Human Trafficking is defined as the

recruitment, harbouring,
transportation, provision or obtaining
of a person for commercial sex, labour
or services through the use of force,
fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of
subjecting that person to involuntary
servitudes, peonage, debt bondage, or
slavery.
As defined by United Nations
Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Letter from Birmingham
Jail 1963
 Money made from human trafficking
rivals that made from drug trafficking
and illegal arms trade for the top
criminal activity

Trafficking is a $10 billion a year

enterprise

Thereare more human slaves today than

when slavery was legal in the world
 Itis estimated that 27,000,000
slaves exist in our world today

Each year, 800,000 people are

trafficked across international
borders

80% female and 50% children

 SOME CAUSES OF TRAFFICKING

Poverty especially among women worldwide

Inadequate education
Inadequate employment
Erosion of traditional family values
Racial discrimination, racism and intolerance
Media, new technologies, pornography
Discrimination of women, male attitudes
Economic disparities within countries
Globalization and economic liberalisation
Civil and military conflicts/military bases
Transnational crime and weak law enforcement
Corruption by police, law enforcers, officials
Expanding commercial sex industry
ADDRESSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING
IS A MATTER OF JUSTICE
Victims exploited for sexual purposes:
are used as prostitutes or sex slaves

work 18 or more hours a day, 7 days a

week

are often chained to beds; or

made drug addicts to control them

are subjected to physical violence

Victims often:

contracttuberculosis, AIDS/HIV or
other sexually transmitted diseases

have other medical conditions due to

their living/working conditions

suffer
from post-traumatic stress
syndrome
 Because of fear of AIDS/HIV, traffickers
are selling young children to men for
sexual purposes

Extreme poverty causes parents in some

developing countries to sell their
daughters

Women and children can be sold up to 10

times
SLAVE LABOUR
A 9-year-old girl makes bricks under the hot sun
No one shall be held in slavery or
servitude; slavery and the slave trade
shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 4, United Nations Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Victims of slave labour are often:

forced to work 18-20 hours a day,

seven days a week in sweat shops,
fields, construction, restaurants or
domestic situations

chained to their work stations or

locked into rooms
 given no breaks and little food or
water

tricked
into taking out a loan at
extremely high interest rates

physicallyabused if they refuse to

pay the high interest rates
Malo (5 years old) holds a
sharp grass cutting tool in
her hand that she uses to
work in the fields
 Boys as young as 6
are stolen from their
villages to become
soldiers in many
countries

Are forced to
commit atrocities

Are tortured and abused

by captors
THE CANADIAN SITUATION
 According
to the RCMP, each year
some 800 people are trafficked into
Canada

Non-government organizations (NGOs)

estimate 16,000 annually

1,500 2,200 people are trafficked

through Canada into the United States
 Canada is a destination/transit
country for women/children
trafficked for sexual exploitation

Between $120 - $400 million is

brought into Canada each year
through trafficking.
 Aboriginal women are driven into
trafficking by poverty and
conditions on the reserve

Traffickers
start them in
Vancouver, then sell them to
someone in Winnipeg, Toronto or
other places across the country
Every religion emphasizes human
improvement, love, respect for others,
sharing other peoples suffering. On
these lines every religion has more or
less the same viewpoint and the same
goal.

The Dalai Lama

WHATS THE CANADIAN
GOVERNMENT DOING
ABOUT IT?
 2002 - Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
(IRPA) makes it illegal to traffic in human beings

2004 - Interdepartmental Working Group on

Trafficking led by Foreign Affairs and Justice
Department created with 3 goals
Prevention
Prosecution
Protection

More emphasis needed on prosecution and

protection.
 May 2006 Citizenship and Immigration
created Temporary Residents Permits
(TRPs) for trafficked persons for up to
120 days to access medical, dental,
psychological and trauma counselling

May 2007 - amendment to the

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
(Bill-C57) passed to end granting of work
permits for immigrant exotic dancers
 GOLDEN RULE

Do Unto Others As You

Would Wish Them To Do
Unto You!
The Ethic According to Several World Faiths

BUDDHISM

a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me,

how could I inflict that upon another?
Samyutta Nikaya v. 353

Hurt not other in ways that you yourself would

Find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5:18
 CHRISTIANITY

In everything do to others as you would have

them do to you; for this is the law and the
prophets. Matthew 7:12 (NRSV)

Do to others as you would have them do to

you. Luke 6:31 (NRSV)
 ISLAM

None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for

his brother what he wishes for himself. Number
13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths.

 HINDUISM

This is the sum of duty: do not do to

others what would cause pain if done
to you. Mahabharata 5:1517
 JUDAISM

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your

countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:18 (TANAKH)

What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the

law: all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

 Although Hebrew Scriptures have been used to justify slavery,

the Bible should not be used to exploit, indenture, demean,
and dehumanise fellow human beings.

The Scriptural account of slavery is not the same as the

slavery of later centuries which involved kidnapping African
people for export around the world as a commodity or, indeed,
as the modern slavery that plagues nations today

Most slaves in Ancient Israel were sold into servitude as a way of

paying debts

There was a system of emancipation to ensure that slaves would

not remain permanently indentured (Sabbath and Jubilee years)
WHY SHOULD FAITH GROUPS CARE?
 Treating people as a commodity is an affront to the
human dignity and the worth of a person, and a sin
before the eyes of God

The abuse of other human beings for profit and

personal enjoyment is deplorable

When one is abused, whether financially, sexually,

emotionally, physically or otherwise, even God cries
out at the injustice

The inequality of personhood is offensive to most

faiths
WHAT CAN WE DO?
 Raise Awareness about Trafficking

Lobby Government

Seek justice and healing for Victims

SupportFair Trade to help eliminate

poverty which can lead to Trafficking

Purchase Fair Trade Products

Pray for Victims

It is from the numberless diverse acts of
courage and belief that human history is
shaped. Each time one person stands up for an
ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or
strikes out against injustice, that person sends
a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other
from a million different centers of energy and
daring, those ripples build a current which can
sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression
and resistance.

Robert Kennedy
 The Committee on Human Trafficking is a sub-
committee of the Justice and Peace Commission

VISION

Our Vision is to educate ourselves, our parishes and communities on issues
related to human trafficking and to advocate for victims of human
trafficking.

OUR GOALS

To prepare an educational package that can be used to make presentations

or do workshops for interested groups.

To develop an Education Plan that can be used by parishes/faith

communities to educate their faithful.