[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1702-S1705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 82--RELATIVE TO A VIOLATION OF FUNDAMENTAL 
                              HUMAN RIGHTS

  Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 82

       Whereas one of the fastest growing international 
     trafficking businesses is the trade in women, whereby women 
     and girls seeking a better life, a good marriage, or a 
     lucrative job abroad, unexpectedly find themselves in 
     situations of forced prostitution, sweatshop labor, 
     exploitative domestic servitude, or battering and extreme 
     cruelty.
       Whereas trafficked women are often subjected to rape and 
     other forms of sexual abuse by their traffickers and often 
     held as virtual prisoners by their exploiters, made to work 
     in slavery-like conditions, in debt bondage without pay and 
     against their will;
       Whereas the President, the First Lady, the Secretary of 
     State, and the President's Interagency Council on Women have 
     all identified trafficking in women as a significant problem 
     and are working to mobilize a response;
       Whereas the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 
     Conference) called on all governments to take measures, 
     including legislative measures, to provide better protection 
     of the rights of women and girls in trafficking, to address 
     the root factors that put women at risk to traffickers, and 
     to take measures to dismantle the national, regional, and 
     international networks in trafficking;

[[Page S1703]]

       Whereas the United Nations General Assembly, noting its 
     concern about the increasing number of women and girls who 
     are being victimized by traffickers, passed a resolution in 
     1996 calling upon all governments to criminalize trafficking 
     in women and girls in all its forms and penalize all those 
     offenders involved, while ensuring that the victims of these 
     practices are not penalized; and
       Whereas numerous treaties to which the United States is a 
     party address government obligations to combat trafficking 
     and the abuses inherent in trafficking, including such 
     treaties as the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the 
     Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and 
     Practices Similar to Slavery, which calls for the complete 
     abolition of debt bondage and servile forms of marriage, and 
     the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, which 
     undertakes to suppress and not to make use of any form of 
     forced or compulsory labor: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) trafficking consists of all acts involved in the 
     recruitment or transportation of persons within or across 
     borders involving deception, coercion or force, abuse of 
     authority, debt bondage or fraud, for the purpose of placing 
     persons in situations of abuse or exploitation such as forced 
     prostitution, sexual slavery, battering and extreme cruelty, 
     sweatshop labor or exploitative domestic servitude;
       (2) trafficking also involves one or more forms of 
     kidnapping, false imprisonment, rape, battering, forced labor 
     or slavery-like practices which violate fundamental human 
     rights;
       (3) to address this problem, the Department of Justice 
     Office of Violence Against Women, with the cooperation of 
     Immigration and Naturalization Service, should submit a 
     report to Congress on--
       (A) efforts to identify instances of trafficking into the 
     United States within the last 5 years;
       (B) the successes or difficulties experienced in promoting 
     interagency cooperation, cooperation between local, State, 
     and Federal authorities, and cooperation with nongovernmental 
     organizations;
       (C) the treatment and services provided, and the 
     disposition of trafficking cases in the criminal justice 
     system; and
       (D) legal and administrative barriers to more effective 
     governmental responses, including current statutes on debt 
     bondage and involuntary servitude;
       (4) in order to ensure effective prosecution of traffickers 
     and the abuses related to trafficking, victims should be 
     provided with support services and incentives to testify, 
     such as--
       (A) stays of deportation with an opportunity to apply for 
     permanent residency, witness protection, relocation 
     assistance, and asset forfeiture from trafficking networks 
     with funds set aside to provide compensation due to victims 
     of trafficking; and
       (B) services such as legal assistance in criminal, 
     administrative, and civil proceedings and confidential health 
     care;
       (5) the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
     Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women, and 
     nongovernmental organizations should--
       (A) develop curricula and conduct training for consular 
     officers on the prevalence and risks of trafficking and the 
     rights of victims; and
       (B) develop and disperse to visa seekers written materials 
     describing the potential risks of trafficking, including--
       (i) information as to the rights of victims in the United 
     States, including legal and civil rights in labor, marriage, 
     and for crime victims under the Violence Against Women Act; 
     and
       (ii) the names of support and advocacy organizations in the 
     United States;
       (6) the Department of State and the European Union--
       (A) are commended as to their joint initiative to promote 
