Human Trafficking Expert Benjamin Perrin Launches Campaign to End Modern-Day
Slavery

TORONTO, Oct. 12 /CNW/ - Governments must act now to protect victims of human trafficking in Canada, said Benjamin Perrin, author of Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking, at an online press conference today.

"While traffickers have 'playbooks' to teach each other tactics to exploit victims, there's no such government plan," said Perrin. "Canada needs to protect and provide services for victims, and ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice."

Using examples from his book, he explained how traffickers recruit and advertise girls as young as 14 for the sex trade often using coercion, deception and force. It is a thriving business in Canada - a single victim can earn up to $280,000 for their captors and the book documents incidents in neighborhoods across the country.

What's more, traffickers have become very savvy in using technology, including Facebook as a recruiting ground for teenage girls and Craigslist for selling victims as young as 14. During the press conference, Perrin called for Craigslist's erotic services to be shut down permanently in Canada.

The press conference launched a nation-wide campaign and the Invisible Chains book tour. From October 12 to 27, Benjamin Perrin will be touring Canada to speak to Canadians about how to combat human trafficking. Events will be held in Toronto (Oct. 12), Montreal (Oct. 13), Winnipeg (Oct. 14), Vancouver (Oct. 18), Calgary (Oct. 22), Edmonton (Oct. 23) and Ottawa (Oct. 27). Details of these events and more information about human trafficking are available on the website www.endmoderndayslavery.ca.

Invisible Chains is the first book to expose the issue of human trafficking in Canada. It is based on a three-year investigation and documents cases reported by police, provincial officials, immigration, and non-governmental organizations as well as accounts from victims and their families. It also evaluates Canada's response and makes specific recommendations to government, police and average Canadians.

Benjamin Perrin is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law, a faculty fellow at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, and a leading expert on human trafficking. As a senior policy adviser and a witness before several Parliamentary committees, he has advised the federal government on this issue. He has also worked overseas with victims and assisted in the prosecution of child sex offenders as executive director of The Future Group, a non-governmental organization that he founded in 2000 to combat human trafficking. In 2009, Perrin was honoured by Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department as a "hero acting to end modern-day slavery" - the first Canadian to be recognized by this award.

For further information:

Media Inquiries:
Markus Stadelmann-Elder, Communications Manager, Maytree
416-944-2627 ext. 284, [email protected]

Barbara Bower, Senior Publicist, Penguin Group (Canada)
416-928-2405, [email protected]