Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
Overview
Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants are moved illegally by highly
organized international smuggling and trafficking groups, often in dangerous
or inhumane conditions. This phenomenon has been growing in recent years, but
Canada, alongside the international community, is taking decisive action to
halt these serious criminal activities.
Difference between Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking:
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are two separate offences and differ
in a few central respects. While 'smuggling' refers to facilitating the illegal
entry of a person into a State, ‘trafficking’ includes an element
of exploitation. The trafficker retains control over the migrant -- through
force, fraud or coercion -- typically in the sex industry, through forced labour
or through other practices similar to slavery. Trafficking violates basic human
rights, and the unfortunate reality is that an overwhelming majority of those
trafficked are women and children. These victims are commodities in a multi-billion
dollar global industry. Criminal organizations are choosing to traffic human
beings because, unlike other commodities, people can be used repeatedly and
because trafficking requires little in terms of capital investment. Smuggling
is also reaping huge financial dividends to criminal groups who charge migrants
massive fees for their services. Intelligence reports have noted that drug-traffickers
and other criminal organizations are switching to human cargo to obtain greater
profit with less risk.
Canadian Initiatives
Legislation:
On June 28, 2002, a specific offence against human trafficking came into force
in the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The trafficking offence (s. 118)
provides for very severe penalties: fines of up to $1 million and imprisonment
for up to life.
In addition to the trafficking offence in the IRPA, a large number of Criminal
Code offences also apply to trafficking in persons, including: kidnapping,
extortion, forcible confinement, conspiracy, and controlling or living off the
avails of prostitution as well as organized crime offences.
Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons:
A federal Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) was formed to develop Canada’s
position with respect to the text of the United Nations Trafficking and Smuggling
Protocols during the course of their negotiation. The IWG has recently been
mandated to be the focal point in the Federal Government for the coordination
of national efforts to combat human trafficking and the development of a federal
strategy. The Working Group, currently under the joint lead of Foreign Affairs
and Justice Canada, has participation from representatives of 14 government
departments and agencies.
The IWG produced a multilingual (14 languages) Anti-Trafficking
Pamphlet that warns potential trafficking victims of the dangers of falling
prey to human traffickers and informs them of Canadian laws. It was distributed
through Canadian missions abroad and to non-governmental organizations with
access to potential trafficking victims in source States.
The Department of Justice:
The Department of Justice Canada has developed a Website
on Trafficking in Persons in conjunction with the work of the IWG. The website
provides information on the definition of trafficking, the domestic and international
efforts to combat trafficking and assist victims, and many other resources and
links to partner organizations that are involved in similar efforts.
International Initiatives
The role of transnational organized crime in the trafficking of people and
the smuggling of migrants is growing. As smuggling and trafficking-related activities
take place in numerous countries, governments cannot successfully combat these
offences in isolation. In addition, many countries lack specific provisions
to deal adequately with these issues. For this reason, the international community
has begun a concerted effort to thwart international criminal networks. Canada
ratified the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNCTOC) on
May 13, 2002, which officially entered into force on September 29, 2003. The
Convention extends tools for co-operation against organized crime to a global
level, facilitating information sharing as well as law enforcement co-operation
amongst parties.
Canada also ratified two supplementary protocols to the UNCTOC:
Both protocols offer improved legal and judicial tools to prevent and combat
smuggling and trafficking, enhance information sharing and promote co-operation
among States in order to achieve these objectives. Of particular importance,
the Trafficking Protocol expands the scope of protection and support to victims
and witnesses. Canada commanded a leading role in the development of these agreements
and is actively encouraging other States to ratify and implement them quickly.
Additional Links:
For information on the efforts to combat trafficking in persons in Europe,
please go to The
Council of Europe.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
plays an active role in countering human trafficking, including carrying out
information campaigns, providing counselling services and conducting research
on this growing international problem.
For substantive research resources on human trafficking and international crime,
two excellent UN sites are worth looking into: The United Nations Office of
Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)
is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has developed close working relationships
with other NGOs, various Governments and International Organizations on the
topic of trafficking. CATW also publishes a “Trafficking in Women”
report annually.
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