Human Trafficking in [Canada] [other countries]Street Children in [Canada] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Canada |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children
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FEATURED ARTICLES *** Hundreds of kids in sex trade - Testimony jolts inquest; police say hands tied www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/story/3886439p-4494942c.html Hundreds of vulnerable Winnipeg
children, some as young as eight years old, are selling their bodies to adult
men for money, drugs and even food and shelter, a provincial inquest was told
Monday. She told court that 80 per cent of
child prostitution occurs in gang houses and "trick pads." Runner
estimated that 70 per cent of the girls are aboriginal, more than 70 per cent
are wards of Child and Family Services, and more than 80 per cent get
involved after running away from their placements. HAVE THERE BEEN ANY MAJOR CASES IN
WINNIPEG? - In 2005,
more than 30 children were involved in an alleged West End child prostitution
ring in a Victor Street home. Police
said about 20 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 16 were used in the sex
operation, and 11 others from 18 months to 11 years old were sometimes in the
vicinity of the sex crimes. Drugs
blamed for child prostitution "It started with drugs for
me," said Anna Moore, standing on a street corner in Winnipeg's North
End. Although she looked more like she
should be in school than working the streets, Moore claimed she was 18 and said
she has been selling sex for years.
"A lady pimped me on the streets and told me I could get money
for drugs, and I did it. But then I couldn't stop," she said. Moore said she doesn't want her family to
think badly of her, but said she can't stop. "This fellow, who calls
himself the sugar daddy, invited her to a party with other kids and gave her
something that she didn't even know what it was — it must have been
crack cocaine mixed with something else — and within no time she was on the
street and hooking," she said.
"This young girl was given it for free, and then they get
hooked." ***
ARCHIVES *** Runaways - Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless Here are the best phone numbers to
call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell anyone about your
call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or you are in
danger. They are open 24 Hours - it
doesn't matter what time you call In
Canada, call 1-800-668-6868 How
To Get Help - Street Helpline: (416)
392-3777 If you are in trouble, need a safe
place to stay or just want help looking at your options Horizons for Youth is
committed to helping out in anyway we can.
Horizons for Youth:
(416) 781-9898 Kids Help Phone: 1 800 668-6868 Providing immediate help and hope
that young people need and deserve - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Every day, Kids Help Phone counsellors answer calls
and online questions from across Canada. No matter what the problem or
concern, our counsellors are there to provide
immediate and caring support, information and, if necessary, referral to a
local community or social service agency. Cybertip.ca is Canada's National Tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of
children. It is a centralized web portal for receiving and addressing reports
from the public regarding child pornography, luring, child sex tourism, and
children who are exploited through prostitution. www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/Americas/Global_Monitoring_Report-CANADA.pdf In Canada, between 10 and 15 per
cent of people involved in street prostitution are under 18, according to
Statistics Canada, but this figure is viewed by most child advocates as a
gross underestimate. The average age recorded for entry into commercial sex
differs across studies, but there is an agreement that children are recruited
by others or feel compelled to enter the sex trade to survive on the street
at an average age of 14-15 years. However, there is some indication that the
age of children entering prostitution is falling, especially for aboriginal
children. Aboriginal youth are disproportionably victimised
through commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and
many have been murdered. The increase in prostitution of
children is causing growing concern. Young girls are seduced by pimps and
subsequently conned into prostitution or forced to work in strip clubs. They
are recruited in public places, such as shopping malls, metro stations and
bus stops, and even on the street. Children running away from physical and/or
sexual abuse at home or in foster care, in particular, are easily spotted by
pimps at the bus and train stations of major Canadian cities. The pimps
befriend them and provide them with food, accommodation and clothes before
hooking them on drugs and alcohol and forcing them into sexual service. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Children were trafficked for
purposes of sexual exploitation. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The
