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Wednesday December 8, 2004
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Canada May be Mentioned in US Report of Countries Involved in Human Trafficking
OTTAWA, December 8, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New evidence on the Sgro exotic dancer visas scandal has caught the attention of the U.S. State Department which annually evaluates countries in its "Trafficking in Persons" report. The Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition (IATC) suggests that allegations that Canada turned a blind eye to trafficking of juveniles from Romania and links to organized crime oblige Prime Minister Paul Martin to announce a public inquiry.
Groups in the United States and Europe, including the IATC, have informed the U.S. State Department they are leading a group that will develop a shadow Trafficking In Persons report for Canada. In 2003, the Canadian government criticized the method used by the U.S. in compiling trafficking data and intelligence for Canada. The IATC says it will assist Ambassador John R. Miller in obtaining documents related to Romania which, IATC alleges, Immigration Minister Judy Sgro has kept secret from the Canadian public.
At the end of 2003, the U.S. Congress passed the "Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act". It added new criteria for the evaluation of countries for the upcoming 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report. Specifically, the US is collecting information on the number of foreign women in prostitution in each country and will be using that to evaluate whether countries are fully engaged in combating the trafficking of women.
Despite the abrupt announcement of the controversial exotic dancer visa program's cancellation, anti-trafficking groups are demanding Canada hold itself accountable for the damage it has caused to the women and children who have been exploited. "Canada must get to the bottom of the harm it may have caused to victims of this exotic dancer visa scheme," said Benjamin Perrin, Executive Director of The Future Group, a Canadian anti-trafficking NGO. "If it was complicit in young women being abused and organized crime profiting, Canada must hold itself to account or the world will rightly judge us for it."
Questions around forced prostitution, forced involvement in pornography, and, most seriously, underage girls being imported as strippers and forced into prostitution, remain unanswered. Immigration minister Sgro's office has failed to answer questions from LifeSiteNews.com, other media and anti-trafficking agencies
Jhw
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