Of the women who call Vancouver Rape Relief for being victims of sexual assault or rape, 27% were sexually abused in their childhood.
Of these 27 %, 47% were victims of incest, meaning that the abuser was an adult family member.
The report reinforces what we know from our front line work about the high number of girls trapped in prostitution and the close connection between prostitution and trafficking.
We welcome the improved response of the criminal justice system in holding buyers and pimps accountable and we are calling on our own province, British Columbia, to follow the example of other provinces and do the same.
Younger girls were most often victimized by a family member, older girls by a casual acquaintance and young women by a non-spousal intimate partner (a man they were dating).
A study done in 9 countries (including Canada) interviewed 854 people who were currently or recently in prostitution at the time, found that 71% were physically assaulted in prostitution, 63% were raped in prostitution, 89% wanted to escape prostitution but did not have other options for survival.
Less than half (43%) of sexual assault incidents reported to police resulted in a charge being laid; of these, half (49%) proceeded to court; of which just over half (55%) led to a conviction; of which just over half (56%) were sentenced to custody in a correctional centre.
