HUMAN TRAFFICKING STOP - Christianna - A4C - May 2022
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
133.89366
Summary
In this episode, Christiana talks about the problem of human trafficking and how it is a huge problem in our own home country of Canada. She talks about Aung, who was trafficked from Cambodia to Thailand as a child, and how he is now free and living with his family.
Transcript
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Hi, I'm Christiana and I'm 11 years old. I live in Calgary, Alberta. Today I want to talk to you
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about something that's very important to me. It was August 1st, 1834 that slavery was abolished
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throughout the British Empire. Although it became illegal, it still exists today. I believe that
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this is a big problem and is ignored even though it is worse than it has ever been before. There
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are more people enslaved to take than any other time in history. This kind of slavery is called
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trafficking and I'm not talking about rush hour. This is the trafficking of humans, human trafficking.
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Human trafficking is the exploitation of vulnerable people for their bodies and labor.
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Let me introduce you to Aung, who had been used for begging since he was born. He was often spotted
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early mornings and late evenings, crying alone on the street with a changeful. Sometimes he was
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carried around by other children, begging to tourists, crossing the border from Cambodia to Thailand.
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His body was covered with bruises and scratches. Hundreds of people would walk past him every
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day while crossing the border. But now Aung is free and in the care of a loving family. Or what
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about Jenny? Jenny was only 15 when she met her trafficker. She was using social media when one day
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a cute older guy contacted her and showed interest. After a month, he said he wanted to keep dating her and
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buying her gifts, but she had to do something for him. That's when he trafficked her for her body.
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Today, she is free. With more awareness, more loves like Jenny's will be spared. Human trafficking generates
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an average of $150 billion per year. This blows my mind. There are an estimated 40.3 million people
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enslaved right now. Men, women, and children can all be victims of trafficking. Statistics tell us that
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those who are trafficked are 71% women, 29% are men, 25% are children. Slavery happens in every country
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of the world and an estimated 5.4 out of every 1,000 people are enslaved in the world today. This is a
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huge problem right here in our own backyard. In Canada, there were only over 500 incidents of human
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trafficking reported by police in Canada 2019, up to 44% from a year earlier. At 1.4 instance per 100,000
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population, the 2019 rates was the highest since comparable data became available in 2009. About
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two out of three human trafficking victims are girls and young women. Police reported data indicate that
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human trafficking is a crime that primarily targets women and girls like me. More than one in five
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victims were girls aged 17 and younger and 43% were young women aged 18 to 24. Let me read that again.
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More than one in five victims were girls aged 17 and younger and 43% were young women aged 18 to 24.
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Let that sink in. Even children are used for their labor and bodies. This has a huge impact on my generation.
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And why is it being ignored? I'll ask you again. Why is it being ignored? Less than one in 10 human
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trafficking charges resulted in guilty fining compared with 31% of violent offense charges in case overall.
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Instead, the vast majority, 89% of human trafficking charges were stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged. Wait,
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what? They were discharged? That's impossible. We can't just sit here and watch any longer as men,
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women and children suffer. We need our government to work hard to protect and prevent and prosecute.
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There should be stronger legal consequences of those who are convicted of trafficking in Canada.
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But what can we do? We can do more research and become more aware. We can help make others aware.
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One way to do this is going on the Walk for Freedom with A21 on October 15th.
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My family and I will be taking part in the Walk for Freedom for the first time and I would invite you and
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your family to consider doing the same. Together, we can bring awareness and save lives. Thank you.