[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 73 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6181-S6182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 12--HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF BURMESE WOMEN 
                               AND GIRLS

  Mrs. MURRAY submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
[[Page S6182]] referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 12

       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 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 Senate (the House of Representatives 
     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 the 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 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
       (7) 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.

 Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, today I submit a resolution 
expressing the sense of Congress concerning the trafficking of Burmese 
women and girls into Thailand for the purpose of forced prostitution. 
This is identical to a resolution submitted in the House by 
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter.
  I have long supported steps to help improve the gross human rights 
violations inflicted on women around the world. I am outraged at 
reports from Human Rights Watch and others citing the egregious abuse 
of Burmese women and girls who are lured into Thailand with false 
promises to work at good paying jobs, and then confined in illegal 
brothels. These women and girls live in brutal conditions, often forced 
to work 18 hours a day with several different clients. They are 
subjected to physical and sexual abuse that makes escape practically 
impossible. In addition, there is virtually no health care or birth 
control available, and the HIV virus is rampant among these women and 
girls.
  Reportedly, these abuses take place with the knowledge of the Thai 
Government and the likely involvement of the Thai police. I am deeply 
concerned by reports that these officials not only fail to protect 
these women and girls, but actually provide support to the brothels and 
brothel owners.
  Mr. President, this resolution seeks to call attention to these 
abuses. In addition to stating that sex trafficking is a violation of 
the fundamental principle of human dignity, it encourages the State 
Department to press the Thai Government to enforce the laws that can 
lead to the prosecution of these traffickers. It also encourages the 
Thai Government to ensure the rights and safety of Burmese women and 
girls in Thailand. In addition, any weapons and equipment sold to the 
Thai police by the United States should be kept out of the hands of 
those individuals who may be involved in trafficking these women and 
girls. And, finally, the United States Agency for International 
Development should target a portion of its assistance to Thailand for 
AIDS prevention and control.
  We in Congress must act now to help stop these brutal practices. The 
savage treatment of Burmese women and girls in Thailand, and the abuses 
they are subjected to, must cease. I urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution and help send a message that the trafficking and forced 
prostitution of women and girls around the world is simply 
unacceptable.


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