Human Trafficking in your Hometown

“That doesn’t happen here.” This is the usual response when I bring up the ever-present issue of human trafficking in Canada. “That’s only in other, more underdeveloped countries.” My friends and family say naively. It is astonishing that there is such a lack of knowledge regarding the trafficking of women and girls (and I mean girls: the average age for trafficking victims is 13 years and is getting younger) that is prevalent in “first world” countries. I suppose it is an issue that is not easy to talk about, and therefore not talked about. Canadian citizens continue to remain in the dark about something so heinous and cruel yet it has become one of the biggest legal issues in the country.

Unlike the preconceived notions of many of those around me, female trafficking victims in Canada aren’t just relocated into Canada from other countries. Many victims are Canadians who come from marginalized groups such as Aboriginals, young girls, immigrants, minorities, and abuse survivors and have lived in the country all their lives.

I was discussing the issue with a friend recently who was in disbelief that this could happen in her own backyard. She asked questions such as, “how does this happen?” “Why does our government let this happen?” and “How can we help?” All very good questions which require addressing:

How does the trafficking of women happen in Canada?

Often, trafficking victims are lured by traffickers who use deception to trap them with promises of better living conditions, a career, or are simply abducted. The trafficker could be an organized crime ring/gang, pimp or even a friend or family member. Many female victims have a history of sexual abuse and domestic violence. The victims may be lured from public places such as bus or train stations, shops and in the street however the internet is becoming the biggest medium for luring victims in.

Traffickers use many techniques to be able to continue to exploit and traffic women. Many times they threaten their lives and the lives of their loved ones. They will also isolate them from their loved ones and use techniques such as torture, rape, starvation and confinement to keep them conditioned.

Women and girls from other countries are falsely promised a job in a peaceful country or a whirlwind romance and then forced into trafficking.

Why does our government let this happen?

It is not an issue of the government allowing trafficking to happen. Trafficking is a very underground, lucrative business that is extremely difficult to trace. Victims can be hidden behind businesses such as escort services and massage parlors. They may also be working in residential brothels which are very hard to find without a proactive investigation.

There are currently many initiatives taking place in Canada to combat human trafficking. This is what Public Safety Canada has to say about their efforts:

“Canada was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Our efforts are guided by this Trafficking Protocol and seek to prevent trafficking from occurring, protect victims of human trafficking, bring its perpetrators to justice and build partnerships domestically and internationally. To effectively combat this issue will require the involvement not only of the federal government, but of provincial and territorial governments as well. And to be successful, governments must also work closely with law enforcement, civil society and others.

While many initiatives are underway, both at home and abroad, the time has come to consolidate all of the activities into one comprehensive plan with an unwavering pledge to action. The Government of Canada's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking proposes strategies that will better support organizations providing assistance to victims and helps to protect foreign nationals, including young female immigrants who arrive in Canada alone, from being subjected to illegitimate or unsafe work.

The National Action Plan builds on our current responses and commitment to work together with our partners to prevent and combat this disturbing crime. It leverages and builds on Canada's international and domestic experience to date and provides aggressive new initiatives in order to address human trafficking in all its forms.”

There are many other not-for-profit organizations that are contributing to the halt of human trafficking such as the Canadian Women’s Foundation and many others.

How can we help?

·         Spread the word. Educate your friends and family on the issue, they may not even know that it is happening right in their own city.

·         Ask your MLA and/or MP what they are doing about human trafficking.

·         Make a donation or get active with an organization that is involved with combating human trafficking.

·         Write an article for your local newspaper or online blog.

·         Contact the local authorities and/or a women’s crisis line if you suspect it’s happening in your community.

It is time for Canadians (and residents of other “first world’ countries, for that matter) to open their eyes to this hideous crime. The longer we are blind, the longer traffickers profit.

Sources

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/ht-tp/htta-tpem-eng.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Canada

http://www.canadianwomen.org/trafficking

By Jennifer Andrews

The Travel Industry Takes On Human Trafficking

THE travel industry — long an unwitting participant in human trafficking at hotels and on airplanes, trains and buses — lately has been increasing efforts to combat the problem, working with private advocacy groups and the federal government in long-term, coordinated initiatives that go beyond its normal philanthropic activities.

“People don’t realize how prevalent it is,” Sam Gilliland, chief executive of the travel technology company Sabre Holdings, said of the trafficking problem. “It is not restricted to certain areas in the world. It’s everywhere.”

He called human trafficking a $32 billion-a-year business, but the Polaris Project, an advocacy group, thinks it is higher. The group said that an estimated 21 to 27 million people globally are held as virtual slaves.

At a news conference in September, Mr. Gilliland announced Sabre’s “Passport to Freedom” initiative, which will train its 10,000 employees in 60 countries how to identify and report potential trafficking incidents. Jada Pinkett Smith, an actress and anti-human trafficking activist, was one of the speakers. Sabre, which owns Travelocity, plans to expand its outreach to businesses, travel agents and travelers who use its software and will eventually include informational links in all itineraries to raise awareness of the largely hidden problem.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation and Amtrak also announced stepped-up efforts against trafficking. Through a partnership, the Department of Transportation is in the process of training more than 55,000 employees and Amtrak plans to train some 20,000 employees to counter the problem.

“Everyone has a role to play in putting a stop to human trafficking,” Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, said in an e-mail, “and at D.O.T., we’re doing our part by making sure that no form of transportation is used to move people against their will. By working with partners in the transportation and travel industry, we can help train even more people to identify the signs, speak up — and possibly save a life.”

Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, likened the initiative to the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to combat terrorism. “We can’t do it alone,” she said.

The United States travel industry’s commitment to fight trafficking has gathered momentum since 2004, when Ecpat USA, or End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, introduced the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, a voluntary set of guidelines for the travel and tourism industry.