     awareness of the problem of trafficking throughout countries 
     of origin in Eastern Europe and the independent states of the 
     former Soviet Union; and
       (B) should continue efforts to engage in similar programs 
     in other regions and to ensure that the dignity and the human 
     rights of trafficking victims are protected in destination 
     countries;
       (7) the State Department's Bureau for International 
     Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, together with the 
     Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury, 
     should continue to provide and expand funding to support 
     criminal justice training programs, which include 
     trafficking; and
       (8) the President's Interagency Council on Women should 
     submit a report to Congress, not later than 6 months after 
     the date of the adoption of this resolution, with regard to 
     the implementation by the Secretary of State and the Attorney 
     General of the duties described in this resolution.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the President, the Secretary of State, 
     and the Attorney General.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, in honor of International Women's Day, 
I am submitting, along with my colleague Senator Feinstein, legislation 
to curb a horrific practice: the forced or coerced trafficking of women 
and girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation. This resolution will 
effectively put Congress on record as opposing trafficking for forced 
prostitution and domestic servitude, and acting to check it before the 
lives of more women and girls are shattered.
  One of the fastest growing international trafficking businesses is 
the trade in women. Women and girls seeking a better life, a good 
marriage, or a lucrative job abroad, unexpectedly find themselves 
forced to work as prostitutes, or in sweat shops. Seeking this better 
life, they are lured by local advertisements for good jobs in foreign 
countries at wages they could never imagine at home.
  Every year, the trafficking of human beings for the sex trade affects 
hundreds of thousands of women throughout the world. Women and children 
whose lives have been disrupted by civil wars, or fundamental changes 
in political geography, such as the disintegration of the Soviet Union, 
have fallen prey to traffickers. The International Organization for 
Migration has said that as many as 500,000 women are annually 
trafficked into Western Europe alone.
  Upon arrival in countries far from their homes, these women are often 
stripped of their passports, held against their will in slave-like 
conditions, and sexually abused. Rape, intimidation, and violence are 
commonly employed by traffickers to control their victims and to 
prevent them from seeking help. Through physical isolation and 
psychological trauma, traffickers and brothel owners imprison women in 
a world of economic and sexual exploitation that imposes a constant 
fear of arrest and deportation, as well as of violent reprisals by the 
traffickers themselves, to whom the women must pay off ever-growing 
debts. Many brothel owners actually prefer foreign women--women who are 
far from help and home, and who do not speak the language--precisely 
because of the ease of controlling them.
  Most of these women never imagined that they would enter such a 
hellish world, having traveled abroad to find better jobs or to see the 
world. Many in their naivete, believed that nothing bad could happen to 
them in the rich and comfortable countries such as Switzerland, 
Germany, or the United States. Others, who are less naive but desperate 
for money and opportunity, are no less hurt by the trafficker's brutal 
grip.
  One of the most disturbing trends in trafficking is the growing 
number of young women and children. For various reasons, including the 
AIDS epidemic, virgins are increasingly in demand and can fetch some of 
the highest prices in the international sex market. In the most extreme 
cases, criminals buy and sell children as if these children were mere 
objects or animals.
  Trafficking rings are run by criminals often operating through 
nominally reputable agencies. Through entertainment companies, 
employment or marriage agencies, these criminals mislead and manipulate 
women. Lack of awareness of complacency among government officials, 
such as border and consular officers, contribute to the problem. 
Further, traffickers are rarely punished as official policies inhibit 
women from testifying against their traffickers, making forced 
prostitution highly profitable, low risk business ventures.
  Last year, according to a report in the Washington Post, the FBI 
raided a massage parlor in downtown Bethesda, right next to Congress, 
right next to Washington, DC. The massage parlor was involved in the 
trafficking of Russian women into the United States. The eight Russian 
women who worked there, lived at the massage parlor, sleeping on the 
massage tables at night. They were charged $150 a week for ``housing'' 
and were not paid any salary, only receiving a portion of their tips.
  Gillian Caldwell and her organization, Global Survival Network (GSN), 
conducted an extraordinary two-year investigation of the growing 
international transport of Russian women for prostitution. GSN found 
that trafficking networks in Russia charge women anywhere from $1,500 
to $30,000 for their ``services'' in facilitating documentation, jobs, 
and transportation. A relationship of debt-bondage is created that the 
woman can never defeat.
  Fortunately, the global trade in women and children is receiving 
greater attention by governments and NGOs

