On June 24, the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights heard testimony on global trends in human trafficking and the 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report.
Trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, has become one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. The U.S. government estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked each year for forced labor, domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation. Victims of trafficking are typically from less developed countries in Asia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.
As part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 (P.L. 106-386), Congress mandated an annual State Department report on the global trends in trafficking. The annual reports rate countries according to whether they meet minimum standards for addressing the global problem. Countries are assigned to a three-tier system: Tier 1 countries meet the minimum standards and are fully complying with those standards; Tier 2 countries are not fully complying with the minimum standards but are making a significant effort to comply; and Tier 3 countries are not fully complying with the minimum standards and are not making any effort to comply. The 2004 report was released on June 14.
In his opening remarks, Chair Elton Gallegly (R-CA) said that the 2004 report “notes that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders. If internal trafficking were included, that number would rise to between 2 and 4 million people. These figures are staggering the equivalent of the population of a major U.S. city, all enslaved, many of which are children.”
John Miller, director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department, stated, “Of the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 cross-border victims, we report this year that 80 percent are female and 50 percent are children. That’s hundreds of thousands of women and hundreds of thousands of children bought and sold each year around the world. Criminals are preying on some of the world’s most vulnerable, yet hopeful and productive, citizens.” Mr. Miller highlighted a number of new features in the report: “To bring the issue to life, we focused on telling the stories of victims from around the world. To encourage greater action by all, we shared best practices and recognized individual heroes in the struggle against human trafficking. To encourage a more comprehensive view of this crime, we presented information about the ‘demand’ side of modern-day slavery and how destination countries have a responsibility just as source countries do.” He also noted that that the TVPA reauthorization bill (P.L. 108-193) created a “Special Watch List,” which includes countries that have improved one tier from the previous report, and “weak Tier 2” countries.
Mr. Miller also detailed U.S. efforts to eradicate human trafficking: “The Department of Homeland Security has taken an aggressive approach to the worldwide problem of human trafficking, investigating and providing short- and long-term immigration relief to trafficking victims as well as arresting, processing, detaining, and removing undocumented traffickers from the United States. Additionally, in the last three years, the Department of Justice has nearly tripled the number of prosecutions of human traffickers, and the Department of Health and Human Services has launched a public awareness campaign to help rescue victims.”
Holly Burkhalter of Physicians for Human Rights explained the relationship between human trafficking and the HIV/AIDS pandemic: “Violence is common in commercial sex and particularly when women and children are forcibly subjected to sex against their will. Injuries and abrasions sustained during sexual contact heighten physical vulnerability to AIDS transmission. And young girls’ physically immature bodies are highly vulnerable to injuries, significantly heightening their risk of infection. Moreover, having other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) heightens the risk of contracting HIV by up to a factor of 10. STDs are more common among women than men, and women often contract STDs at a younger age than men.” She also cited a 2004 study on the health consequences of trafficking in Europe that found: “Trafficking often has a profound impact on the health and well-being of women. The forms of abuse and risks that women experience include physical, sexual and psychological abuse, the forced or coerced use of drugs and alcohol, social restrictions and manipulation, economic exploitation and debt bondage, legal insecurity, abusive working and living conditions and a range of risks associated with being a migrant and/or marginalized.”
With regard to the 2004 report, Ms. Burkhalter stated, “I am particularly pleased that Director Miller took advantage of the new diplomatic tools provided to the executive branch by Congress when it reauthorized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act last year. The new Act’s heavier emphasis on law enforcement and tangible outcomes and the creation of the Watch List add to the diplomatic tool kit and heighten the prospect that governments that fail to take appropriate steps will be subjected to economic pressure as well in the form of reducing foreign assistance.”
Michael Clark, co-director of The Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University, said that the 2004 report “is thorough, well written and highly informative. By including short testimonies illustrating experiences of victims of trafficking as well as acknowledging the valiant work of heroes in this cause, we come away with not only a sense of the policy and programmatic activities being undertaken to combat trafficking; we are also able to glimpse the heartaches and the horrors, the triumphs and the victories, of those who suffer and those who labor on their behalf. Our common mission is about saving lives, and this report helps us to focus on what is needed to accomplish this goal.” Pointing out that most countries included in the 2003 and 2004 reports had fallen to a lower tier, Mr. Clark offered a number of suggestions on how those countries could improve their anti-trafficking efforts: 1) Enact anti-trafficking legislation that defines the crime, identifies and protects the victims, encourages prevention, and prosecutes offenders; 2) Train law enforcement officials in countries of destination, transit, and origin; 3) Enhance victim identification methods in countries of destination; 4) Ensure adequate protection of victims in countries of transit and destination; 5) Ensure humane repatriation procedures; and 6) Provide funding for local nongovernmental organizations in countries of destination, transit, and origin.
Testifying on behalf of International Justice Mission, Sharon Cohn provided the subcommittee with suggestions on how the United States could improve its anti-trafficking policies. She said that trafficking “education, awareness, and poverty alleviation programs are important preventative measures, but they will never be able to keep pace with the entrepreneurial energy and creativity of the traffickers unless they are combined with practical programs that actually help make national law enforcement successful in sending perpetrators to jail.” Ms. Cohn also noted that programs providing comprehensive aftercare services to trafficking victims are critical. “Not only are such programs necessary to treat victims with the dignity and care they deserve, but [they are] also absolutely indispensable for establishing the victim’s cooperation, which is essential for any meaningful counter-trafficking endeavor,” she stated. Finally, Ms. Cohn reminded the subcommittee that trafficking victims are “uniquely vulnerable” to HIV/AIDS: “While traditional AIDS prevention programs of education and awareness go a long way in helping women and girls make good choices to avoid high-risk sexual activities, they do nothing to protect the millions of women and girls who do not get to make choices about their sexual encounters particularly millions of victims of commercial sexual exploitation who are forcibly infected with the HIV virus. Accordingly, federal funding of programs aimed at combating the international AIDS epidemic must include support for programs to combat sex trafficking and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls, or else America’s efforts to fight AIDS will simply fail to address one of the fundamental and certainly most brutal causes of the epidemic.”
