Washington, D.C.– Congressman Erik Paulsen (MN-03) spoke at an event celebrating a new partnership between Uber and ECPAT-USA to combat sex trafficking Wednesday evening. ECPAT is an international organization dedicated to ending the commercial exploitation of children. As part of the agreement with the leading anti-trafficking organization, Uber officially signed the voluntary ECPAT “code” that provides guidelines for travel and tourism companies to aid in the fight against sex slavery and sex tourism. Uber is the first company in the ‘sharing economy’ to sign the pledge. Paulsen was joined by North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a leader in the Senate on anti-trafficking initiatives.

“Uber is in a unique position to help identify traffickers and trafficking victims by educating drivers on the problem and providing them resources to contact authorities if they see children that are in danger of exploitation,” said Paulsen. “I’ve worked to pass legislation to help victims and bring traffickers to justice, but it’s not just about new laws – we need the business community to lead as well. Uber’s commitment is important and will save lives."

(L to R; Congressman Erik Paulsen, Head of Federal Affairs at Uber Niki Christoff,

Executive Director at ECPAT-USA Carol Smolenski, Senator Heidi Heitkamp)

As part of the partnership, Uber has already laid out initial steps the company will take to address trafficking including updating their Code of Conduct to reinforce their position on commercial sexual exploitation of children. In addition, they will update driver resources pages with information on how to identify possible trafficking victims and make trafficking helpline numbers readily available to their driver-partners.

Congressman Paulsen is a long-time advocate for combating sex trafficking and testified in front of a Ways and Means Subcommittee about what can be done to address the issue. Paulsen has authored multiple pieces of legislation to help victims of trafficking that have been signed into law including the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act, which would encourage states to adopt ‘Safe Harbor’ legislation. A recent report released by the Polaris Project, an anti-sex trafficking group, found that a majority of states lack safe harbor laws to protect victims.     

For more information on Congressman Paulsen’s work in Congress visit Paulsen.house.gov.

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