[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2630-S2632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 2414. A bill to combat trafficking of persons, especially into the 
sex trade, slavery, and slavery-like conditions, in the United States 
and countries around the world through prevention, through prosecution 
and enforcement against traffickers, and through protection and 
assistance to victims of trafficking; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


               TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT OF 2000

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill today. I 
would like to thank my colleague, Senator Brownback, for his superb 
work. It is called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. 
Basically, this is legislation I am doing together with Senator 
Brownback. We are very hopeful we will have strong support in the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, starting with the chairman.
  The long and the short of it, colleagues, is, though, it is hard to 
believe, in the year 2000, there are maybe 50,000 women and children 
trafficked to our country, maybe as many as 2 million worldwide.
  It is a dark, dark feature of this new world economy, where women and 
children are basically responding to ads, going to other countries, 
believing they will find employment; and they are forced into 
prostitution, they are forced into labor, and the conditions are 
absolutely atrocious.
  It is unbelievable what has happened to these women and children. 
Therefore, we put an emphasis on, No. 1, prevention, to make sure that 
through AID we get information out to people in other countries, so 
women and children are not entrapped in this way.
  No. 2, we want to make sure there are alternatives, such as good 
microloan programs, like NGOs for women.
  No. 3, we put an emphasis on how we can provide some protection, 
which has to do with making sure if women step forward they are not 
automatically deported. There would be an extension of their visa so 
they would be able to speak out without worrying about being deported 
from our country. We would make sure there is treatment for women who 
have gone through this living hell.
  Finally, there would be prosecution. Making it crystal clear to those 
who are engaged in trafficking, you are going to be hit with stiff 
financial penalties.
  Senator Feinstein, who is on the floor, has been a strong supporter 
of trying to do something about this, and to make sure that if you are 
going to traffic a child under the age of 14 for

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forced prostitution, you are going to serve a life sentence in prison.
  We are going to call on the international community to take this 
seriously. I believe there will be strong support in the Senate. It 
would be a powerful and important human rights piece of legislation.
  I am proud to introduce this legislation today. I think we can move 
it in committee. I think we can have strong bipartisan support. I thank 
Senator Brownback, Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, and others for 
their interest.
  Mr. President, I am here today to introduce legislation to help end 
the horrific crime of trafficking in persons, particularly women and 
children, for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. 
This egregious human rights violation--and we must acknowledge 
trafficking in persons as the gross human rights abuse that it is--is a 
worldwide problem that must be confronted in domestic legislation as we 
continue to fight it on the international front.
  At this very moment the administration is involved in negotiations in 
Vienna to strengthen international efforts to combat trafficking. We 
too must do our part. We need to enact a comprehensive trafficking bill 
into law in this Congress. Senator Brownback and I have worked together 
closely to develop the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and 
we agree on every provision of the bill except for one. We are here 
together today to introduce separate trafficking bills but to relay to 
you the truly bipartisan effort this has been. Senator Brownback, I 
look forward to continuing this effort as our respective bills move 
through the committee and to the floor.
  Despite increasing governmental and international interest, 
trafficking in persons continues to be one of the darkest aspects of 
globalization of the world economy, becoming more insidious and more 
widespread everyday. It is not just a problem that takes place on 
distant shores, as many of us have been led to believe. A recent CIA 
analysis of the international trafficking of women to the United States 
reports that as many as 50,000 women and children each year are brought 
into the United States and forced to work as prostitutes, forced 
laborers, and servants. Others credibly estimate that the number is 
probably much higher than that.
  In a hearing last week, I heard the almost unbelievable testimony of 
several women who had been victims of trafficking. But, I say almost 
unbelievable because I heard the truth directly from the mouths of 
those who have been hurt the most. One victim trafficked for sex from 
Mexico to Florida at the age of 14 told,

       Because I was a virgin, the men decided to initiate me by 
     raping me again and again, to teach me how to have sex * * * 
     Because I was so young, I was always in demand with the 
     customers. It was awful. Although the men were supposed to 
     wear condoms, some didn't so I eventually became pregnant and 
     was forced to have an abortion.

  I am here today to say that one victim is one too many. We have a 
serious problem that must be addressed.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 is a comprehensive 
bill that addresses the three P's of trafficking: it aims to prevent 
trafficking in persons, provides protection and assistance to those who 
have been trafficked, and provides for tough prosecution and punishment 
of those responsible for trafficking.
  This bill addresses the underlying problems which fuel the 
trafficking industry by promoting public awareness campaigns, and 
initiatives to enhance economic opportunity, such as microcredit 
lending programs and skills training, for those most susceptible to 
trafficking. It provides for the establishment of programs designed to 
assist in the safe reintegration of victims into their community, and 
ensures that such programs address the physical and mental health needs 
of trafficking victims. In fact, the trauma that results from being 
trafficked is not unlike that of someone who has been tortured, and 
victims of trafficking deserve similar assistance.
  This bill also provides immigration relief and allows victims of 
trafficking the time necessary to bring charges against those 
responsible for their condition. In the United States, many trafficking 
victims are deported for not having the appropriate legal documents 
when, in fact, it is often the trafficker who has given the victim 
false documents, or held the victim's identifying documents so that he 
or she could not move freely. This bill addresses this unintended 
result of the law. This measure enhances our existing legal structures, 
criminalizing all forms of trafficking in persons and establishing 
punishment which is commensurate with the heinous nature of this crime. 
It provides for sentences of up to life in prison for those criminals 
involved in trafficking children.

