[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2598-S2600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE.
  S. 600. A bill to combat the crime of international trafficking and 
to protect the rights of victims; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


 international trafficking of women and children victim protection act 
                                of 1999

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, this week across the globe, men and 
women have celebrated International Women's Day, highlighting the 
achievements of women around the world. From Qatar to Indonesia, the 
day was marked by women marching, meeting, and protesting for 
recognition of their inherent dignity and fundamental human rights. I 
believe there is much work yet to be done to ensure that women and 
girls' human rights are protected and respected.
  One of the most horrendous human rights violations of our time is 
trafficking in human beings, particularly among women and children, for 
purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. To curb this horrific 
practice, I am introducing the ``International Trafficking of Women and 
Children Victim Protection Act of 1999'' which will 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 economic collapse, civil wars, or 
fundamental changes in political geography, such as the disintegration 
of the Soviet Union, have fallen prey to traffickers. The United States 
government estimates that 1-2 million women and girls are trafficked 
annually around the world. According to experts, between 50 and 100 
thousand women are trafficked each year into the United States alone. 
They come from Thailand, Russia, the Ukraine and other countries in 
Asia and the former Soviet Union.
  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 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.
  Last year, First Lady Hilary Clinton spoke powerfully of this human 
tragedy. She said: ``I have spoken to young girls in northern Thailand 
whose parents were persuaded to sell them as prostitutes, and they 
received a great deal of money by their standards. You could often tell 
the homes of where the girls had been sold because they might even have 
a satellite dish or an addition built on their house. But I met girls 
who had come home after they had been used up, after they had 
contracted HIV or AIDS. If you've ever held the hand of a 13-year-old 
girl dying of AIDS, you can understand how critical it is that we take 
every step possible to prevent this happening to any other girl 
anywhere in the world. I also, in the Ukraine, heard of women who told 
me with tears running down their faces that young women in their 
communities were disappearing. They answered ads that promised a much 
better future in another place and they were never heard from again.''
  These events are occurring not just in far off lands, but here at 
home in the U.S. as well. According to a report in the Washington Post 
in 1997, the FBI raided a massage parlor in downtown Bethesda. 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 a $150 a week for ``housing'' and were not paid any salary, 
only receiving a portion of their tips.

  According to recent reports by the Justice Department, teenage 
Mexican girls were held in slavery in Florida and the Carolinas and 
forced to submit to prostitution. In addition, Russian and Latvian 
women were forced to work in nightclubs in Chicago. According to 
charges filed against the traffickers, the traffickers picked the women 
up upon their arrival at the airport, seized their documents and return 
tickets, locked them in hotels and beat

[[Page S2599]]

them. The women were told that if they refused to dance nude in various 
nightclubs, the Russian mafia would kill their families. Further, over 
three years, hundreds of women from the Czech Republic who answered 
advertisements in Czech newspapers for modeling were ensnared in an 
illegal prostitution ring.
  Trafficking in women and girls is a human rights problem that 
requires a human rights response. Trafficking is condemned by human 
rights treaties as a violation of basic human rights and a slavery-like 
practice. Women who are trafficked are subjected to other abuses--rape, 
beatings, physical confinement--squarely prohibited by human rights 
law. The human abuses continue in the workplace, in the forms of 
physical and sexual abuse, debt bondage and illegal confinement, and 
all are prohibited.
  Fortunately, the global trade in women and children is receiving 
greater attention by governments and NGOs 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. Churches, synagogues, and NGOs, such as Human Rights 
Watch and the Global Survival Network, are fighting this battle daily. 
But, much, much more must be done.
  My legislation provides a human rights response to the problem. It 
has a comprehensive and integrated approach focused on prevention, 
protection and assistance for victims, and prosecution of traffickers.
  I will highlight a few of its provisions now:
  It sets an international standard for governments to meet in their 
efforts to fight trafficking and assist victims of this human rights 
abuse. It calls on the State Department and Justice Department to 
investigate and take action against international trafficking. In 
addition, it creates an Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat 
Trafficking in the Office of the Secretary of State and directs the 
Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress on international 
trafficking.
  The annual report would, among other things, identify states engaged 
in trafficking, the efforts of these states to combat trafficking, and 
whether their government officials are complicit in the practice. 
Corrupt government or law enforcement officials sometimes directly 
participate and benefit in the trade of women and girls. And, 
corruption also prevents prosecution of traffickers. U.S. police 
assistance would be barred to countries found not to have taken 
effective action in ending the participation of their officials in 
trafficking, and in investigating and prosecuting meaningfully their 
officials involved in trafficking. A waiver is provided for the 
President if he finds that provision of such assistance is in the 
national interest.
  On a national level, it ensures that our immigration laws do not 
encourage rapid deportation of trafficked women, a practice which 
effectively insulates traffickers from ever being prosecuted for their 
crimes. Trafficking victims are eligible for a nonimmigrant status 
valid for three months. If the victim pursues criminal or civil actions 
against her trafficker, or if she pursues an asylum claim, she is 
provided with an extension of time. Further, it provides that 
trafficked women should not be detained, but instead receive needed 
services, safe shelter, and the opportunity to seek justice against 
their abusers. Finally, my bill provides much needed resources to 
programs assisting trafficking victims here at home and abroad.
  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 support the International 
Trafficking of Women and Children Protection Act of 1999.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 600

