When I look at this issue around the world, it strikes me as very sad that it is not a top priority with all women's organizations and groups involved in human rights. This is a modern-day human rights tragedy of epic proportions. That's what it is. We see that 800,000 young women are trafficked every year into foreign countries, not to mention the millions who are internally trafficked into the sex trade, and no one is speaking out and saying this is a travesty. About the only argument we occasionally hear is the legalization argument, and it bothers me. This is an issue about dignity. I never, ever would stand around and allow this to happen to my daughter, and no one else would want it to happen to theirs.
Most of these young women who I've pulled out of some of the brothels in places like Kosovo were sad teenaged girls. They were just starting out their lives, and their lives are destroyed by disease--psychologically, spiritually, and medically. This has to be a top priority for all nations, for anyone who is involved in human rights, and particularly for women's groups, because this is about women and girls.
In Canada, I am proud to say that the RCMP have taken this and put it front and centre. There are a number of people I've met within the RCMP--one is Sergeant Lori Lowe--who are making this a priority and are trying to make certain this does not happen in Canada and doesn't explode on the streets of Canada, but we have to be aware.
One of the problems with this whole thing is that we hear about prostitutes and immediately dismiss these women. Who cares about them? They're just whores. The thing is that when you look into their eyes, you see they are victims. The vast majority are victims. They don't want to be there. It is our responsibility to try to do something to get them off the streets and not to recruit even more onto the streets of Canada.
Again, we can take a lead role in the whole issue of trafficking, of women being forced or somehow duped into prostitution, and play the card that's called dignity, which is the most important thing that we live for.