  Those criminals who are involved in trafficking, from the lowest to 
the highest levels, should not expect to go unpunished in the United 
States or abroad, and neither should governments whose governments 
might be complicit in trafficking. This bill requires an expansion of 
reporting on trafficking in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices, including a separate list of countries of origin, transit or 
destination for a significant number of trafficking victims which are 
not meeting minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. This 
bill provides for sanctions against counties which do not meet these 
minimum standards. It also authorizes the Secretary of State to publish 
a list of foreign persons involved in trafficking, and authorizes the 
President to take tough action against any person on that list.
  A similar bill to our bills is moving through the House. Both that 
bill, H.R. 3244, and the bills that we are introducing today, are 
bipartisan efforts that deserve our full consideration. Senator 
Brownback and I have worked hard to create a bill that is comprehensive 
and addresses both of our concerns, and both of us are equally 
committed to the fight against trafficking. We disagree, however, on a 
small but significant part of the strategy in this fight: the use of 
mandatory versus discretionary sanctions against countries which do not 
meet the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking.
  While Senator Brownback believes a system of mandatory sanctions will 
better facilitate our goal to eliminate trafficking, after much 
research into the effect of a mandatory sanctions requirement, I 
believe a discretionary sanctions approach, allowing for a more 
targeted use of sanctions, together with a requirement for the delivery 
to Congress of a separate list of countries involved in trafficking, is 
the better approach.
  Trafficking exploits poor women and booms in societies undergoing 
severe economic distress. To impose economic sanctions in trafficking 
legislation that cuts off a broad range of bilateral and multilateral 
assistance programs designed to improve the economy of specific nations 
is to cause harm to the very people who might be helped by the 
legislation.
  For example, I don't believe we can justify cutting off funding 
designed to foster economic reform so that those most susceptible to 
trafficking such as women and children, can find work; or cutting off 
funding for programs that increase professionalism and independence in 
the judicial system so that traffickers can be held accountable; or 
even cutting off programs designed to provide training and technical 
assistance to countries which are generally making an effort to combat 
trafficking. This is what could happen to certain countries which are 
known to have a severe trafficking problem, under a mandatory sanctions 
regime. I don't believe we justify cutting off child survival and 
disease programs which counter the spread of HIV and AIDS, a 
significant problem among women trafficked into the sex industry, to 
countries in which sex trafficking is a large problem such as the 
Philippines and Bangladesh. These are just a couple of examples of the 
problems created by a sanctions regime that is too broad. A more 
targeted, discretionary sanctions approach to sanctions is, I think, 
clearly the way to go.

  By requiring a list of countries involved in trafficking who do not 
meet minimum standards for the elimination of it, we can closely 
monitor the progress of countries in their fight against trafficking. 
Trafficking in persons is a complicated issue that almost always 
involves larger criminal elements. Those countries which are truly 
committed to ending this gross human rights abuse, and are cooperating 
in the global battle against it, should not

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fear the list since they will not be put on it. Those countries which 
are not doing their share should expect that the President of the 
United States will use his discretion to impose targeted sanctions, and 
I for one will do all I can to see that our government imposes 
appropriate sanctions against those governments whose officials are 
complicit in this terrible crime.
  Sanctions can be an important deterrent. However, in my opinion broad 
mandatory sanctions within the context of trafficking are not useful. A 
discretionary sanctions regime that allows the President--who is, in 
fact, better positioned to understand the varying dynamics and extent 
of the trafficking problem from country to country--to impose specific, 
targeted, and workable sanctions against trafficking countries is a 
more sound approach.
  I hope my colleagues will take a look at both of these trafficking 
bills and cosponsor one or the other as they move forward. These bills 
are identical except for the sanctions provision, and both provide the 
same broad and comprehensive assistance to trafficking victims and to 
countries working to combat trafficking.
  Since my wife and I began working on this issue several years ago, I 
have met with trafficking victims, after-care providers, and human 
rights advocates from around the world who have reminded me again and 
again of the horrible nature of this crime. We must intensify our work 
to eliminate trafficking in persons. We must focus our energy on this 
bipartisan effort to see the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
move quickly through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and get 
passed into law this year. The many victims of trafficking deserve no 
less.
                                 ______