I will follow Linda. My points relate to the universal non-state torture questionnaire that is on page 2 of your brief that we submitted.
There were 49, mostly women, respondents, and 24% were Canadians. The 48 non-state torture acts reflect victim-centred language they used to tell of the non-state torture crime done to them.
There are interconnections between the physical, sexualized, psychological and mental non-state torture crimes listed. For example, being sat on makes breathing difficult. It is physical non-state torture, which becomes sexualized non-state torture with oral raping because it compresses the chest and women fear they will not be able to breath and will die. This is psychological non-state torture.
This also relates to choking, strangulation, forced ingesting of the perpetrators' body fluids and the fear of vomiting and being forced to ingest their vomit terror, and horror and fear of going crazy and being pathologized as mentally ill versus being respected as victims of non-state torture crime and human trafficking.
Survival responses include understanding dissociation, suicidality, self-cutting and struggling with everyday coping. Sexualized health issues can include surgical vaginal repairs, hysterectomies, repair of rectal prolapse and sterility.
Recommending Criminal Code amendments to criminalize non-state torture crimes would hold traffickers accountable for the non-state crimes they inflict. Criminal Code amendments would educate society about the severity of human trafficking and foster developing non-state torture victimization, traumatization-informed care and promote the healing ability of women and children.
We are submitting seven other of our published articles and a chapter to advance human trafficking education and knowledge, and we will leave you a copy of our book, Women Unsilenced: Our Refusal to Let Torture-Traffickers Win as resources.
Thank you for listening to the voices of women.