country was a destination and a transit point to the Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003 [52] The Committee is encouraged
by the role Canada has played nationally and internationally in promoting
awareness of sexual exploitation and working towards its reduction, including
by adopting amendments to the Criminal Code in 1997 (Bill C-27) and the
introduction in 2002 of Bill C-15A, facilitating the apprehension and
prosecution of persons seeking the services of child victims of sexual
exploitation and allowing for the prosecution in Canada of all acts of child
sexual exploitation committed by Canadians abroad. The Committee notes, however, concerns
relating to the vulnerability of street children and, in particular,
Aboriginal children who, in disproportionate numbers, end up in the sex trade
as a means of survival. The Committee
is also concerned about the increase of foreign children and women trafficked
into Child
prostitute alleges she was lured to Victoria streets www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=%202f361123-b251-4fc1-97d0-2c578968d52f A man released on bail in October
is back in custody after police discovered he allegedly lured a 14-year-old
female to work as a prostitute. She alleges that she met the
Victoria man over the internet. He lured her to Victoria from her family home
in the B.C. Interior from where she has been missing for three weeks. Once
here, he took control of her possessions, including identification and
wallet. She says that when she tried to leave, he beat her and threatened
her. Prostitution
- Another escort death has sex trade workers debating how to stay safe The perception that most
prostitutes are mentally ill, or abused, or drug or alcohol addicts or were
all forced into the business, is also false, Strachan
argues. She points to herself as an example of someone who consciously chose
to be a prostitute, until, she says, she “just got bored of it.” There are
some drug-addicts, mentally ill and victims of human trafficking in the sex
trade, Strachan admits, but she says they are the
exception and not the rule. White disagrees, however, with the
idea that the majority of women working in the sex trade made an educated
decision to do so. As an Aboriginal woman who looks Caucasian, White explains
that during her childhood she was accepted by neither her Aboriginal nor her
white peers. As a result, White got involved in drugs and alcohol with some
fellow misfits and eventually started to have underage sex. As she puts it,
she was presented with a way to finally fit in, and what she thought was a
great way to make money. “After a
while, you lose your self respect and think, ‘Well, I might as well charge. I
mean, I’m giving it away for free,’” White says. Five
girls in care have been selling sex on Craigslist,
police say Vancouver police have identified
girls as young as 15 advertising sex on Craigslist. Child prostitution in Vancouver has largely
shifted from the streets to the Internet, Houghton said. "It's moved successfully inside for
these kids, because it's a lot harder to police. They seem to be befriended
and groomed by . . . the classic pimp . . . or older kids who seem to be able
to convince them and manipulate them." Child
Trafficking Under Our Radar: MP "You think it doesn't happen
and our Canadian public thinks it doesn't happen with ordinary Canadian
girls, but it does. It's actually gone under the public radar
screen." Young women and children
are bought and sold and forced to work in brothels throughout Canada. While
some victims are lured from other countries with modelling
contracts or the promise of citizenship, others are recruited within Canada.
Human trafficking and child exploitation are not solely the problems of other
countries known for their thriving sex trade industries, she said. The RCMP
estimates that in Canada about 800 women and children are being trafficked
for prostitution each year. Advocacy groups suggest there could be as many as
15,000 victims each year. Drugs
blamed for child prostitution "It started with drugs for
me," said Anna Moore, standing on a street corner in Winnipeg's North
End. Although she looked more like she
should be in school than working the streets, Moore claimed she was 18 and said
she has been selling sex for years.
"A lady pimped me on the streets and told me I could get money
for drugs, and I did it. But then I couldn't stop," she said. Moore said she doesn't want her family to
think badly of her, but said she can't stop. "This fellow, who calls
himself the sugar daddy, invited her to a party with other kids and gave her
something that she didn't even know what it was — it must have been
crack cocaine mixed with something else — and within no time she was on the
street and hooking," she said.
"This young girl was given it for free, and then they get
hooked." Canada
"international pariah" for failing to prosecute child-sex offenders Canada's failure to prosecute
child-sex tourists makes the country look like an "international
pariah," according to one legal expert who helped found The Future
Group, a Canadian non-government organization formed to fight human
trafficking and the child-sex trade.
