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This is a guest post by Melissa Lonn, who is currently completing her second year of law school at Université de Montreal. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Science from McGill University, as well as a Master Degree in Social Work from McGill University. Melissa’s interest in human rights and the rule of law is longstanding. She has had numerous opportunities both within Montreal and abroad to explore the world of human trafficking, child prostitution and child rights advocacy.

This poster was found on DeviantArt.com posted by RJDaae

This past summer I was one of 10 privileged Canadian law students chosen to participate in a human rights project abroad. With some prior exposure to human trafficking and an enduring interest in the issue, I was selected to intern at an organization in Bangkok, Thailand, dedicated to enhancing awareness and advocacy surrounding child prostitution, pornography, sex tourism and trafficking. Interestingly, and to my advantage, the organization focussed on the global situation of child commercial sexual exploitation, and not solely on the prevalence in Thailand, although it did not take long to realize that I was residing in a country where sexual exploitation was rampant. My work as their legal intern consisted primarily of researching the situation of child sexual exploitation in various countries to which I was assigned, analyzing the emplaced legislation and formulating recommendations to these countries’ governments as a means of improving the situation of children and giving a voice to this silenced population.

With a passion for field work, I found myself venturing outside of the boundaries of my cubicle and into the heart of the streets flooded with underage sex workers. I sat in bars with girls who explained to me how the bar owners paid the police not to enter their bars and check the ages of the girls employed to entertain sex customers flocking to the streets of Bangkok from all around the world. I witnessed countless men walking hand-in-hand with girls who looked barely 12 and tried not to stare at the bruises on the children’s faces and arms. I sat with a famous tattoo artist who told me about Frank, a man who over 4 years had brought 2 young girls into the tattoo parlor and covered their bodies with the name Frank in different sizes and colors all over their bare skin.

At the office I delved into the world of human trafficking and its appalling prevalence. I read about the weak legislations enabling the continuation of this injustice and its surprising pervasiveness here in North America. As I accumulated stories, news reports and documentaries online, compiling a concise and accessible summary of the situation of sexual exploitation in countries, especially countries who have emitted very limited information on the problem, it became quite apparent to me how easy it is to contribute indirectly to sexual exploitation and how simple it is to turn a blind eye to one of the most fundamental values our society holds.

As Passover approaches, we find ourselves recounting the story of Jewish slavery and our triumphant exodus from Egypt. As we sit in the comforts of our homes rejoicing and feasting over our freedom, we must remember all the slavery still permeating this world. Deeply rooted in Judaism is the concept of Tikun Olam. It is our role and responsibility as the future generations carrying on our Jewish values to continue to cleanse this world of its human injustices that our religion knows all too well. Perhaps our consciences are comforted by believing that human trafficking is only occurring on television, in movies or countries far distanced from where we reside, however this is flawed thinking. As a famous Jewish scientist once said “the most important endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions (Albert Einstein)”. The duty is on us to challenge depraved human conduct, for it is those with freedom who hold the power to unlock the shackled chains maintaining human slavery.

- Melissa Lonn

The A-Team is a group of socially minded young adults who bring awareness to a different social issue every month. This month the group will be hosting a discussion on human trafficking.  Guest speakers will include: Annie Robert, Human Trafficking Awareness Coordinator, RCMP Montreal and Liliane Kohl, Temple Committee Against Human Trafficking, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. The discussion will take place on Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 pm (Depanneur Café, 206 Bernard). For more information email Rebecca@abitoffthetop.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 at 12:03 and is filed under Blog Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.