[[Page S1704]]

following the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing. The United 
Nations General Assembly has called upon all governments to criminalize 
trafficking, to punish its offenders, while not penalizing its victims. 
The President's Interagency Council on Women is working hard to 
mobilize a response to this problem. But, much, much more must be done.
  Recognizing this worldwide problem, my resolution calls upon the 
State Department and the Department of Justice to increase their 
efforts to investigate and take action against international sex 
trafficking, and to report to Congress about their finding and steps 
taken to curb this problem. Further, it seeks to reduce incidences of 
trafficking and forced prostitution by making information available to 
warn at risk women and girls of the potential dangers they may face. 
Finally, it provides for training of consular officials, incentives for 
victims to testify against traffickers, and services for victims of 
trafficking.
  This resolution strengthens the work of the President's Interagency 
Council on Women, and has the support of a broad array of 
organizations: Human Rights Watch, Global Survival Network, Ayuda, 
National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women, International 
Human Rights Law Group, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, 
and the National Council on International Health.
  I would like to thank the above organizations and agencies who helped 
craft this legislation. We must commit ourselves to ending the 
trafficking of women and girls and to building a world in which such 
exploitation is relegated to the dark past. I urge my colleagues to 
cosponsor this resolution, and I urge its timely passage. The President 
tomorrow will sign an Executive order which will also deal with this 
problem. We will work on passing the resolution, and also to make sure 
that this translates into legislative action.

  Mr. President, it is absolutely unconscionable that this goes on in 
the world, including our country.
  I will come to the floor later on with a blown-up map. But this is a 
sample of routes used to traffic women for prostitution from the Newly 
Independent States in the former Soviet Union, and all over the world. 
But also you see an arrow coming to the United States and to a lot of 
the European countries. It is just unconscionable that this is 
happening to women and to girls and essentially the international 
community has turned its gaze away from it.
  It is important that we have cosponsors for this resolution and that 
we pass this concurrent resolution with an overwhelming vote. I look 
forward to the Senate and the House of Representatives working with the 
President on this matter.
  I hope that we will get a strong vote for this resolution by the end 
of the week, an up-or-down vote, which, if we have a commitment to do 
so, I hope the administration will take the action on.
  Finally, Mr. President, let me just thank Senator Feinstein for 
working with me on this resolution.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
excerpts from this book entitled ``Crime and Servitude: An Expose of 
the Traffic in Women for Prostitution from the Newly Independent 
States, A report by the Global Survival Network, In Collaboration with 
the International League for Human Rights.''
  Mr. President, I want these excerpts printed in the Record because I 
want history to show that for the first time the U.S. Senate is going 
to take a position on this issue. I want this included in the Record 
because I want history to show that for the first time the U.S. Senate 
is going to make it clear that we are not going to be silent when it 
comes to the most brutal treatment of women and girls throughout the 
world. These are all God's children, and we intend to take a strong 
position, and we intend to put the resolution into legislation and do 
everything we can to try to provide the protection for these women and 
these children.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

Crime and Servitude, an Expose of the Traffic in Women for Prostitution 
                   from the Newly Independent States

  (A report by the Global Survival Network in collaboration with the 
                 International League for Human Rights)


                                preface

       The United Nations estimates that four million people are 
     trafficked throughout the world each year, resulting in 
     illicit profits to criminal syndicates of up to seven billion 
     dollars annually. One of the fastest growing trafficking 
     businesses is the sex trade.
       This ground-breaking report details the findings of a two-
     year investigation by the Global Survival Network into the 
     trafficking of women from Russia and the Newly Independent 
     States for prostitution. Each day, thousands of women and 
     girls are lured into the international sex trade with 
     promises of a better life and a lucrative job abroad. These 
     false promises are especially appealing to the scores of 
     unemployed and underemployed women struggling to survive in 
     impoverished regions and in societies facing post-Communist 
     transition.
       They are transported by bus, plane, and train to Europe, 
     Asia, the Middle East, and North America, where they 
     unexpectedly find themselves forced into cruel sexual 
     exploitation. They may be forced to work for months or years 
     without earnings, and many endure deep physical and 
     psychological trauma as a result of their experience. In the 
     worst of cases, they may lose not only their freedom but also 
     their lives.
       Trafficking has been recognized by the United Nations as a 
     form of slavery and violence against women. It has also been 
     condemned by numerous international human rights documents, 
     including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
     Discrimination Against Women, the Convention for the 
     Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of 
     the Prostitution of Others, the Declaration on the 
     Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the 
     Convention on the Rights of the Child.
       Despite the many prohibitions against trafficking, 
     international networks that market women and children for 
     prostitution continue to thrive. Their success can be 
     attributed to several factors, including the global economic 
     trends, the declining socioeconomic status of women, the 
     enormous profitability of the business, government inaction, 
     and, in the most egregious circumstances, government 
     complicity.
       It will not be possible to address the growing problem of 
     trafficking without the collaboration of state institutions 
     and nongovernmental organizations, and both have their own 
     challenges to meet. Governments must identify and remove 
     corrupt public officials acting as accomplices of sex 
     traders, and resist the pressure to attempt to address 
     trafficking by restricting migration, which exacerbates the 
     problem and leads to a violation of another fundamental human 
     right, the freedom of movement.
       For the human rights movement, trafficking extends beyond 
     the familiar set of civil and political concerns. It is a 
     multidimensional problem which demands comprehensive 
     evaluation. Recommended responses must be informed by active 
     cooperation between the traditional human rights community 
     and the newer women's rights groups.
       Moreover, because trafficking is a problem that transcends 
     national borders, it demands a transnational response. 
     Collaborative relationships must be formed between the 
     ``sending countries'' of the former Eastern Bloc, Asia, 
     Africa and Latin America, and ``receiving countries'' in the 
     wealthier nations of North America and Western Europe.
       This report was prepared for distribution at an 
     international conference in Moscow on ``The Trafficking of 
     NIS Women Abroad,'' coordinated jointly by Sysotri (Moscow), 
     the Global Survival Network (Washington, D.C.), the 
     International League for Human Rights (New York), and hosted 
     at the Andrei Sakharov Foundation. This remarkable 
     collaborative effort represents a critical first step toward 
     developing cooperative and transnational relationships to 
     address this massive violation of human rights.
       Let us work together to eradicate this form of modern-day 
     slavery, because no society is truly democratic until all 
     human beings are guaranteed their rights to freedom, dignity, 
     and equality.
           Sincerely,
                            Anastasia Posadskaya-Vanderbeck, Ph.D.


