The Canadian Council of Churches’ Human Trafficking working group has submitted a brief to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights regarding Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.
“We welcome the recent efforts of the Department of Justice to strengthen the protection of the rights of children, women, and men to be free from violence and exploitation, specifically sexual exploitation, and to criminalize those who profit from and exploit others for their own benefit. We affirm the steps taken in this proposed legislation towards framing prostitution as a form of violence against women and are encouraged that it does not accept prostitution as inevitable; these are important contributions to affirming the full equality and dignity of girls, boys, women and men.”
Some of the recommendations included in this brief:
1. Full decriminalization of prostituted persons
2. Addressing poverty as a means of prevention
3. Standardized training for all law enforcement agencies (federal, provincial and municipal) to support implementation of the legislation
4. Rehabilitation of purchasers and exploiters.
Read the full brief. [PDF] En français.