|
Every year, between 600,000 to 800,000 people—mostly young women and children—are forcefully and fraudulently transported across national borders. Millions more are trafficked within their own countries. They are stripped of their dignity, robbed of their human rights and forced into bondage and sexual servitude. They are modern day slaves.
Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that touches every country in the world, including the United States. It is among international organized crime’s top moneymakers, right up there with illegal arms trading and drug smuggling. Criminals have found that there is enormous profit in this nefarious slave trade.
|
In an effort to halt the shocking trend of human trafficking—modern day slavery—Rep. Chris Smith has written three comprehensive laws to combat this hideous crime and help the victims—mainly woman and children. A fourth law is in the works. |
Force, fraud and coercion are the tools of the pimps and thugs who enslave men, women and children into a nightmarish life of sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. In some instances, victims of trafficking are kidnapped outright. However, in most cases, individuals seeking a better life are preyed upon by cunning traffickers who lure them into their web under false pretenses. Visions of that dream quickly fade when they arrive at their destination country and are forced to work in brothels as sex slaves or as forced laborers in sweatshops, instead of the legitimate jobs they were promised.
Victims of trafficking are often confused with persons who have willingly agreed—and in many cases have paid money—to be smuggled into another country. There is a substantial distinction between the two. Upon arrival in the destination country, smuggled persons usually obtain their freedom. For the victim of trafficking, the nightmare has only begun.
Violence is commonly used to control and maintain human trafficking victims. Their passports are immediately confiscated and their lives are threatened if they try to leave. In many cases, their families are threatened with violence as well. In cases of forced prostitution, victims are repeatedly raped every day and are forced to cope in sub-human conditions.
Human trafficking, while ever present throughout history, exploded in prevalence, sophistication and cruelty in the mid-1990’s. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations, lent itself to a new black market where suddenly mobsters—many of them former KGB operatives—were buying and selling young women as commodities. This phenomenon, coupled with the rapid growth of Internet pornography, drove the demand for trafficking to a whole new level.
Suddenly, organized crime in countries all over the world made profits seemingly without limit while incurring next to no risk of prosecution.
|
|
In an effort to halt this shocking trend, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith authored legislation that would become our nation’s first law to address human trafficking. Smith’s bill, the “Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000” (TVPA) was signed into law on October 28, 2000.
TVPA is a sweeping, comprehensive law to protect trafficking victims—both here and abroad—while providing law enforcement with the necessary tools to successfully prosecute and incarcerate the traffickers.
TVPA authorized $95 million, over two years, for enforcement of anti-trafficking provisions and for new assistance programs. It created severe punishment—including up to life imprisonment—for persons convicted of operating trafficking enterprises within the U.S., and the possibility of severe economic penalties against traffickers located in other countries.
Smith recognized that enforcement alone was not enough, as the victims of human trafficking need our help to recover. Therefore, TVPA called for extensive protections for victims of trafficking, authorizing grants to shelters and rehabilitation programs, and provided relief from deportation for victims who would face retribution or other hardships if removed from the United States.
Education is also a key in the fight to end human trafficking. To that end, Smith’s landmark law established initiatives to prevent trafficking by enhancing economic opportunities available to potential victims and by increasing public awareness of the dangers of trafficking.
Finally, since the fight against trafficking cannot be won alone, TVPA established annual reports on trafficking as part of the State Department Country Reports on Human Rights so the U.S. could monitor nation’s that are taking steps to eliminate trafficking or allowing the reprehensible crime to flourish. If a country found itself among the latter, all U.S. non-humanitarian assistance could be taken away.
|
|
TVPA is proof-positive that the combination of enforcement, treatment, education and international cooperation—including smart sanctions—works.
In fact, this approach has now become a model for many international efforts to combat human trafficking as numerous countries now implement anti-trafficking initiatives that mirror the TVPA.
TVPA has been reauthorized twice since its initial passage and Smith—who authored both bills—has worked to expand on that successful model.
Some of the ways the Smith’s 2003 and 2005 laws have strengthened, enhanced and expanded the TVPA include:
- Victims now have the right to sue their captors.
- Human trafficking is now included on the list of racketeering offenses covered under the federal RICO Statute.
- US federal agencies now have the power to terminate international contracts of companies or employees found to be engaging in sex trafficking or found to be using forced labor to execute their contracts.
- Programs geared toward reducing the demand for commercial sex in the United States and preventing human trafficking of U.S. citizens within our own borders are now authorized for federal funds.
|
|
As a result of a concerted and committed effort to carryout the programs created in the TVPA, the United States has become a leader in addressing the egregious human rights violation of human trafficking and encouraging other governments to do the same.
To continue this effort, Smith is the lead Republican cosponsor of the “William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2007” (HR 3887) which authorizes funding for the programs created by the TVPA for fiscal years 2008-2011.
On top of reauthorizing funds for U.S. anti-trafficking initiatives, the legislation increases assistance to victims of trafficking in other countries; tightens actions against governments failing to meet minimum standards; and enhances protections for child victims of trafficking.
Much work remains to be done if we are to fully eliminate this scourge. Too much demand enabled by crass indifference, unbridled hedonism and misogynistic attitudes has turned people, especially women, into objects valued only for their utility in the brothel or in the sweat shop. Society has helped perpetrate this heinous crime by allowing it to remain in the dark. However, it cannot survive when brought to the light.
For at its core, human trafficking is a gross violation of human rights that when understood, will not be tolerated. When light is shed on this evil—every tool, best practice and well-honed strategy can be focused to win the freedom of the slaves and to spare others the agony of slavery.
|
|
U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
|
Human Trafficking – A New Form of Slavery (The White House)
|
United Nations Information on Trafficking in Human Beings
|
New Jersey Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force
|
The Convenant House Human Trafficking Initiative
|
| The Polaris Project
|