                        i. a testimony from hell

       [Slavery is] the status or condition of a person over whom 
     any or all of the powers attaching to right of ownership are 
     exercised.--Slavery Convention, 1926.
       No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and 
     the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.--
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
       You cannot give them any [money]. It means that they will 
     live in the States without any cash, without any money.--
     Russian Trafficker, 1996.
       Every year, the trafficking of human beings for the sex 
     trade puts hundreds of thousands of women at risk of losing 
     their personal freedom, suffering physical and emotional 
     harm, working in degrading and sometimes life-threatening 
     situations, and being cheated of their earnings. Since the 
     break-up of the Soviet Union, an increasing percentage of 
     these women are from Russia and the Newly Independent States. 
     Most of them never imagined that they would enter such a 
     hellish world of crime and servitude, having traveled abroad 
     to find better jobs or to see the world. Many, in their 
     naivete, believed that nothing bad could happen to them in 
     rich and comfortable countries such

[[Page S1705]]

     as Switzerland, Germany, Japan, or the United States. Others, 
     who were less naive but still desperate for money and 
     opportunity, are equally affected by the cruel and 
     unforgiving grip of traffickers.
       Unfortunately, during the chaos of massive political, 
     social, and economic change in Russia and the Newly 
     Independent States, criminal elements have been able to 
     establish themselves in the international business of 
     trafficking women. Operating through nominally reputable 
     employment agencies, entertainment companies, or marriage 
     agencies, these criminals mislead and manipulate women, who 
     become pawns in a vicious, illegal worldwide trade. In the 
     most extreme cases, the criminals buy and sell women and 
     children as if they were mere objects or animals.
     Lena's story
       To understand what it means to be a slave today, consider 
     the case of ``Lena.''
       Several years ago in the Russian Far East, 19-year-old 
     Lena, seeking to travel and earn money, joined several other 
     Russian women who had responded to a newspaper ad for a work 
     and study program in China. ``They brought us the contracts 
     that described all the conditions: medical insurance, 
     housing, food, travel there and back,'' reported Lena.
       The women were flown to Jukhai, China, where they studied 
     cooking for a month. ``Everything seemed fine. Until they 
     took our passports, in spite of the fact that the contract 
     had a point that said that everybody should have their 
     passports with them,'' she continued. ``Then they didn't 
     return our passports. When we demanded them, they immediately 
     and categorically told us `$15,000 for each passport.''' It 
     soon became clear that the ``restaurant'' Lena had been hired 
     to work in didn't exist, and none of the girls were being 
     paid.
       One of the girls in Lena's group, a 17-year-old, was 
     purchased by a competing group, which paid $15,000 for her 
     passport and transported her to Macau to work as a 
     prostitute. From that point on, Lena and her friends endured 
     beatings, imprisonment, and hunger. ``They began to withhold 
     our monthly salaries. They locked us up without food and 
     without money. There was a balcony...You could jump if you 
     wanted to die.'' The Chinese bosses said they would give the 
     girls their passports if they started to ``cooperate,'' which 
     meant working in hotels, restaurants, and karaoke clubs as 
     ``entertainers'' and prostitutes for Chinese men.
       Lena and her friends eventually escaped. With little money 
     and enraged by what had happened to them, they traveled to 
     several Chinese cities and appealed without success to 
     Russian consulates and Chinese city mayors for assistance to 
     return home. ``At times we had to work like this: you're 
     walking down the street, a car drives up, you agree that 
     tonight you'll sit with them in a restaurant, karaoke, and 
     they will pay you some money for it. Just like 
     prostitution.'' The women met some Russian men who offered to 
     help them return home in exchange for sexual favors. ``So 
     that's how we worked for three months, to make some money to 
     leave. We had to work in different places, some of them 
     awful, when there was not even a penny in the wallet.''
       Lena and the others finally managed to get back to Russia. 