Carlson became the first United States-based global travel and hospitality company to join in 2004, and since then the Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, Delta Air Lines, Accor hotels, Hilton Worldwide, the Real Hospitality Group and Sabre have signed.

Large travel companies have a long tradition of philanthropic involvement, from raising money to cure cancer to flying in food and supplies and providing low- or no-cost flights and hotel rooms for relief workers after disasters like Katrina or the tsunami in Japan. But the scope of this initiative is somewhat unusual, said Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and co-founder of the Atmosphere Research Group, a market research company.

“Rarely do you see companies participate in a coordinated effort like this,” he said. “Travel businesses are becoming aware that they can’t be complacent, and their employees want the companies to be on the right side of issues such as this.”

Marilyn Carlson Nelson, chairman of Carlson, said, “The travel and hospitality industry is in a unique position to address this problem.” The company, whose brands include Radisson, Country Inns and Suites and T.G.I. Friday’s, says its more than 80,000 hotel employees in 81 countries receive required training to deter trafficking of children. Front desk employees, for example, are encouraged to look for visual clues like signs of abuse or fear among potential victims; young people made up to look older; and clients who pay with cash, are reluctant to provide identification or have no luggage.

Brenda Schultz, who oversees Carlson’s hotel training program, said “Some girls are tattooed with things like ‘Daddy’s girl.’ ”

Housekeeping staff might be alerted to criminal activity if there are an unusually large number of electronic devices in guest rooms, or many condoms in the wastebasket, she said.

“There is no one way that it happens,” said Sandi D. Mitchell, a Sabre manager who oversees employee training to counter trafficking. “Some are abducted, some are wooed, some believe they are coming to America for a better life,” but then become indentured servants or victims of forced labor. Trafficking victims can be hidden from hotel management through third-party suppliers of janitorial, housekeeping, landscaping or other services.

Petra Hensley, a survivor of trafficking, helped train Sabre employees by pointing out red flags — for example, an older man traveling with a young girl who does not appear to be his daughter and the two carry passports from different countries. “Ask the girl where she is going,” she said. “If she is reluctant to answer, something is not right. It’s about questions. It’s about body language.”

“People on airplanes don’t think of it as a danger zone, but trafficking can occur just about anywhere,” said Ms. Hensley, now 35, who was abducted, raped and sold for sex at the age of 16 in her native Czech Republic; she now does advocacy work through the Sojka Foundation, which she founded.

Nancy Rivard, president of Airline Ambassadors, recounted an incident about a month ago on a major airline. A flight attendant noticed something odd: a young American girl, who said she had never flown before, traveling by herself in first class from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The girl said the seat was a gift from a man she “met” online.

The attendant checked the records, and learned that someone with an unusual e-mail address bought the ticket, but she did not know what to do. A few days later, the attendant contacted Ms. Rivard. Ms. Rivard, also a flight attendant, recounted the attendant saying, “ ‘I can’t sleep at night because I am so worried about the girl.’ She went to the airline for help, but no one knew what to do. Stories like that are not uncommon.”

“Currently, no U.S. airline mentions human trafficking in training, as far as I know,” she said, because airlines do not want to be associated with something that may reflect poorly on their brand.

But Ms. Rivard, whose group provides training to airline personnel on a voluntary basis, said she recently learned that at least three major American airlines plan to begin training next year.

Ms. Rivard contacted Homeland Security and the trafficker and girl were located and she was taken to safety.

“Every day I talk to airline attendants who say, ‘There was a girl on my flight who didn’t look normal,’ “ she said. “It’s growing everywhere.”

Stephen Barth, a lawyer and professor of hospitality law at the University of Houston, said he believed that among the travel industry’s major brands, awareness of the problem had become widespread. “The goal now is to create more awareness among the 50,000 independent hotels scattered all over the U.S. and around the world,” he said.

But challenges remain, particularly among cheaper properties. “Franchisers don’t actually operate the franchised hotels,” which can result in variable compliance, he said. And at some properties, both franchised and independent, security might consist of only one person at the front desk.

Michelle Guelbart, private sector project coordinator for Ecpat USA, said the public should get involved too. Not long ago, she said, the Sisters of Saint Joseph, a religious order, contacted a hotel in St. Louis and asked if it had a policy against human trafficking. “The hotel did not,” Ms. Guelbart recalled, “but put one in place.” 

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/giving/the-travel-industry-takes-on-human-trafficking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

James Bond in 'Skyfall': Hero, Patriot and...Exploiter of Sex Trafficking Victims?

When it comes to his treatment of women, James Bond has never been a nice man. That’s part of his retrograde charm. But in "Skyfall," the newest installment of the Bond franchise, Agent 007 reaches a new level of not-niceness: having sex with and otherwise exploiting a captive victim of sexual trafficking. And it’s not at all charming to professional advocates for victims of sexual violence and trafficking.

On Thursday night I saw a screening of the film, which opens nationwide today (and which I otherwise enjoyed). Here’s a quick summary of the relevant plot thread, with some spoilers:

At a casino in Macau, Bond meets Sévérine, a woman he believes to be working for Silva, the film’s villain. Bond notices a distinctive tattoo on her wrist that identifies her as a former brothel worker and correctly guesses that she is not, in fact, Silva’s employee but his captive, bought or stolen out of the brothels to serve him. She agrees to lead Bond to Silva on the promise that he will kill the villain. They part ways. In the following scene, Sévérine, who believes Bond to be dead, is in the shower when he enters, naked, and initiates sex. In the following scene, they arrive at Silva’s stronghold, and Silva promptly kills Sévérine.

READ MORE:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/11/09/james-bond-in-skyfall-hero-patriot-and-exploiter-of-sex-trafficking-victims/