In the shadow of the Olympic Games

Human trafficking is an enormous industry, third only to the billion dollar economies of illegal arms trade and drug trafficking. It is estimated that 27 million people are enslaved today around the world, though it remains difficult to know the real number of victims. Between 600,000 and 800,000 of those enslaved are moved across international boarders annually. They are exploited for the purposes of forced labour, criminal activities, pornography and sex. And though this may seem like a faraway issue, Canada has been found to be a destination, source and transit country for victims of trafficking.

Human trafficking is rooted in long-standing gender, race, and power inequalities. It is a multi-faceted social problem, fed by serious poverty and social exclusion – especially the lack of economic options for poor women and girls. It is influenced by situations of corruption and made more challenging by the complexity of international jurisdictional issues. Serious solutions must deal with all of these issues.

In 2009, Conservative MP Joy Smith introduced Bill C-268, which would enforce a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for those convicted of trafficking a child under the age of 18. Due to the prorogation of parliament, progress on Bill C-268 was stalled; it will return to First Reading in the Senate when the new session begins. This means that Canada will have to do without the potential deterrent effect of Bill C-268 during the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The urgency to address trafficking in Canada has grown as it has become well known that world sporting events are occasions for increased trafficking for the purpose of sex. In Germany, the 2006 World Cup created a notable rise in demand for prostitution. “Performance boxes,” housing 650 sex workers and their clients were built near the main venue in Berlin to accommodate the demand.

As the host of the 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens saw a 95% increase in the number of identified trafficking victims that year. The following year that number was only reduced by 24%. If this same trend is applied to Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics, we should expect an increase of approximately 50% in the number of people trafficked in Canada.

Not only foreigners will be abducted and enslaved for the purpose of our Winter Games; Canadian women and children will also be used to meet the increased demand for sex tourism. Aboriginal women and children are especially vulnerable to traffickers because of the desperate conditions experienced on reserves, such as violence, extreme poverty, substance abuse and family breakdown.

What is appalling is that the demand for prostitution and other forms of commercial sex is what fuels the sex industry. This illegal market was created to meet the so-called “sexual need” of men. Traffickers feel it necessary, and profitable, to enslave and exploit vulnerable populations to keep up with the extensive demand. As such, a man’s pleasure has been given priority over the lives of the women and children who are exploited.

They will be raped repeatedly and suffer extreme violence and abuse. The tactics that traffickers use to maintain control over the victims are meant to break them physically and psychologically, to take away any source of hope, to ensure their servitude. The treatment suffered is inhuman because the victims are no longer seen as persons but have become a ‘product’ now used to generate wealth. The greed and sexual need behind this exploitation are great and perverse.

People are currently flooding into Vancouver to watch and take part in the Olympic Games. It is inevitable at this point that sex tourism will be a part of the experience for some. But preventative measures taken by the Canadian government could have some positive impact.

The federal government has provided funding for public education and awareness tools and given the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs a grant to combat trafficking among Aboriginal women and children. The Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons is coordinating with British Columbia’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, the Vancouver Police and the Vancouver Olympic Committee to incorporate anti-trafficking measures into the Olympic security plan. Citizenship and Immigration Canada is providing pamphlets to temporary foreign workers explaining where to seek assistance in case of exploitation or abuse. And the RCMP created a Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre, involving law enforcement, NGOs and community groups, which provides standard protocol for identifying victims and traffickers on the frontlines.

We will have to watch throughout the Winter Games and in the months following to see if these measures were effective in either preventing or finding and prosecuting traffickers. Services assisting victims of trafficking should be trained to be sensitive and responsive to their specific needs. And younger generations of men must be taught about healthy relationships and respectful attitudes towards women to curb the future demand on the sex industry. Trafficking is a horrific crime and efforts towards its prevention and elimination must continue.