[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 254 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 254

  Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the trafficking of 
   Burmese women and girls into Thailand for the purposes of forced 
                             prostitution.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 13, 1994

   Ms. Slaughter (for herself, Mrs. Meek, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mrs. 
Schroeder, Mrs. Thurman, Ms. Roybal-Allard, and Mrs. Meyers of Kansas) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the trafficking of 
   Burmese women and girls into Thailand for the purposes of forced 
                             prostitution.

Whereas credible reports indicate that thousands of Burmese women and girls are 
        being trafficked into Thailand with false promises of good paying jobs 
        in restaurants or factories, and then forced to work in brothels under 
        slavery-like conditions that include sexual and physical violence, debt 
        bondage, exposure to HIV, passport deprivation, and illegal confinement;
Whereas credible reports also indicate that members of the Thai police force are 
        often actively involved in, and profit from, the trafficking of Burmese 
        women and girls for the purposes of forced prostitution;
Whereas the United States Government conducts training programs for the Thai 
        police and United States arms and equipment are sold to the Thai police;
Whereas the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 
        Women requires all States Parties ``to take all appropriate measures, 
        including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and 
        exploitation of prostitution of women'';
Whereas Article 1 of the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of 
        Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to 
        Slavery calls for the complete abolition or abandonment of debt bondage;
Whereas forced labor, defined under the 1930 Forced Labor Convention as ``all 
        work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any 
        penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself [sic] 
        voluntarily,'' is internationally prohibited;
Whereas the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and of the 
        Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others finds the traffic in persons 
        for the purposes of prostitution ``incompatible with the dignity and 
        worth of the human person,'' and calls on States Parties to punish any 
        person who procures for the purposes of prostitution, keeps, manages or 
        knowingly finances a brothel, or rents premises for the prostitution of 
        others;
Whereas Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs 
        John Shattuck has testified that the United States ``urgently needs to 
        encourage countries in which trafficking of women and children goes on 
        with impunity to enact new laws, and to enforce existing laws. A 
        particular target of this stepped-up law enforcement should be 
        government officials who participate in or condone trafficking, as well 
        as brothel owners and traffickers''; and
Whereas Secretary of State Warren Christopher stated before the 1993 World 
        Conference on Human Rights that ``[g]uaranteeing human rights is a moral 
        imperative with respect to both women and men'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) trafficking in persons violates the fundamental 
        principle of human dignity, and forced prostitution involving 
        physical coercion or debt bondage constitutes a form of forced 
        labor and a slavery-like practice;
            (2) the United States State Department should continue to 
        press the Thai Government to strictly enforce all laws that can 
        lead to the prosecution of those involved in trafficking and 
        forced prostitution, including procurers, traffickers, pimps, 
        brothel owners, and members of the Thai police who may be 
        complicit;
            (3) the State Department should ensure that Thai police 
        participants in United States Government-sponsored police 
        training programs are systematically vetted to exclude those 
        who are implicated in trafficking and forced prostitution;
            (4) the executive branch should take steps to assure that 
        weapons and equipment provided or sold to the Thai police do 
        not become available to members of those forces who might be 
        involved in trafficking, forced prostitution, or abuse of women 
        and girls who are apprehended;
            (5) the State Department should urge the Thai Government to 
        protect the rights and safety of Burmese women and girls in 
        Thailand who are freed from brothels or who are arrested as 
        illegal immigrants because their status as trafficking victims 
        is unclear;
            (6) the United States Trade Representative should extend 
        the evaluation of a petition on Thailand's labor rights 
        situation that was filed last year by the AFL-CIO in order to 
        include a review of Thai official involvement in trafficking 
        and forced prostitution;
            (7) the State Department should appoint a senior advisor on 
        women's human rights to the Undersecretary for Global Affairs 
        who would serve as an internal advocate to ensure that United 
        States foreign policy addresses women's human rights 
        violations, including trafficking and forced prostitution;
            (8) the United States Agency for International Development 
        should target a portion of its assistance to Thailand for AIDS 
        prevention and control to the foreign population in Thailand, 
        particularly Burmese women and girls in the Thai sex industry; 
        and
            (9) the State Department should report to Congress, within 
        6 months of the date of this resolution, on actions that it has 
        taken to advocate that the Thai Government implement the above 
        steps.

                                 <all>