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``International Trafficking of 
     Women and Children Victim Protection Act of 1999''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The worldwide trafficking of persons has a 
     disproportionate impact on women and girls and has been and 
     continues to be condemned by the international community as a 
     violation of fundamental human rights.
       (2) The fastest growing international trafficking business 
     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.
       (3) Trafficked women and children, girls and boys, 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.
       (4) The President, the First Lady, the Secretary of State, 
     the President's Interagency Council on Women, and the Agency 
     for International Development have all identified trafficking 
     in women as a significant problem.
       (5) 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 and girls at risk to 
     traffickers, and to take measures to dismantle the national, 
     regional, and international networks on trafficking.
       (6) 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 1998 
     calling upon all governments to criminalize trafficking in 
     women and girls in all its forms and to penalize all those 
     offenders involved, while ensuring that the victims of these 
     practices are not penalized.
       (7) Numerous treaties to which the United States is a party 
     address government obligations to combat 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 requires signatories not to 
     make use of any forced or compulsory labor.

     SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

       The purposes of this Act are to condemn and combat the 
     international crime of trafficking in women and children and 
     to assist the victims of this crime by--
       (1) setting a standard by which governments are evaluated 
     for their response to trafficking and their treatment of 
     victims;
       (2) authorizing and funding an interagency task force to 
     carry out such evaluations and to issue an annual report of 
     its findings to include the identification of foreign 
     governments that tolerate or participate in trafficking and 
     fail to cooperate with international efforts to prosecute 
     perpetrators;
       (3) assisting trafficking victims in the United States by 
     providing humanitarian assistance and by providing them 
     temporary nonimmigrant status in the United States;
       (4) assisting trafficking victims abroad by providing 
     humanitarian assistance; and
       (5) denying certain forms of United States foreign 
     assistance to those governments which tolerate or participate 
     in trafficking, abuse victims, and fail to cooperate with 
     international efforts to prosecute perpetrators.

     SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Police assistance.--The term ``police assistance''--
       (A) means--
       (i) assistance of any kind, whether in the form of grant, 
     loan, training, or otherwise, provided to or for foreign law 
     enforcement officials, foreign customs officials, or foreign 
     immigration officials;
       (ii) government-to-government sales of any item to or for 
     foreign law enforcement officials, foreign customs officials, 
     or foreign immigration officials; and
       (iii) any license for the export of an item sold under 
     contract to or for the officials described in clause (i); and
       (B) does not include assistance furnished under section 534 
     of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346c; 
     relating to the administration of justice) or any other 
     assistance under that Act to promote respect for 
     internationally recognized human rights.
       (2) Trafficking.--The term ``trafficking'' means the use of 
     deception, coercion, debt bondage, the threat of force, or 
     the abuse of authority to recruit, transport within or across 
     borders, purchase, sell, transfer, receive, or harbor a 
     person for the purpose of placing or holding such person, 
     whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude, or slavery 
     or slavery-like conditions, or in forced, bonded, or coerced 
     labor.
       (3) Victim of trafficking.--The term ``victim of 
     trafficking'' means any person subjected to the treatment 
     described in paragraph (2).

