; • Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, 2000; and Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, 2000.

6. International Legal Framework (cont’d) • Related international measures include: First (1996) and Second (2001) World Congresses Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Declaration and Agenda for Action. • Trafficking Defined: U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol), three elements of human trafficking: • Recruitment, transportation, or harbouring of person (cross-border or domestic); • By means of threat or use of force, coercion or deception; and • For the purpose of exploitation, such as forced labour, sexual exploitation or other forms of servitude. • Trafficking vs. Migrant Smuggling: Human smuggling involves illegal movement of persons across international borders who are usually free to go upon their arrival at the destination country: UN Protocol Against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (Smuggling Protocol).

7. Canada’s Responses • Complex and multiple dimensions of human trafficking and trafficking-related conduct requires broad, comprehensive and coordinated response that includes: • Legal Framework: to effectively criminalize conduct; • Comprehensive policies, programs and other measures to combat trafficking; • Training and education/awareness: law enforcement, immigration and other officials and public; • International cooperation and collaboration; and • Partnerships. • Canadian focus: ensuring that traffickers are held accountable; supporting and protecting victims of trafficking; and prevention of human trafficking.

8. Canada: Prosecution of Traffickers - Legal Framework Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2002 (IRPA) • trafficking in persons offence (s. 118): maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or a $1 million fine and includes list of extensive aggravating factors for sentencing purposes; • new smuggling in persons offence (s. 117): maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and/or a $500,000 fine for a first offence and a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment and/or a $1 million fine for a subsequent offence. Criminal Code of Canada: • Addresses trafficking and trafficking-related conduct through various provisions including: kidnapping, forcible confinement, uttering threats, extortion, robbery, assault with a weapon, sexual assault, prostitution-related prohibitions (including against soliciting, procuring, living on the avails of prostitution, keeping a common bawdy house); organized crime; and forfeiture and restitution. • Children: specific prohibitions against sexual abuse of children, including obtaining or communicating with anyone for purpose of obtaining sexual services of person under 18 years; and against child sex tourism. • October 5, 2004: Government Commitment to table legislation to better protect against trafficking in persons (Speech from the Throne).

9. Canada: Protection of Victims • Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,2002,victims of trafficking may be entitled to remain in Canada and/or subsequent access to services, including: • Person in need of Protection • Temporary Residence Permit • Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds • Temporary stay of removal order where judicial proceeding • Refugee status

10. Canada: Protection of Victims (cont’d) • Protection of victims of crime - shared responsibility between federal and provincial/territorial governments. Federal, Provincial and Territorial Attorneys General endorsed the 2003 Canadian Statement of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime which affirms that: • safety and security of victims should be considered at all stages of criminal justice process and appropriate measures should be taken when necessary to protect victims from intimidation and retaliation. • information should be provided to victims about available victim assistance services, programs, and means of obtaining financial reparation. • Proposed criminal law reforms before Parliament (Bill C-2 - Protection of Children and other vulnerable persons) propose numerous reforms to facilitate the receipt of testimony by child victims/witnesses and other vulnerable victims/witnesses.

11. Canada: Prevention • Recent prevention and awareness raising initiatives on TIP include: • “One person, one passport policy” requires children to use their own passports, thereby reducing opportunities for traffickers to traffic children by posing as parent of child; • March 2004 Training Seminar for Canadian police, prosecutors, immigration, customs and consular officials on trafficking in persons; • Anti-trafficking poster and pamphlet (14 languages) broadly distributed including to Canadian Embassies and NGOs with access to potential trafficking victims in source states; • Government of Canada TIP website (http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/fs/ht/index.html); • March 2004, Government of Canada and Canadian Ethnocultural Council co-hosted community-awareness TIP forum;

12. Canada: Prevention (cont’d) • March 2004: federal policy makers met with NGOs and academics to discuss anti-trafficking measures; • Canadian International Development Agency – e.g., Child Protection Action Plan supports programming in developing countries and focuses on war-affected children, exploitative child labour and children exploited in sex trade. • Other related initiatives addressing commercial child sexual exploitation and child sex tourism: • revised Government of Canada’s tourism materials including “Bon Voyage”; • Developed pamphlet: “What No Child Should Endure”; • developed guidelines for Canadian Consular officers; and • hosted “Out from the Shadows: International Summit of Sexually Exploited Youth” (1998).

13. Next Steps • February 2004 – Federal Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, representing 17 federal departments and agencies, established and mandated to coordinate federal efforts to address human trafficking and develop comprehensive federal anti-trafficking strategy. Summary: • Complex and global nature of human trafficking requires concerted efforts at local, national and international level, by governments and civil society and across all sectors.