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“SUPPORTING NATIONAL SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S13704-S13705 on Dec. 21, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORTING NATIONAL SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 382 submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 382) supporting the goals and ideals of observing National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through February 1, 2010, to raise awareness of, and opposition to, modern slavery.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today the Senate will take an important step to raise awareness of human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery. The resolution, introduced by myself and Senators Cornyn, Cardin, and Brownback, observes National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through February 1 to raise awareness of, and opposition to, modern slavery and human trafficking. This bipartisan resolution was passed unanimously today by the Senate.
Human trafficking is a crime in which persons are forced to work against their will in sweatshops, prostitution rings, farm labor, private homes, and other enterprises. The traffickers use force, threats of force, and coercion to ensure that their victims believe they have no other choice but to work for their captors.
The resolution resolves that Congress supports (1) the goals and ideals of observing the National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through February 1 to recognize the vital role that the people of the United States have in ending modern slavery; (2) marking this observance with appropriate programs and activities culminating in the observance on February 1 of National Freedom Day; and (3) all other efforts to raise awareness of and opposition to human trafficking.
This resolution recognizes the month of January as significant for modern slavery and human trafficking. January 1 is the anniversary of the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation and February 1 is the anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution sending the 13th amendment to the States for ratification.
In addition, it recognizes that January 11 is a day that many have chosen to commemorate human trafficking. In the 110th Congress, I sponsored a concurrent resolution that passed the Senate supporting January 11 as a National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness.
In 2007, California passed a resolution, signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, designating January 11 as National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness. The Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors did the same for the county of Los Angeles.
The issue of human trafficking has become particularly problematic in California. San Diego is an international trafficking gateway city used to traffic foreign children into the U.S. The United Nations has listed Mexico as the No. 1 exporter of exploited children into North America.
From 1998 to 2003, more than 500 people from 18 countries were ensnared in 57 forced labor operations throughout California. These statistics only represent the cases that were discovered. Frequently, human trafficking goes undetected because the victims are not only afraid of their traffickers, but they have been taught by their traffickers to fear U.S. law enforcement.
Congress has acted to broaden the tools available to prosecute perpetrators of modern slavery and to assist and protect victims of human trafficking. It has enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.
California has taken a leadership role in identifying and prosecuting human trafficking cases. For example, San Diego received one of the first grants to train local law enforcement on identifying and prosecuting human trafficking. The U.S. attorneys offices in Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Diego have all created antitrafficking task forces.
Using these tools, this August five people in California were sentenced to Federal prison, all receiving multidecade sentences for their roles in an international sex trafficking ring that lured young Guatemalan women and girls into the Los Angeles area and forced them into prostitution.
In this distressing case, the defendants intimidated and controlled their victims by threatening to beat them and kill their loved ones in Guatemala if they tried to escape. At least three of the defendants restrained the victims by locking them in at night and blocking windows and doors to prevent their escape.
In another recent case in Walnut Creek, CA, a woman was found guilty of trafficking a nanny from Peru. For nearly 2 years, the victim was forced to cook, clean, and take care of the family's children through false promises of pay. The victim was eventually able to escape, with the assistance of local residents and officials and parents at a local elementary school.
Human trafficking is a pervasive global crime, with nearly 1 million people trafficked across international borders every year. According to the State Department, roughly 80 percent of the victims are women and children.
I believe that it is vital that we work together as a nation to eliminate human trafficking and prevent the victimization of the most vulnerable members of society.
Awareness of the issues surrounding slavery and trafficking by those people most likely to come into contact with vulnerable populations is essential for effective prevention and prosecution of this frequently hidden crime.
I thank my colleagues for their support of this resolution to help raise awareness of modern day slavery.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record at the appropriate place.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 382) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 382
Whereas the United States has a tradition of advancing fundamental human rights, having abolished the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 1808 and having abolished chattel slavery and prohibited involuntary servitude in 1865;
Whereas because the people of the United States remain committed to protecting individual freedom, there is a national imperative to eliminate human trafficking, which is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of persons for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, and the inducement of a commercial sex act by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age;
Whereas to combat human trafficking in the United States and globally, the people of the United States, the Federal Government, and State and local governments must be aware of the realities of human trafficking and must be dedicated to stopping this contemporary manifestation of slavery;
Whereas beyond all differences of race, creed, or political persuasion, the people of the United States face national threats together and refuse to let modern slavery exist in the United States and around the world;
Whereas the United States should actively oppose all individuals, groups, organizations, and nations who support, advance, or commit acts of human trafficking;
Whereas the United States must also work to end slavery in all of its forms around the world through education;
Whereas victims of modern slavery need support in order to escape and to recover from the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma associated with their victimization;
Whereas human traffickers use many physical and psychological techniques to control their victims, including the use of violence or threats of violence against the victim or the victim's family, isolation from the public, isolation from the victim's family and religious or ethnic communities, language and cultural barriers, shame, control of the victim's possessions, confiscation of passports and other identification documents, and threats of arrest, deportation, or imprisonment if the victim attempts to reach out for assistance or to leave;
Whereas although laws to prosecute perpetrators of modern slavery and to assist and protect victims of human trafficking, such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (division A of Public Law 106-386; 114 Stat. 1466) and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-457; 122 Stat. 5044), have been enacted in the United States, awareness of the issues surrounding slavery and trafficking by those people most likely to come into contact with victims is essential for effective enforcement because the techniques that traffickers use to keep their victims enslaved severely limit self-reporting;
Whereas January 1 is the anniversary of the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation;
Whereas February 1 is the anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution sending the 13th Amendment to the States for ratification, to forever declare that ``Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . .
. shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction'' and is a date which has long been celebrated as National Freedom Day, as described in section 124 of title 36, United States Code;
Whereas, under its authority to enforce the 13th Amendment
``by appropriate legislation,'' Congress in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 updated the post-Civil War involuntary servitude and slavery statutes and adopted an approach known as the ``3P'' approach of victim protection, vigorous prosecution, and prevention of human trafficking; and
Whereas the effort by individuals, businesses, organizations, and governing bodies to commemorate January 11 as Human Trafficking Awareness Day represents one of the many positive examples of the commitment in the United States to raise awareness of and to actively oppose modern slavery: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate supports--
(1) the goals and ideals of observing the National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through February 1, 2010, to recognize the vital role that the people of the United States have in ending modern slavery;
(2) marking this observance with appropriate programs and activities culminating in the observance on February 1 of National Freedom Day, as described in section 124 of title 36, United States Code; and
(3) all other efforts to raise awareness of and opposition to human trafficking.
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