sosc 3242

Human trafficking laws

2002 UN protocol
The Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress
and Punish
Trafficking in
Persons, especially
Women and
Children (trafficking
protocol – also
sometimes referred
to as the Palermo
Protocol).

Entered into force on 25 December 2003.
It is the first global legally binding instrument with
an agreed definition on trafficking in persons.
The intention behind this definition is to facilitate
convergence in national approaches with regard
to the establishment of domestic criminal
offences that would support efficient
international cooperation in investigating and
prosecuting trafficking in persons cases.
An additional objective of the Protocol is to
protect and assist the victims of trafficking in
persons with full respect for their human rights.

Elements of
human
trafficking

On the basis of the definition given in the 2002 UN
Protocol, trafficking in persons has three constituent
elements:
The Act (What is done):

• Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or
receipt of persons

The Means (How it is done):

• Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud,
deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving
payments or benefits to a person in control of the
victim

The Purpose (Why it is done):

• For the purpose of exploitation, which includes
exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual
exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar
practices and the removal of organs.

Canadian

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

• Human trafficking has been a federal immigration offence in the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act7(“IRPA“) since 2002. Section 118 of IRPA says it is against the law to recruit or
bring someone to Canada by taking them against their will, tricking them (use fraud or
deception) or using threats or force. It is also against the law to keep someone in Canada
against their will or control their movements by using those methods.

Criminal Code of Canada

Since 2005, human trafficking has been a crime under Canada’s Criminal Code. Section 279.01 of the
Canadian Criminal Code defines human trafficking as follows:

• “Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person,
or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of
exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence.”

• There are three other main offences to address human trafficking in Canada’s criminal law:
• section 279.011 (Trafficking of a person under the age of eighteen years),
• section 279.02 (Knowingly getting money or other benefits from human trafficking),

and
• section 279.03 (Taking or destroying travel or personal identification documents of a

person being trafficked).

• Consent (permission) of a victim/survivor is no defence to a human trafficking charge. No one
can legally consent to being exploited in Canada.

The Criminal Code includes a specific definition of “exploitation” for human trafficking offences in
section 279.04. For human trafficking crimes, “exploitation” means:

• “Causing someone to provide, or offer to provide, labour or a service by engaging in conduct
that could reasonably be expected to cause that person to believe that their safety, or the safety
of a person they know, would be threatened if they failed to do so.”

Bill C36
Introduced significant amendments to criminal anti-
trafficking laws, suggesting that, from a national policy
perspective, commercial sex and trafficking are
intertwined.