"Canada does have the poorest record in the world on prosecuting
its citizens for engaging in child-sex tourism," said Benjamin Perrin,
an assistant professor with the University of B.C. School of Law. There has only been one conviction under
the decade-old Canadian law and a second B.C man is
before the courts on the same charges. Hundreds of kids in sex trade - Testimony jolts inquest; police say hands tied www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/story/3886439p-4494942c.html Hundreds of vulnerable Winnipeg
children, some as young as eight years old, are selling their bodies to adult
men for money, drugs and even food and shelter, a provincial inquest was told
Monday. She told court that 80 per cent of
child prostitution occurs in gang houses and "trick pads." Runner
estimated that 70 per cent of the girls are aboriginal, more than 70 per cent
are wards of Child and Family Services, and more than 80 per cent get
involved after running away from their placements. HAVE THERE BEEN ANY MAJOR CASES IN
WINNIPEG? - In 2005,
more than 30 children were involved in an alleged West End child prostitution
ring in a Victor Street home. Police
said about 20 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 16 were used in the sex
operation, and 11 others from 18 months to 11 years old were sometimes in the
vicinity of the sex crimes. More Blue Uniforms To Fight Child Prostitution In
Saskatoon Talks are still in their infancy,
but Saskatoon is in good shape as it looks to get two brand new police
officers from the province to fight child prostitution. Chief Clive Weighill
isn't too sure what the details surrounding the deal with the provincial
government will be. But what he can
say, is that the cops will move right into Vice Squad to get down to
work on the child sex trade in the city...and that he expects the deal to be
in place with the province by April. Megan www.childexploitation.org/prostitution8.html Megan Lewis turned her first trick
when she was 13 and worked in a brothel with other girls as young as 11. They
sold their bodies in the back of a knick-knack shop in Vancouver's Gastown tourist district. Lewis felt she was making big
bucks when she finished a night's work with $30 in her pocket. For 11 years
she was physically and sexually abused. But she couldn't turn her back on the
life she had grown used to. When is a law not a law? When do-gooder politicians fail to proclaim it YEARS OF LOBBYING - Other provinces, notably
Alberta, have had such a law for years, and it has proven effective. In
Ontario, where we have an estimated 1,200 child prostitutes, it took years of
work and lobbying, but in 2002, the then-Conservative government endorsed and
passed the private member's bill originated by MPP
Rick Bartolucci, a Liberal. Trouble is, it was never
proclaimed -- not by the Tories and not by the Liberals since they came to
power, even though it was the brainchild of one of their own. Amazingly, some
youth outreach groups oppose the law as too "draconian" -- because,
hey, why shouldn't a 14-year-old have the right to sell her body for cash? Manitoba
launches 'StopSexWithKids' campaign According to StopSexWithKids.ca,
about 400 children and youth, aged eight to 16 years, are sexually exploited
on Winnipeg streets each year. The average age of a child's first sex trade
experience is 13. Eighty per cent of the exploitation takes place in gang
houses or "trick pads. Brampton
man charged with forcing 14-year-old girl into prostitution A 28-year-old Brampton man is
facing 11 child-prostitution charges involving a 14-year-old girl. Police
allege Kevin Rico Roach recruited the girl to work as a prostitute for him
and maintained a violent relationship with her. Sexual Exploitation Education and Awareness Coalition of
Toronto Launches Poster Campaign to Help End Child Prostitution www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2006/27/c2414.html Today, the Sexual Exploitation
Education and Awareness Coalition of Toronto (SEEACT)
launched its information and outreach poster campaign at Toronto Police
Service Headquarters. The poster is
one of the coalition's projects aimed at spreading awareness and providing
outreach to victims of child prostitution. The slogan, "No 13-Year-Old
Dreams of Getting into Prostitution, Many Dream of Getting Out", is
intended to help children and youth involved in, or affected by, commercial
sexual exploitation reach out for assistance. It is also intended to educate
the public that child prostitution is a form of child abuse. The phone number
will give victims a point of contact for two community support agencies -
Street Outreach Services, LOFT Community Services and Kids Help Phone. N.L. police investigate alleged child porn and
prostitution operation An investigation into a porn and
prostitution ring that allegedly involved 40 young girls in Newfoundland has
prompted the police chief in St. John's to suggest that the province has lost
its innocence. "It involves
allegations that young people in our community were being put in a situation
that involved sexual exploitation or other crimes of a sexual nature," Deering said in an interview. Child-sex ring uncovered in Winnipeg, police allege Sgt. Kelly Dennison said about 20
girls – aged 12 to 17 – were sold into prostitution. Dennison said the other children younger
than age 12, including a baby of only 18 months, weren't necessarily forced
to perform sexual acts but may have been exposed to them because they lived
in the houses where they were taking place. The
Protection Project - Canada [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Several Canadian cities have
been cited as popular sex tourist destinations. Montreal has frequently been
referred to as the Bangkok of the West by American and Canadian tourists, and
American tourists have been known to travel to Montreal for prostituted women
and escort agencies. The Internet has
also helped make Vancouver a sex tourist destination. Along the so-called kiddie stroll, girls as young as 11 work the streets, and
young men are sold for sex in “boys’ town.”
According to Vancouver health authorities, Victoria is a child sex
tourism destination, and Internet sites detail how to buy underage sex there.
