Juno News - January 11, 2021


The global threat of human trafficking


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

124.92493

Word Count

832

Sentence Count

42

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Human trafficking happens every day, in every community in Canada within 10 minutes of where
00:00:10.800 you currently live. And it doesn't stop even during a pandemic. On the contrary, crises only
00:00:18.480 further the human rights abusing industry. Ontario's Regional Peel Police stated that
00:00:24.000 human trafficking is the illegal recruitment, transportation or hiding of someone for the
00:00:29.520 purpose of exploiting them. Human trafficking includes labour and prostitution. Prostitution
00:00:36.080 on the streets is known as the game. Police also say that young people tend to be the most vulnerable,
00:00:43.840 with the average age of victims targeted by traffickers ranging from the ages of 13 to 21.
00:00:52.000 In Canada, 93% of Canada's trafficking victims come from within the country.
00:00:58.240 50% of Canada's human trafficking victims and survivors are Indigenous. And 75% of those
00:01:05.120 currently in prostitution were forced into it as children. Human trafficking has truly become a
00:01:12.160 global threat. It is an injustice that affects millions of people, regardless of their socioeconomic
00:01:18.560 levels, age, sex or the continent in which they live. Now, why bring up human trafficking in the
00:01:25.360 first place? Because human trafficking is a highly lucrative business and a well-organized machine,
00:01:33.360 it generates over 150 billion USD per year, 99 billion of which is produced through sex trafficking within
00:01:42.320 the prostitution industry alone. During the pandemic, the trafficking industry has seen a surge.
00:01:49.040 One common misconception is that trafficking an individual must involve transporting them across
00:01:55.600 international borders. But during the pandemic, the truth of modern-day slavery has reared its ugly head
00:02:03.280 and proven that it can happen in a child's bedroom within your own home. And this speaks to the
00:02:10.080 predominant target of traffickers, which are children online. International crises only drive forward the
00:02:18.080 exploitation of the vulnerable. But how does this happen? Well, whether there is a drought, a war,
00:02:24.880 or a flood, an individual's safety and support structures collapse, people lose their families and jobs. Thus, men,
00:02:34.560 women, and children become desperate and vulnerable, making them prime prey for traffickers.
00:02:42.960 Palm Beach's county state attorney said a lot of the grooming that goes on occurs inside your own home,
00:02:49.840 where your child is on Facebook or other social media sites, and comes into contact with someone
00:02:56.160 who has nefarious intentions. While certain crimes associated with trafficking, such as prostitution,
00:03:03.280 have decreased due to stay-at-home orders, there are more and more reports of internet crimes being
00:03:10.720 committed against children. International lockdowns mean an estimated 75% of humanitarian
00:03:19.360 operations are temporarily on pause, according to the Global Protection Cluster. Meanwhile,
00:03:26.400 cuts in funding to anti-trafficking organizations have only exasperated the very work to confront
00:03:32.880 trafficking atrocities. One such example of this is seen in the case of the World Food Program,
00:03:39.440 who had to cut its food distribution programs by 50% in human trafficking hotspots, which is only placed
00:03:47.280 economically in socially vulnerable communities in dire positions. Pornography also fuels the
00:03:55.440 trafficking industry. Fight the New Drug states on its website, the porn industry is tied inescapably
00:04:02.400 to sex trafficking. It normalizes the actions trafficking victims are forced into. It desensitizes
00:04:09.760 victims of sex trafficking to those actions, and it's used as advertising by both pimps and traffickers.
00:04:19.120 Clicking, downloading, or consuming videos and images sends the message that sexual entertainment is
00:04:25.600 acceptable at the cost of sexual exploitation, and earns advertising dollars that fund increased
00:04:32.960 trafficking and exploitation. The Polaris Project, which oversees calls to the National Human Trafficking
00:04:40.240 Hotline in the United States, reported that across the U.S., crisis calls to the hotline had increased by
00:04:46.880 more than 40% in the weeks after many states first imposed shelter-in-place orders, compared to the
00:04:54.800 previous year. President of International Justice Mission Philip Langford stated,
00:05:00.640 we are seeing country by country where we work to protect women and children from violence, massive
00:05:07.120 spikes in sexual assault, intimate partner violence, as they are locked in homes and neighborhoods with
00:05:14.240 their predators and abusers. IJM is also seeing an increase in online exploitation. The online sexual
00:05:22.560 exploitation of children is this new sinister form of cyber sex trafficking that has really spread like
00:05:29.360 wildfire in a dry field with the proliferation of the developing world. Trafficking, regardless of the
00:05:38.160 form it takes, is an affront to human dignity and the sanctity of human life. Every human being is made in the
00:05:46.880 image of God, and is therefore equally valuable and worth fighting for. Understanding the identifiers of
00:05:55.760 someone who is being trafficked is key to fighting this form of modern slavery, as well as recognizing the
00:06:02.720 interconnectedness of industries which fuel it. Having the same view of humanity as God does, one of
00:06:10.560 extravagant love, endless mercy and upholding justice, drives me as a Christian to fight an industry that puts his
00:06:20.800 direct image bearers in harm's way. Though it is a very heavy and cumbersome topic to discuss, we must talk
00:06:29.600 about it for the sake of reaching the vulnerable and achieving justice for all. For True North, I'm Matea Myrta.