Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

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PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETYtion is a form of trafficking, our project participants suggested that migrant women have various degreesof control over their situations:A. [My friend] told me about two kind of girls. When you reach her at your homeland,you got money to pay for fake passport, and you have money for airplane ticket. Youare free. What do they say? Free body . . . So, they can choosing where they want to goto work. They can choosing who they want to work for. And they can choosing whendo they want to go . . . And you know so much better than some girls because they areso poor, their families need the money, need some money for food or whatever. So,they will sell the girl. So, the girl will belong to the guy; she does not belong to herselfanymore.- female migrant off-street in-call sex workerThis chapter discusses how the fundamental rights and freedoms of migrant sex workers as enshrinedin the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, are being routinely violated.Migrant sex workers in CanadaWhile there are currently no reliable statistics available on the number of migrant sex workers inCanada, it is clear from our interviews that a significant number of sex workers in Canada are non-Canadian: Q. So, let us talk about that a little bit. Let’s talk about the difference between the Canadiangirls and the non-Canadian girls . . . in the [massage] parlours that you workedin, what percentage do you think were actually Canadian, what percentage were not?A. Let me think about it. I remember at the older place . . . one was Chinese. Five to sixgirls is coming from Thailand and Malaysia and it’s not Canadian . . . they are notallowed to work in Canada because they are coming in from, you know like, visitor.Q. Out of how many girls would that be like? Out of ten girls that were working there,maybe five of them were not Canadian?A. Right.Q. Okay, and do you think that the owners preferred girls that were not Canadian orjust whoever came along and was willing to work?A. I think . . . He wanted both.- female migrant off-street in-call sex workerCurrent working conditions of migrant sex workersThe experience of migrant sex workers in Canada runs across a broad spectrum from those whohave a high degree of personal freedom and autonomy to those who have virtually none. The womenno freedom or autonomy are treated as property. Almost every aspect of their lives is controlled, andthey are kept in servitude. At the other extreme are migrant women who do act independently. As onefemale migrant sex worker explained:Q. I know a girl . . . Her name is [name omitted]. She is Malaysian. Chinese Malaysianand she is gone now and I think it’s okay to say that now. Like she is using your fakengm/0309/feature1/>; E. Vitagliano, “Malevolent Bargains: Slavery continues in the form of forced prostitution” (April 2004), online:AFA Journal ; Lieut-Colonel Dawn Sewell, “Sexual Trafficking: Fighting theNew Slave Trade” (2005), online: The Salvation Army – International . The term “Canadian” will be used to define the status of a person who holds Canadian citizenship.192
BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reformpassport and she is a traveler. She is not supposed to be here and she travel all overthe place and making money with prostitution.Q. So she travels around to different countries or different cities?A. Different countries . . . Her last stop was the United States before she come toVancouver.Q. So she travels around and works sex trade herself and that’s how she makes money?A. Yeah. And what happened is she told me two kinds of girls. Two kinds. One kind likeher, is free like her, which means she knows those dealers for sex . . . and because shegot money in Malaysia so she can pay for her own passport. Fake passport money . .. And she can pay for the . . . airplane ticket. And that’s why she is free so she chooseswho she work for . . . And she told me there is a different one. The different one is the. . . I met later on at the massage parlour . . . they do not have freedom. They have tostay in certain places. They cannot walk out; they cannot talk to people. They cannottell people their real name and stuff like that because like those dealers, those peopledealers they pay for the passport and for the airplane and ticket and stuff like that.Q. So where does those girls usually come from or does that not matter?A. Usually those girls coming from Thailand or Malaysia around those countriesbetween those countries.- female migrant off-street in-call sex workerMany of these women are held in a system of debt bondage that is tantamount to “sexual slavery.”As a result of issues such as language barriers and employer-imposed restrictions on their activities,some migrant sex workers have limited access to information about their legal rights in Canada, andconsequently are vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse. One female migrant described a situationwhere migrant sex workers are kept in isolation and forbidden to interact with other people, even intheir work environment:Q. Now, what is the relationship in the massage parlour between the Canadian girls andthe other girls? Like do you guys get to spend time together? Do you guys talk?A. I remember one time . . . I was not working, but [name omitted] was working inthat massage parlour because I always hang out with her too. Cause I go with her fordrugs, right? . . . So, we talk to each other. Not all of them are that bad. But whenthey are not free; like they belong to somebody else, that, they pretty much got separate.Q. So they do not get to talk to you?A. Not at all. I met them few times. Like we know each other in the big room.- female migrant off-street in-call sex workerThis same woman explained that some migrant sex workers are hidden in massage parlours and otherestablishments, and are denied access to anyone other than customers:Q. Do you think this is the problem that we are having at [name of parlour omitted]?Why we always see the same girls over and over?A. Right.Q. I wondered about that. So you think there are more [non-Canadian] girls there?A. I believe that and they are. Especially he is Chinese . . . Because they have their ownconnections for getting those girls . . . So when they are owner, they have their ownway . . . To dealing with that. That kind of guy. . .Q. So, if they sell the girl in Thailand or Malaysia to a massage parlour over here?A. . . . They have a few guys in Thailand. And they Chinese Thailand people whatever.193
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Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

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