On July 31, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, 17-2, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (S. 3061) to combat trafficking in persons. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), would reauthorize the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386) for FY2008-2011. The House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 3887) on December 4 (see The Source, 12/7/07).
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act would strengthen and improve measures to combat trafficking in persons and would provide additional protections to victims of human trafficking.
Specifically, the bill would require the establishment of an integrated federal database on the number of victims of trafficking on a national, regional, and international basis.
The measure also would also increase criminal penalties for individuals who profit from human trafficking; “entice, persuade, or induce any other person to go…to any other place with the intent that he may be made or held as a slave, or sent out of the country to be so made or held. The bill would create a separate offense for individuals who “obstruct, or attempt to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents enforcement” of the law and would expand the jurisdiction to prosecute traffickers in the United States, even if the conduct occurred outside of the country.
In order to ensure the availability of possible witnesses and informants, the attorney general would make available to parents and siblings of trafficking victims visas to come to the United States. The legislation also would expand existing programs and protections to unaccompanied immigrant minors.
The bill would establish minimum criteria for the elimination of human trafficking and provide training for law enforcement and immigration officials in the identification and treatment of victims that uses “approaches that focus on the needs of the victims.” Countries that fail to meet the minimum criteria would be placed on a special watch list for human trafficking. Failing to meet the criteria for three consecutive years could lead to the elimination of nonhumanitarian U.S. aid.
S. 3061 also includes language that addresses the use of child soldiers in conflict areas around the world. The measure would prohibit U.S. military assistance or sales of equipment to countries whose armed forces recruit and use child soldiers. However, the bill would allow the president to “waive the application to a country…if the president determined that such waiver is in the national interest of the United States.”
The measure also would require the secretary of Labor to report on activities to monitor and combat child labor.
During consideration of the bill, the committee adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) to restrict the passport eligibility of individuals convicted of sex tourism and set guidelines for removal of illegal immigrants convicted of sex offenses.
