Viola was 13 when she moved from Albania to Italy with her 21-year old boyfriend who told her his cousins living there would help him find work. He also proposed marriage.
But after their arrival, the boyfriend locked Viola in a hotel room and disappeared, leaving Viola to the mercy of the trafficker to whom he had sold her. For seven days, Viola was beaten and raped repeatedly by a group of men. She was then sold again, and told that if she didn't work as a prostitute, her mother and sister in Albania would be raped and beaten. It was only after police raided the brothel where she was held that Viola escaped her captors. She was deported back to Albania.
Since slavery has been outlawed globally for many years, it is generally thought to be a thing of the past. But human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, is a worldwide, multi-billion dollar industry on a par with illegal gun running and the drug trade. And Viola's experience could take place in any country in the world today—even Canada.
The United States government, which has taken a lead role in combating trafficking in persons both at home and overseas, estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year, and this doesn't include internal trafficking. Of these, 80 percent are women and 50 percent children.
Because of factors such as extreme poverty and a lack of education, the most vulnerable social groups become easy prey for traffickers, who kidnap, defraud or otherwise coerce their captives into prostitution, forced labour or domestic servitude. Children are sold for use as labourers, soldiers or for commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficked Asian children, partially starved so that they weigh less than 50 pounds, are commonly shipped to the Middle East to be used as camel jockeys. Women from East and Southeast Asia are also trafficked into North America by the thousands as virtual sex slaves, along with women from Eastern Europe, South America and elsewhere.
"Human beings are just another product that traffickers use," says Shuvaloy Majumdar, Executive Director of the Calgary-based NGO The Future Group. "For them, human beings are a very lucrative product because, unlike drugs or guns, in which after first use their product is diminished, people are re-saleable."
Majumdar says the organized criminal networks who are involved in the illegal trade of arms, drugs and diamonds are also often involved in human trafficking, such as the cartels in Latin America, the Japanese Yakuza, the Korean, Russian and Isreali mafia, and various African gangs. A victim who started out in Vietnam could be sold into Cambodia, from there to China, then on to the Middle East, and end up in any big city in Canada or the United States.
"The speed with which they spirit these girls is breathtakingly extraordinary," says Majumdar. "And they actually act with a fair amount of impunity because a large part of the western world has yet to catch up with the scope and depth of the problem involved with this."
Majumdar says there's evidence that profits from human trafficking are going toward funding terrorist activities. A group known as the Jemaah Islaamiyah, which he says is the Southeast Asian branch of the Al Quaeda, has been caught trafficking women in that region. The illegal trade is also known to exacerbate the spread of AIDS.
Ambassador John Miller, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department, says Washington has invested more than $96 million in anti-trafficking programs abroad, and is committed to working directly with governments and NGOs around the world to bring a halt to slavery and rehabilitate the victims. This has resulted in 40 countries passing comprehensive trafficking laws and led to increased arrests of traffickers.
"We want to end it in the U.S. and take the lead to end it wherever we can in the world," says Miller. "We've suffered the stain of slavery in this country and I think that just makes us more sensitive to this issue."
Every year, and estimated 20,000 to 40,000 persons are trafficked into the United States, with upwards of 1,500 of them being trafficked through Canada, according to a 2004 report by the RCMP. That report also estimates that 600-800 persons are trafficked to Canada annually, mainly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Many of these women end up in Canada's cosmopolitan centres like Vancouver and Toronto, where some escort agencies and massage parlous openly advertise their foreign girls.
But despite the surprisingly open nature of the business, only one person has ever been charged with human trafficking in Canada. Michael Ng, currently on trial in Vancouver, faces life in prison and a $1 million maximum in fines for luring women from China with the promise of waitress jobs, then forcing them to work at a massage parlour and perform sex acts.
Britain recently stepped up its fight against human trafficking when it was discovered that "slave auctions" were being conducted in the arrival lounges and coffee shops of the country's airports. Among other tactics, in order to reduce demand, a campaign has been launched in the UK to educate men about the realities of prostitution.
Miller says a similar approach is being conducted in California, where men who have been arrested for buying sex must attend a school where they meet trafficking victims. The hope is that they will eventually come to understand that they haven't been participating in a victimless crime.
"The Congress and President decided that if you're going to fight trafficking in persons you cannot just work on prostitution and protection of victims. You also have to look at what creates a demand, prosecute the buyers, and stop the demand side of it," says Miller.
Many women's groups and NGOs are concerned about a recent push to legalize prostitution in Canada, which they believe would contribute to human trafficking and sex tourism. Daisy Kler, a crisis worker at the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, says that while some people believe legalization protects women who work in the sex trade, the opposite is true.
"We think it's a really grave mistake. We don't see it as a harm reduction strategy, we see it as harm entrenchment."
Kler suspects that a recent push by some BC politicians to legalize prostitution may be connected to the 2010 Olympics. Germany's decision to provide "performance boxes" to be used for illicit sex during the World Cup last month outraged international anti-trafficking groups. Since prostitution was legalized in Germany, the nation has become a destination for trafficking women from Eastern Europe.
"Whenever you have a mega tourist project such as the Olympics or Expo there comes a demand for prostituted women," says Kler. We definitely see a connection between the increase in prostitution and mega projects such as the Olympics—it's undeniable."
In the past, Canada usually detained trafficking victims without providing medical care. Because most trafficked women had their legal documents taken by their traffickers, most nations simply deport them. One of Michael Ng's victims, for example, testified at his trial that she was afraid to go to the police with her story of forced prostitution because she thought she would be thrown in jail. She may have been right -- the woman, who came to Canada from China hoping to work as a waitress, did not have a passport or identification.
After the Future Group issued a damning report on Canada's treatment of trafficking victims earlier this year, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg announced new measures in May to help victims of trafficking, such as issuing temporary resident permits for up to 120 days and making victims eligible for health care benefits.
The problem of human trafficking into Canada was exacerbated by the previous Liberal government's infamous 'exotic dancer program,' which granted visas to strippers from abroad to fill an unmet demand for the dancers in Canada. Although the program ostensibly only granted visas to women who worked as professional strippers in their home countries, there have been cases of women being trafficked into Canada and forced against their will to work as exotic dancers.
According to Majumdar, the exotic dancer visa program has been all but completely scrapped. He now says he is encouraged by the Conservative government's apparent willingness to take the issue of human trafficking seriously.
"We know that there's a lot more work that needs to be done, as does the Minister, and we hope that we can work together to bring Canada's Justice, Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration portfolios up to snuff," says Majumdar.
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