Some people visit Victoria for the sole purpose of buying sex. ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for
Action [DOC] www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/publication/other/english/Doc_page/ecpat_5th_a4a_2001_full.doc [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – CANADA – The area where the most progress has been made in Canada is
child/youth participation. The Canadian government continues to support “Out
from the Shadows and Into the Light, ” a project of Save the Children Canada.
The activities carried out under this project include a national consultation
of aboriginal youth who are at risk of CSE. Efforts
are now underway to create a national network of youth who are, or were,
commercially sexually exploited. Apart from developing a network, SEYSO (Sexually Exploited Children Speak Out) will
provide skills development and mentoring programs, and develop community
capacity building. Out Of The
Shadows: Child Prostitutes Speak Out She turned her first trick when she
was 13 and worked in a brothel with other girls as young as 11. They sold
their bodies in the back of a knick-knack shop in Prostitution is a serious issue in Calgary. It is so serious because so many people are hurt by it, not just the prostitutes themselves: · parents and families of prostitutes · spouses and families of people who use prostitutes · community members who must live in neighborhoods where pimps and prostitutes operate · youth and young adults who are at risk of being seduced into prostitution Why Do Youths Get Into Prostitution? While many child prostitutes are
girls who come from troubled family situations, anyone can become a victim.
They don't have to be poor, they can be female or male, they can be any age, and
many young prostitutes still have families who care about them. Here are some
common factors that can lead to young people getting involved in "the
life:" Who Becomes A Child Prostitute? Typical profile of a female
prostitute and typical profile of a male prostitute Teenage Prostitution - The Real Story Many young girls are lured into a
horrible and tragic life of prostitution involving violence and drug
addiction. In early Child
Prostitution: Whose Child Next? 13-year-old Anna was tied to a
chair by a man in his late 20’s in a dark, wet room. Her wounded legs lay
motionless, while her tired black eyes stared with panic at the beaker of
boiling water which the man threatened to pour down her throat if she refused
to go on doing what he demanded: selling her body. Shockingly enough the above
scene was not set in Presentation To The Parliamentary Committee On
Solicitation Young girls and boys of 14 or even
younger are already prostituting themselves in Police
Say 30 Kids Involved In Winnipeg Sex Ring More than 30 children were
victimized in what police are calling the largest case of child prostitution
in CISC 2005 Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada - Report Highlights [PDF] Child prostitution is usually a
hidden section of the prostitution market, and thus frequently exists
alongside adult prostitution, and is therefore, difficult for law enforcement
to identify. Small groups of organized criminals and lower-level organized
crime groups are involved in child prostitution in Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Canada [PDF] [page 2] WHAT IS THE AVERAGE AGE OF ENTRY LEVEL FOR CSEC IN CANADA? Experts place the median age of entry into commercial sexual exploitation anywhere from 13-14 to 16-18. HOW MANY CSEC ARE THERE IN CANADA? Experts disagree on this. For instance, one 2001 news report states that Vancouver has about 500 CSEC under the age of 17 on the street, and 10 times as many girls are forced to work behind closed doors. Real Women of Canada - Position Papers: Statement on Prostitution Prostitutes are extremely
vulnerable members of society, open to personal and sexual degradation,
exploitation and violence from their customers, pimps, and businesses from
whose premises they work. They have no security or job training to
sustain them in later years, and often their physical and mental health is at
risk. We are particularly concerned
about the effect of prostitution on young children and teenagers, giving them
the impression that sexuality is merely recreation and sport, and not a
responsible, loving expression best obtained within the desirable and
permanent context of a conjugal relationship. It encourages teenagers
to view prostitution as a temporary way of financial survival, rather than
working to acquire marketable work skills through the more permanent route of
education and employment. These vulnerable children are
often ìthrow-away kidsî
and we must increase the capacity of rehabilitative centres
to rescue them. There are an estimated 10,000
children living on the streets of A
City Rebuffs Child Prostitution Child prostitution peaked in Vancouver To Get Help In Fight Against Child Prostitution Clueless in
Quebec - Teen prostitutes shame a city In Quebec City, police have been
going after pimps and their clients in a teenage prostitution and strip club
racket. Defendants include thuggish characters from the Caribbean, the
alleged pimps, and some of the city's most prominent citizens, who are among
the alleged clients. Ordinary citizens are embarrassed and ashamed that their
beloved city's reputation has been tarnished, and they're outraged by reports
that the young prostitutes, girls as young as 14, were recruited at shopping
malls with jewelry and fancy clothing. Finally, people in Quebec are worried
that police will not press the case against some influential members of the
Quebec community. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Canada] [other countries]Street Children in [Canada] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Canada