     SEC. 5. INTER-AGENCY TASK FORCE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 
                   TRAFFICKING.

       (a) Establishment.--

[[Page S2600]]

       (1) In general.--There is established within the Department 
     of State in the Office of the Secretary of State an Inter-
     Agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (in this 
     section referred to as the ``Task Force''). The Task Force 
     shall be co-chaired by the Assistant Secretary of State for 
     Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs and the Senior 
     Coordinator on International Women's Issues, President's 
     Interagency Council on Women.
       (2) Appointment of members.--The members of the Task Force 
     shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. The Task Force 
     shall consist of no more than twelve members.
       (3) Composition.--The Task Force shall include 
     representatives from the--
       (A) Violence Against Women Office, Office of Justice 
     Programs, Department of Justice;
       (B) Office of Women in Development, United States Agency 
     for International Development; and
       (C) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement 
     Affairs, Department of State.
       (4) Staff.--The Task Force shall be authorized to retain up 
     to five staff members within the Bureau of Democracy, Human 
     Rights, and Labor Affairs, and the President's Interagency 
     Council on Women to prepare the annual report described in 
     subsection (b) and to carry out additional tasks which the 
     Task Force may require. The Task Force shall regularly hold 
     meetings on its activities with nongovernmental 
     organizations.
       (b) Annual Report to Congress.--Not later than March 1 of 
     each year, the Secretary of State, with the assistance of the 
     Task Force, shall submit a report to Congress describing the 
     status of international trafficking, including--
       (1) a list of foreign states where trafficking originates, 
     passes through, or is a destination; and
       (2) an assessment of the efforts by the governments 
     described in paragraph (1) to combat trafficking. Such an 
     assessment shall address--
       (A) whether any governmental authorities tolerate or are 
     involved in trafficking activities;
       (B) which governmental authorities are involved in anti-
     trafficking activities;
       (C) what steps the government has taken toward ending the 
     participation of its officials in trafficking;
       (D) what steps the government has taken to prosecute and 
     investigate those officials found to be involved in 
     trafficking;
       (E) what steps the government has taken to prohibit other 
     individuals from participating in trafficking, including the 
     investigation, prosecution, and conviction of individuals 
     involved in trafficking, the criminal and civil penalties for 
     trafficking, and the efficacy of those penalties on reducing 
     or ending trafficking;
       (F) what steps the government has taken to assist 
     trafficking victims, including efforts to prevent victims 
     from being further victimized by police, traffickers, or 
     others, grants of stays of deportation, and provision of 
     humanitarian relief, including provision of mental and 
     physical health care and shelter;
       (G) whether the government is cooperating with governments 
     of other countries to extradite traffickers when requested;
       (H) whether the government is assisting in international 
     investigations of transnational trafficking networks; and
       (I) whether the government--
       (i) refrains from prosecuting trafficking victims or 
     refrains from other discriminatory treatment towards 
     trafficking victims due to such victims having been 
     trafficked, or the nature of their work, or their having left 
     the country illegally; and
       (ii) recognizes the rights of victims and ensures their 
     access to justice.
       (c) Reporting Standards and Investigations.--
       (1) Responsibility of the secretary of state.--The 
     Secretary of State shall ensure that United States missions 
     abroad maintain a consistent reporting standard and 
     thoroughly investigate reports of trafficking.
       (2) Contacts with nongovernmental organizations.--In 
     compiling data and assessing trafficking for the Human Rights 
     Report and the Inter-Agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat 
     Trafficking Annual Report, United States mission personnel 
     shall seek out and maintain contacts with human rights and 
     other nongovernmental organizations, including receiving 
     reports and updates from such organizations, and, when 
     appropriate, investigating such reports.

     SEC. 6. INELIGIBILITY FOR POLICE ASSISTANCE.

