Sexworkers Have Concerns Over Launch Of New “Trafficking Hotline “

[drlove 37204]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.thestar.com/amp/news/canada/2019/05/29/hotline-to-help-human-trafficking-victims-educate-public-launches-across-canada.html

[TorontoMelanieJolliet 4458]

A paywall could make this unavailable to an interested person so I copied it:

 

By Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter

Wed., May 29, 2019

A new national human trafficking hotline has already drawn opposition from some grassroots advocates who fear the initiative would push vulnerable sex workers and migrant labourers further underground.

The toll-free phone line, launched Wednesday by the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, offers support to survivors and victims through local services such as shelter, detox and daycare provided by more than 400 community partners across the country.

However, critics said they fear the information collected through the hotline would be shared and used by law enforcement agencies for raids that may lead to arrests and possible deportations — further victimizing vulnerable migrants.

“We are concerned the hotline will become a tip line for law enforcement,” said Elene Lam of Toronto-based Butterfly, an Asian and migrant sex workers support network. “Some (third-party) people may suspect some sex workers and migrant workers as human trafficking victims. Law enforcement comes and next thing we know people are detained and deported for their immigration status and breaking the law.”

Jenny Duffy of Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project said human trafficking and sex work have been so widely conflated that sex workers and racialized groups are already targeted by law enforcement agencies under the guise of anti-trafficking initiatives.

 

“This hotline encourages the public to now surveil the movements of this group and report them for further investigation. We can expect that the public will be reporting sex workers, putting them in further harm, and further hindering workers from accessing key public services,” said Duffy, whose group has been around for 34 years and is Canada’s oldest sex-worker-run organization.

According to a parliamentary report published in December, between 2010 and 2016, the annual number of human trafficking cases increased 11-fold. The majority of incidents — 66 per cent — happened in Ontario, with 14 per cent in Quebec, 8 per cent in Alberta, and the rest spread across Canada. In total, 1,099 incidents were reported during the period.

Barb Gosse, the human trafficking centre’s CEO, said the hotline is meant to serve as a one-stop shop for everyone from victims seeking help to tipsters wanting to flag a potential case, to members of the public wanting to learn more about the subject.

“This hotline will provide critical resources to victims and survivors and will help law enforcement dismantle human trafficking networks across the country,” said Gosse. “Human trafficking is a real threat to vulnerable individuals across this country … We have a moral and an ethical obligation to make a positive difference and the hotline is a vital step in this process.”

Gosse said the multilingual line — offered in more than 200 languages including a number of Indigenous languages, and accessible by those with impaired hearing — is run on an anonymous basis and information collected will not be shared with law enforcement agencies without consent.

“The hotline is for anyone who feels they need help. It does not involve those who voluntarily participate in the sex trade,” said Gosse, adding the hotline was made possible with $12.5 million funding by the federal government over five years.

While it’s important to support and help human trafficking victims, Kamala Kempadoo, a York University social science professor specializing in human trafficking, said the idea of using a hotline to address the issue can be problematic.

“This creates a moral panic about sex work and migrant work,” said Kempadoo, who has studied human trafficking for more than 30 years. “This idea is going to put so much attention and scrutiny on these vulnerable people, moving them underground into unsafe places, making them more vulnerable.”

The new hotline can be reached 24 hours a day at: 1-833-900-1010. Hearing impaired and non-verbal hotline users should dial 711 in any province or territory, then ask the relay service to connect them with the main hotline number.

[TorontoMelanieJolliet 4458]

I wonder why, when they talk to people who might know, they never ask for specifics as to why is it a harmful solution. We are just supposed to believe it is and leave it at that. Sometimes, from our own experience, we know why, and others it's a mystery. Is this a good way to make a case?

[Phaedrus 209521]

On 6/5/2019 at 3:25 AM, TorontoMelanieJolliet said:

I wonder why, when they talk to people who might know, they never ask for specifics as to why is it a harmful solution. We are just supposed to believe it is and leave it at that. Sometimes, from our own experience, we know why, and others it's a mystery. Is this a good way to make a case?

I suspect they aren't trying to make a case. In this case the journalist probably wants a quick-and-easy here-is-a-controversy story, which means getting a minimum few facts together and pulling in a quote or two. But they're limited by space so each person quoted gets two or three sentences, which isn't really sufficient to explain things properly.