     At home now, Lena says she has a hard time trusting anyone 
     and keeps a gun for protection. ``I sometimes have to turn to 
     a psychiatrist to put myself back in place, because I became 
     very jumpy. My health is ruined. I simply curse the day when 
     my romantic notions made me decide, having trusted these 
     people, to go see China,'' she concluded.
     The investigation
       Thousands of women from Russia and the Newly Independent 
     States have endured such exploitation and slavery during 
     recent years, yet their stories have been largely ignored by 
     most law-enforcement agencies and governments. Unfortunately, 
     as this report reveals, police agencies in receiving 
     countries often minimize the extent of trafficking. And 
     governments usually respond to trafficking as a problem of 
     illegal migration, an approach that transforms women 
     victimized by particular circumstances into criminals.
       To learn why and how this form of modern slavery persists, 
     and to propose solutions, the Global Survival Network (GSN) 
     conducted a study from August 1995 through the Autumn of 1997 
     to uncover the rapidly growing trade in Russian women for 
     purposes of prostitution.
       Because of the underground nature of the trade, the study 
     combined conventional and unconventional methodologies. GSN 
     conducted open interviews with numerous non-governmental 
     organizations, more than fifty women who had been trafficked 
     overseas, and police and government officials in Russia, 
     Western Europe, Asia, and the United States.
       In order to delve into and learn more about the world of 
     organized crime and its role in Russian sex trafficking, GSN 
     also conducted some unconventional research. GSN established 
     a dummy company that purportedly specialized in importing 
     foreign women as escorts and entertainers. The company was 
     ``based'' in the United States and claimed to specialize in 
     ``Foreign Models, Escorts, and Entertainers.'' Company 
     ``employees'' represented the business. Brochures, business 
     cards, and a telephone and fax line give the operation a look 
     of authenticity. Under the guise of this company, GSN 
     successfully gained entree to the shadowy operations of 
     international trafficking networks based in Russia and 
     beyond. Many of the interviews were recorded with hidden 
     cameras and provide unique insight into the trafficking 
     underworld in action.
       While conducting investigations with this front, GSN met 
     Russian pimps and traffickers who revealed their modus 
     operandi, as well as the identities of their financial 
     investors and overseas partners. GSN combined these findings 
     with other information collected through interviews with non-
     governmental organizations, law enforcement agencies, 
     trafficked women, and relevant news reports. Taken together, 
     this information provided GSN with enough detail to target 
     several countries where Russian women and girls work as 
     prostitutes in substantial numbers, including Germany, 
     Switzerland, Japan, Macau, and the United States. Wherever 
     legal, interviews were recorded by hidden camera directly 
     inside the establishments where prostitution was occurring. 
     Whenever possible, the investigators revealed the nature of 
     their work.
       In some cases, security conditions for both the 
     investigator and the persons interviewed prevented 
     disclosure. In order to preserve the safety and privacy of 
     all parties involved, pseudonyms have been given to the 
     persons interviewed during GSN's covert investigations, and 
     whenever requested otherwise. The videotaped material has 
     been transcribed and is used to tell much of the story you 
     are about to read.
       Trafficking networks flourish in large part because 
     governments, officials, and citizens fail to speak out and to 
     act. Criminals operate with impunity when they have corrupted 
     the law-enforcement personnel who ostensibly combat them. 
     GSN's investigation has not only sought to expose the 
     degrading nature and viciousness of human trafficking, but 
     also to provide insight into how to stop it.
       This report offers concrete recommendations for action and 
     policies that can rein in traffickers and provide assistance 
     to their victims. To understand the recommendations, it is 
     first necessary to understand trafficking: who does it, and 
     why; how it can exist outside the law; how it violates basic 
     human rights; and why its victims so rarely seek help.

                          ____________________