       (a) Ineligibility.--Except as provided in subsection (b), 
     any foreign government country identified in the latest 
     report submitted under section 5 as a government that--
       (1) has failed to take effective action towards ending the 
     participation of its officials in trafficking; and
       (2) has failed to investigate and prosecute meaningfully 
     those officials found to be involved in trafficking,

     shall not be eligible for police assistance.
       (b) Waiver of Ineligibility.--The President may waive the 
     application of subsection (a) to a foreign country if the 
     President determines and certifies to Congress that the 
     provision of police assistance to the country is in the 
     national interest of the United States.

     SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.

       (a) Nonimmigrant Classification for Trafficking Victims.--
     Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (R);
       (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (S) 
     and inserting ``; or''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
       ``(T) an alien who the Attorney General determines--
       ``(i) is physically present in the United States, and
       ``(ii) is or has been a trafficking victim (as defined in 
     section 4 of the International Trafficking of Women and 
     Children Victim Protection Act of 1999),

     for a stay of not to exceed 3 months in the United States, 
     except that any such alien who has filed a petition seeking 
     asylum or who is pursuing civil or criminal action against 
     traffickers shall have the alien's status extended until the 
     petition or litigation reaches its conclusion.''.
       (b) Waiver of Grounds for Ineligibility for Admission.--
     Section 212(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1182(d)) is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(d)''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) The Attorney General shall, in the Attorney General's 
     discretion, waive the application of subsection (a) (other 
     than paragraph (3)(E)) in the case of a nonimmigrant 
     described in section 101(a)(15)(T), if the Attorney General 
     considers it to be in the national interest to do so.''.
       (c) Involuntary Servitude.--Section 1584 of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended--
       (1) inserting ``(a)'' before ``Whoever'';
       (2) by striking ``or'' after ``servitude'';
       (3) by inserting ``transfers, receives or harbors any 
     person into involuntary servitude, or'' after ``servitude,''; 
     and
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(b) In this section, the term `involuntary servitude' 
     includes trafficking, slavery-like practices in which persons 
     are forced into labor through non-physical means, such as 
     debt bondage, blackmail, fraud, deceit, isolation, and 
     psychological pressure.''.
       (d) Trafficking Victim Regulations.--Not later than 180 
     days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 
     General and the Secretary of State shall jointly promulgate 
     regulations for law enforcement personnel, immigration 
     officials, and Foreign Service officers requiring that--
       (1) Federal, State and local law enforcement, immigration 
     officials, and Foreign Service officers shall be trained in 
     identifying and responding to trafficking victims;
       (2) trafficking victims shall not be jailed, fined, or 
     otherwise penalized due to having been trafficked, or nature 
     of work;
       (3) trafficking victims shall have access to legal 
     assistance, information about their rights, and translation 
     services;
       (4) trafficking victims shall be provided protection if, 
     after an assessment of security risk, it is determined the 
     trafficking victim is susceptible to further victimization; 
     and
       (5) prosecutors shall take into consideration the safety 
     and integrity of trafficked persons in investigating and 
     prosecuting traffickers.

     SEC. 8. ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.

       (a) In the United States.--The Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services is authorized to provide, through the Office 
     of Refugee Resettlement, assistance to trafficking victims 
     and their children in the United States, including mental and 
     physical health services, and shelter.
       (b) In Other Countries.--The President, acting through the 
     Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
     Development, is authorized to provide programs and activities 
     to assist trafficking victims and their children abroad, 
     including provision of mental and physical health services, 
     and shelter. Such assistance should give special priority to 
     programs by nongovernmental organizations which provide 
     direct services and resources for trafficking victims.

     SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) Authorization of Appropriations for the Inter-Agency 
     Task Force.--To carry out the purposes of section 5, there 
     are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State 
     $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $2,000,000 for fiscal 
     year 2001.
       (b) Authorization of Appropriations to the Secretary of 
     HHS.--To carry out the purposes of section 8(a), there are 
     authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and 
     $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
       (c) Authorization of Appropriations to the President.--To 
     carry out the purposes of section 8(b), there are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the President $20,000,000 for fiscal 
     year 2000 and $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
       (d) Prohibition.--Funds made available to carry out this 
     Act shall not be available for the procurement of weapons or 
     ammunition.
                                 ______