It has been nearly 20 years since Canada signed and ratified the Palermo Protocol addressing human trafficking. In order to review the effectiveness of Canada’s implementation of the Protocol, a consultation was launched earlier this year, on behalf of the federal government, to hear from experts and stakeholders. The consultation was facilitated by the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform & Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR), and CLF was honoured to participate.
CLF’s written submissions focused on the issue of sex trafficking and highlighted the importance of Canada’s Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) in both combatting sexual exploitation and eliminating the demand for sexual services that fuels sex trafficking.
CLF was encouraged to see its submissions reflected and quoted in the ICCLR’s final report, and in particular, CLF's position on PCEPA’s importance in fulfilling Canada's international legal obligations. The following excerpt from CLF’s submission was highlighted in the ICCLR’s report:
“First, [the PCEPA] directly prohibits—and therefore reduces—forms of trafficking that may otherwise be difficult for authorities to prosecute. These may include cases where a person appears to be ‘consenting’ to prostitution, but whose position of vulnerability was abused by another to recruit them, or cases where a person feels unable to depart prostitution due to persistent and longstanding—but visibly subtle—forms of coercion… Second, PCEPA’s provisions help reduce the demand for prostitution, pursuant to Canada’s obligation under Article 9(5) of the Protocol to ‘discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking.”
CLF was also recognized in the report as identifying a potential connection between commercialized surrogacy and human trafficking; the report noted CLF’s concern that “there is a lack of research around the connection between legalized commercial surrogacy and human trafficking, and further research is needed on this subject.”
CLF continues to be of the view that the PCEPA is an important and necessary piece of legislation that helps ensure Canada's fulfillment of its international legal obligations: namely, to discourage the demand that leads to human trafficking and to combat the exploitation of prostitution of others, particularly women and girls. CLF also highlighted this important role of the PCEPA in its recent submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST) as part of the Committee's mandatory review of the legislation. Click here for more information about those submissions.
CLF’s submissions to the ICCLR can be read below (Click the “[ ]” icon in the bottom right corner to enable full screen mode):