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Authors: Benjamin Perrin
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organizations.
OCTIP considers an individual under eighteen to be a âprobable trafficked childâ if one or more of the following âsignificant indicators of traffickingâ exist:
â¢Â  travelling with an unrelated person posing as a family member
â¢Â  possessing neither personal identification nor travel documents
â¢Â  arriving with contact information for persons unknown
â¢Â  holding expectations of an unattainable job or education
â¢Â  travelling in unsafe and hazardous conditions
â¢Â  fearing for the safety of family and/or self
â¢Â  owing significant amounts of money to a person or group who may have arranged transportation (debt bondage)
Some of the impetus to launch OCTIP as an effective response to the problem of human trafficking dates back to the summer of 1999, when four boatloads of illegal Chinese migrants arrived on the British Columbia coast. The boats were intercepted and the B.C. Ministry of Child and Family Development took 134 children into care. The children were considered to be smuggled, and only one was allowed to remain in Canada. As an official associated with the investigation points out, âIn 1999, we didnât have the trafficking language.â In retrospect, the OCTIP guidelines indicate that these children might have been intended for exploitation as trafficking victims in North America; they owed a smuggling debt of fifty to sixty thousand dollars, they were under tremendous pressure to keep moving to their intended destination, and their documents were missing. Recent cases continue to raise serious concerns about smuggled children being trafficked through British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada.
Each year in Toronto, for example, eighteen to twenty unaccompanied children arrive at Pearson International Airport. Often from India, China, Africa, and the Caribbean, the children in many instances are accompanied by adults pretending to be their parents. In other cases, the children board the planes accompanied by adults who abandon them upon arrival at Canadian customs. When these children are discovered alone in the customs hall, child protection workers are brought in to assess the situation.
While some children may be brought to Canada in an attempt to unite them illegally with family members or acquaintances, arepresentative of the Peel Childrenâs Aid Society is concerned that some foreign teenagers carrying phone numbers of unknown people whom they are to call upon arrival in Canada may be destined for sexual exploitation.
Canada continues to appear reluctant to recognize smuggled migrants as trafficked persons where indicators of potential exploitation on arrival become evident. True, the challenge is significant. On one hand, countries such as Canada need to prevent human trafficking and protect potential victims at the earliest stage possible. On the other hand, becoming more accommodating of smuggled migrants increases the potential appeal for traffickers and other criminals to profit from illegal entry, undermining the security and integrity of Canadaâs borders.
Where children are involved, a cautious approach is clearly necessary, as demonstrated by the United Kingdom. The alternative is for Canada and other countries to tolerate the potential for severe abuse of children.
Hope after decades of sexploitation
Lawlessness and collapse are the two words most appropriate, and most frequently used, to describe Ukraine through the late 1980s. As the countryâs economic malaise deepened and the Communist hold loosened, organized crime stepped in to fill the power vacuum.
During this volatile period Katya, a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl, was abducted to be sold for sex. For more than two decades, Katya served as a slave, devoid of comfort, rewards, or freedom. After having been sold to traffickers in Africa, Europe, and North America, she was brought to Canada by her newest
OCTIP considers an individual under eighteen to be a âprobable trafficked childâ if one or more of the following âsignificant indicators of traffickingâ exist:
â¢Â  travelling with an unrelated person posing as a family member
â¢Â  possessing neither personal identification nor travel documents
â¢Â  arriving with contact information for persons unknown
â¢Â  holding expectations of an unattainable job or education
â¢Â  travelling in unsafe and hazardous conditions
â¢Â  fearing for the safety of family and/or self
â¢Â  owing significant amounts of money to a person or group who may have arranged transportation (debt bondage)
Some of the impetus to launch OCTIP as an effective response to the problem of human trafficking dates back to the summer of 1999, when four boatloads of illegal Chinese migrants arrived on the British Columbia coast. The boats were intercepted and the B.C. Ministry of Child and Family Development took 134 children into care. The children were considered to be smuggled, and only one was allowed to remain in Canada. As an official associated with the investigation points out, âIn 1999, we didnât have the trafficking language.â In retrospect, the OCTIP guidelines indicate that these children might have been intended for exploitation as trafficking victims in North America; they owed a smuggling debt of fifty to sixty thousand dollars, they were under tremendous pressure to keep moving to their intended destination, and their documents were missing. Recent cases continue to raise serious concerns about smuggled children being trafficked through British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada.
Each year in Toronto, for example, eighteen to twenty unaccompanied children arrive at Pearson International Airport. Often from India, China, Africa, and the Caribbean, the children in many instances are accompanied by adults pretending to be their parents. In other cases, the children board the planes accompanied by adults who abandon them upon arrival at Canadian customs. When these children are discovered alone in the customs hall, child protection workers are brought in to assess the situation.
While some children may be brought to Canada in an attempt to unite them illegally with family members or acquaintances, arepresentative of the Peel Childrenâs Aid Society is concerned that some foreign teenagers carrying phone numbers of unknown people whom they are to call upon arrival in Canada may be destined for sexual exploitation.
Canada continues to appear reluctant to recognize smuggled migrants as trafficked persons where indicators of potential exploitation on arrival become evident. True, the challenge is significant. On one hand, countries such as Canada need to prevent human trafficking and protect potential victims at the earliest stage possible. On the other hand, becoming more accommodating of smuggled migrants increases the potential appeal for traffickers and other criminals to profit from illegal entry, undermining the security and integrity of Canadaâs borders.
Where children are involved, a cautious approach is clearly necessary, as demonstrated by the United Kingdom. The alternative is for Canada and other countries to tolerate the potential for severe abuse of children.
Hope after decades of sexploitation
Lawlessness and collapse are the two words most appropriate, and most frequently used, to describe Ukraine through the late 1980s. As the countryâs economic malaise deepened and the Communist hold loosened, organized crime stepped in to fill the power vacuum.
During this volatile period Katya, a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl, was abducted to be sold for sex. For more than two decades, Katya served as a slave, devoid of comfort, rewards, or freedom. After having been sold to traffickers in Africa, Europe, and North America, she was brought to Canada by her newest
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