Human Trafficking Roundtable in Toronto

By Orest Zakydalsky

On Thursday, January 25, a roundtable entitled Human Trafficking from Eastern Europe: North American and EU Responses was held at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. The event was sponsored by the European Union Centre of Excellence, the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, the Joint Initiative in German and European Studies, and the Centre for European Russian and Eurasian Studies.

The roundtable consisted of two separate panels, the first of which focused on human trafficking in the European context. Louise Shelley, Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Centre, spoke about how human trafficking from and within Eastern Europe has transcended from its communism paradigm to become institutionalized. The human trafficking phenomenon in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union persists despite the improvement in economic conditions in the region, and victims are trafficked not only for prostitution, but also labour, adoption and other reasons. Khalid Koser (Deputy Director, Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement), stated that the EU’s proposals for dealing with the problem are fairly comprehensive and integrated. However, EU states, the United Kingdom in particular, tend to deal with the problem in a unilateral way, focusing on their own national security. Thus, in the EU there continue to be national and regional approaches to what is really an international issue.

Alexandra Orlova (School of Criminal Justice, Ryerson University) spoke about legal efforts in Russia directed against human trafficking. President Putin and the Russian government treat it as a low-priority issue given a low number of cases opened against traffickers. There still persists a social stigma against those engaged in the sex trade - a notion that they ‘are getting what they deserve.’ In that decision making in Russia is highly centralized, there is widespread ignorance and complacency to the problem within Russian law enforcement.

 Halyna Zalucky (Help Us Help the Children Anti-Trafficking Initiative) spoke about orphans in Ukraine, who are a particularly vulnerable social group for human traffickers. Due to the economic limitations and difficulties that face orphans after leaving orphanages, they often fall prey to human traffickers who promise employment in other countries, only to force their victims into prostitution or slave labour. In 2005, the Trafficking Awareness Program educated some 1000 orphans and 500 orphanage staff about the problem and how to respond to it. Alla Galych (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) discussed the role of international organizations in combating trafficking in Ukraine. She spoke mainly of three organizations: the International Organization of Migration, which since 1996, has supported a network of NGOs who focus on trafficking throughout the regions of Ukraine; LaStrada Ukraine which carries out educational and public information campaigns, as well as, providing victims of trafficking with a place to turn and; the OSCE which works with the Ukrainian government to implement regulations and laws pertaining to trafficking and carries out information campaigns for Ukrainian journalists.

The second panel focused on Canadian responses to human trafficking. Audrey Macklin (Faculty of Law, University of Toronto) pointed out that while the Canadian government offers temporary visas to people who have been trafficked into the country, it is very difficult for victims to prove this has occurred. Furthermore, the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, to which Canada is a signatory, is an inadequate mechanism for dealing with the issue. In the Palermo Protocol the main victim of trafficking is the state to which people are trafficked, while the people being trafficked are viewed as the ‘contraband’ brought into the country. Thus, the current international approach is one that focuses on international crime, as opposed to the violation of the human rights of the victims. Julie Meeks (RCMP) spoke about the fact that while human trafficking is now a national priority of the Canadian government and the RCMP, there is little empirical data about trafficking and there are serious gaps in knowledge and awareness even among law enforcement. To date, only one person in Canada has been charged under anti-trafficking legislation. On community work and NGO initiatives, Irena Soltys spoke about the Stop the Trafficking Coalition and Help Us Help the Children in lobbying the Canadian government to make trafficking a greater priority and to ensure the availability of victim services.

The two panels brought several key issues to the forefront. Most important is the fact that human trafficking, while clearly a pressing global human rights and crime problem (it is the third most lucrative international crime business after drugs and arms smuggling) is still not getting the attention from governments that would lead to a solution, or at least mitigation, of the crisis. While the initiatives of NGOs and private citizens are surely commendable and valuable, without the allocation of sizeable government resources to deal with the issue of trafficking there is only so much that can be done. It is long overdue for the governments of Ukraine, Russia and others in Eastern Europe, as well as, the governments of the West to respond forcefully to the crisis of human trafficking and its flagrant abuses of human rights the world over.