[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 141 (Monday, October 31, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMENDING LIFETIME TELEVISION ON THE MINISERIES ``HUMAN TRAFFICKING''

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                    HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 31, 2005

  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, this week, Lifetime Television 
is airing a miniseries that can only be described as ``Must See TV'' 
for all of us in the United States Congress.
  ``Human Trafficking'' tells a story that we cannot afford to ignore 
any longer. The movie depicts the plights of 4 young victims ranging 
from a single mother from the Czech Republic tricked into selling 
herself into slavery, to a 12-year-old girl from New Jersey kidnapped 
while on vacation with her parents. Their stories are horrific, but 
they are far from fantastical.
  Each year upwards of a million people are trafficked within countries 
and across borders all over the globe. Human trafficking affects men, 
women and children, but women and children represent an unfortunate 
lion's share of trafficking victims. Selling people into forced labor 
and prostitution cannot be called anything other than slavery. The 
people and organizations that perpetrate this travesty are criminals of 
the lowest order and deserve to be brought to justice.
  The practice of trafficking in persons must be of paramount concern 
to the U.S. Administration, Congress, and the international community. 
We cannot sit idly by while this nefarious practice continues and 
criminals continue to make enormous profits at the expense of innocent 
victims.
  I want to thank Lifetime for its courage in bringing this issue to 
the forefront of this Nation's conscience. Aiming for similar results, 
I recently introduced a resolution, H. Res. 490, which encourages the 
United Nations to establish a commission that will look into the 
atrocities of human trafficking, exploitation and slavery. I hope you 
will all join me in support of that resolution. When we as a body and 
as a Nation infuse this issue with the bright light of our collective 
disbelief and horror that in the year 2005 the crime of slavery still 
afflicts our world, we will be that much closer to seeing its end in 
the coming years.
  Lifetime, with the premier of this movie has made the necessity of 
our action so much more apparent and for that they deserve our 
commendation.

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