[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 508 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 508

Supporting the goals and ideals of International Day for the Abolition 
 of Slavery, recognizing the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the 
    United Nations of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 
 Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing 
 the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 
and commending the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the 
                    tradition of Frederick Douglass.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2011

Ms. Richardson (for herself, Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas, Mr. Conyers, Ms. 
  Clarke of New York, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Meeks, Mrs. Christensen, Ms. 
Norton, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Rush, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Towns, Ms. 
 Moore, and Ms. Lee of California) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Supporting the goals and ideals of International Day for the Abolition 
 of Slavery, recognizing the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the 
    United Nations of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 
 Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing 
 the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 
and commending the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the 
                    tradition of Frederick Douglass.

Whereas 61 years ago the international community, acting through the United 
        Nations, affirmed its opposition to modern-day slavery and human 
        trafficking, expressed its resolve to combat this evil, and proclaimed 
        December 2 as ``International Day for the Abolition of Slavery'';
Whereas 10 years ago the international community, acting through the United 
        Nations, adopted a modern-day-slavery-based tool to combat human 
        trafficking, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
        Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations 
        Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, creating the modern 
        ``3P'' approach of fighting servitude through prevention, protection, 
        and prosecution;
Whereas the international community has also adopted, and the United States has 
        also ratified, other instruments to combat the trafficking in persons 
        and modern-day slavery, including the International Labor Organization 
        Convention 182, Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the 
        Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, Optional Protocol to the 
        Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child 
        Prostitution and Child Pornography, Optional Protocol to the Convention 
        on the Rights of the Child in Armed Conflict, International Labor 
        Organization Convention 29, Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, and 
        International Labor Organization Convention 105, Concerning the 
        Abolition of Forced Labour;
Whereas despite the efforts of governments and nongovernmental organizations, 
        including but not limited to, Human Rights Watch, Global Rights, the 
        Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, Safe Horizon, Freedom 
        Network, United and its partners in the Alliance to End Slavery and 
        Trafficking, the Polaris Project, and the Frederick Douglass Family 
        Foundation, to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking, the problem 
        persists and manifests itself in the modern era, whether termed modern-
        day slavery, forced labor, involuntary domestic servitude, sex 
        trafficking, child sex trafficking, bonded labor, forced child labor, 
        child soldiers, or debt bondage among migrant laborers;
Whereas the International Labor Organization estimates that at any given time at 
        least 12,300,000 adults and children live in conditions of forced labor 
        and sexual servitude and that at least 1,390,000 persons are victims of 
        national and transnational sex trafficking;
Whereas it is estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 victims are moved 
        across international borders every year and subjected to compelled 
        service and millions more are enslaved domestically within their own 
        countries;
Whereas according to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United 
        States Department of State, each year an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 
        foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States with the largest 
        number of people trafficked into the United States coming from East Asia 
        and the Pacific and the next highest numbers coming from Latin America, 
        Europe, and Eurasia;
Whereas these numbers pale in comparison to the number of persons subjected to 
        bondage within the United States each year, with an estimated 200,000 
        children in the United States at risk for trafficking into the sex 
        industry;
Whereas 56 percent of victims of modern-day slavery are women and children 
        because traffickers prey on those who suffer most from gender 
        discrimination, family violence, and a lack of access to education and 
        economic opportunity;
Whereas human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in 
        the 21st century generating profits for traffickers in excess of 
        $30,000,000,000 according to the International Labor Organization, 
        ranking with drug smuggling and arms dealing in organized crime 
        activities;
Whereas as the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United States 
        Department of State indicates, human trafficking is a multidimensional 
        threat in that it deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, 
        increases global health risks, and fuels the growth of organized crime; 
        and
Whereas there remains a stark disparity between the large global problem of 
        trafficking in persons and the low numbers of prosecutions and 
        convictions of forced labor trafficking crimes, which accounted for less 
        than 3 percent of all convictions worldwide in 2009: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of International Day for 
        the Abolition of Slavery;
            (2) recognizes the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the 
        Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
        Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the 
        United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
        Crime;
            (3) encourages member states of the United Nations and 
        international organizations to devote additional resources to 
        apprehend, prosecute, and punish persons engaged in human 
        trafficking and to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal 
        enterprises organized for that purpose;
            (4) urges all members of the international community to 
        commemorate the 10th year of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress 
        and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and 
        Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against 
        Transnational Organized Crime by redoubling their efforts and 
        renewing their resolve to eradicating the modern-day slavery 
        crisis of trafficking in persons from the face of the Earth;
            (5) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
        the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery by 
        participating in activities designed to heighten public 
        awareness of the prevalence of human trafficking; and
            (6) commends the efforts of domestic and international 
        nongovernmental organizations to expose, prevent, and document 
        all forms of modern-day slavery and human trafficking and to 
        assist victims reintegrate into society and notes that such 
        efforts honor the legacy and follow in the tradition of 
        Frederick Douglass and other great abolitionists of the 19th 
        century who devoted their lives to the struggle for freedom, 
        human dignity, and the full measure of civil and human rights 
        for all men and women.
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