[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 197 (Monday, December 21, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13704-S13705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SUPPORTING NATIONAL SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH

  Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of S. Res. 382 submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 382) supporting the goals and ideals 
     of observing National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention 
     Month from January 1 through February 1, 2010, to raise 
     awareness of, and opposition to, modern slavery.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today the Senate will take an 
important step to raise awareness of human trafficking, a form of 
modern-day slavery. The resolution, introduced by myself and Senators 
Cornyn, Cardin, and Brownback, observes National Slavery and 
Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through February 1 to raise 
awareness of, and opposition to, modern slavery and human trafficking. 
This bipartisan resolution was passed unanimously today by the Senate.
  Human trafficking is a crime in which persons are forced to work 
against their will in sweatshops, prostitution rings, farm labor, 
private homes, and other enterprises. The traffickers use force, 
threats of force, and coercion to ensure that their victims believe 
they have no other choice but to work for their captors.
  The resolution resolves that Congress supports (1) the goals and 
ideals of observing the National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention 
Month from January 1 through February 1 to recognize the vital role 
that the people of the United States have in ending modern slavery; (2) 
marking this observance with appropriate programs and activities 
culminating in the observance on February 1 of National Freedom Day; 
and (3) all other efforts to raise awareness of and opposition to human 
trafficking.
  This resolution recognizes the month of January as significant for 
modern slavery and human trafficking. January 1 is the anniversary of 
the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation and February 1 is 
the anniversary of the date that President Abraham Lincoln signed the 
joint resolution sending the 13th amendment to the States for 
ratification.
  In addition, it recognizes that January 11 is a day that many have 
chosen to commemorate human trafficking. In the 110th Congress, I 
sponsored a concurrent resolution that passed the Senate supporting 
January 11 as a National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness.
  In 2007, California passed a resolution, signed into law by Governor 
Schwarzenegger, designating January 11 as National Day of Human 
Trafficking Awareness. The Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles 
County Board of Supervisors did the same for the county of Los Angeles.
  The issue of human trafficking has become particularly problematic in 
California. San Diego is an international trafficking gateway city used 
to traffic foreign children into the U.S. The United Nations has listed 
Mexico as the No. 1 exporter of exploited children into North America.
  From 1998 to 2003, more than 500 people from 18 countries were 
ensnared in 57 forced labor operations throughout California. These 
statistics only represent the cases that were discovered. Frequently, 
human trafficking goes undetected because the victims are not only 
afraid of their traffickers, but they have been taught by their 
traffickers to fear U.S. law enforcement.
  Congress has acted to broaden the tools available to prosecute 
perpetrators of modern slavery and to assist and protect victims of 
human trafficking. It has enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection 
Act of 2000 and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
Reauthorization Act of 2008.
  California has taken a leadership role in identifying and prosecuting 
human trafficking cases. For example, San Diego received one of the 
first grants to train local law enforcement on identifying and 
prosecuting human trafficking. The U.S. attorneys offices in Oakland, 
Los Angeles, and San Diego have all created antitrafficking task 
forces.
  Using these tools, this August five people in California were 
sentenced to Federal prison, all receiving multidecade sentences for 
their roles in an international sex trafficking ring that lured young 
Guatemalan women and girls into the Los Angeles area and forced them 
into prostitution.
  In this distressing case, the defendants intimidated and controlled 
their victims by threatening to beat them and kill their loved ones in 
Guatemala if they tried to escape. At least three of the defendants 
restrained the victims by locking them in at night and blocking windows 
and doors to prevent their escape.
  In another recent case in Walnut Creek, CA, a woman was found guilty 
of trafficking a nanny from Peru. For nearly 2 years, the victim was 
forced to cook, clean, and take care of the family's children through 
false promises of pay. The victim was eventually able to escape, with 
the assistance of local residents and officials and parents at a local 
elementary school.
  Human trafficking is a pervasive global crime, with nearly 1 million 
people trafficked across international borders every year. According to 
the State Department, roughly 80 percent of the victims are women and 
children.
  I believe that it is vital that we work together as a nation to 
eliminate human trafficking and prevent the victimization of the most 
vulnerable members of society.

[[Page S13705]]

  Awareness of the issues surrounding slavery and trafficking by those 
people most likely to come into contact with vulnerable populations is 
essential for effective prevention and prosecution of this frequently 
hidden crime.
  I thank my colleagues for their support of this resolution to help 
raise awareness of modern day slavery.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related 
to the resolution be printed in the Record at the appropriate place.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 382) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 382

       Whereas the United States has a tradition of advancing 
     fundamental human rights, having abolished the Transatlantic 
     Slave Trade in 1808 and having abolished chattel slavery and 
     prohibited involuntary servitude in 1865;
       Whereas because the people of the United States remain 
     committed to protecting individual freedom, there is a 
     national imperative to eliminate human trafficking, which is 
     the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or 
     obtaining of persons for labor or services through the use of 
     force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to 
     involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, and 
     the inducement of a commercial sex act by force, fraud, or 
     coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act 
     has not attained 18 years of age;
       Whereas to combat human trafficking in the United States 
     and globally, the people of the United States, the Federal 
     Government, and State and local governments must be aware of 
     the realities of human trafficking and must be dedicated to 
     stopping this contemporary manifestation of slavery;
       Whereas beyond all differences of race, creed, or political 
     persuasion, the people of the United States face national 
     threats together and refuse to let modern slavery exist in 
     the United States and around the world;
       Whereas the United States should actively oppose all 
     individuals, groups, organizations, and nations who support, 
     advance, or commit acts of human trafficking;
       Whereas the United States must also work to end slavery in 
     all of its forms around the world through education;
       Whereas victims of modern slavery need support in order to 
     escape and to recover from the physical, mental, emotional, 
     and spiritual trauma associated with their victimization;
       Whereas human traffickers use many physical and 
     psychological techniques to control their victims, including 
     the use of violence or threats of violence against the victim 
     or the victim's family, isolation from the public, isolation 
     from the victim's family and religious or ethnic communities, 
     language and cultural barriers, shame, control of the 
     victim's possessions, confiscation of passports and other 
     identification documents, and threats of arrest, deportation, 
     or imprisonment if the victim attempts to reach out for 
     assistance or to leave;
       Whereas although laws to prosecute perpetrators of modern 
     slavery and to assist and protect victims of human 
     trafficking, such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
     of 2000 (division A of Public Law 106-386; 114 Stat. 1466) 
     and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
     Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-457; 122 Stat. 
     5044), have been enacted in the United States, awareness of 
     the issues surrounding slavery and trafficking by those 
     people most likely to come into contact with victims is 
     essential for effective enforcement because the techniques 
     that traffickers use to keep their victims enslaved severely 
     limit self-reporting;
       Whereas January 1 is the anniversary of the effective date 
     of the Emancipation Proclamation;
       Whereas February 1 is the anniversary of the date that 
     President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution sending 
     the 13th Amendment to the States for ratification, to forever 
     declare that ``Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . 
     . shall exist within the United States, or any place subject 
     to their jurisdiction'' and is a date which has long been 
     celebrated as National Freedom Day, as described in section 
     124 of title 36, United States Code;
       Whereas, under its authority to enforce the 13th Amendment 
     ``by appropriate legislation,'' Congress in the Trafficking 
     Victims Protection Act of 2000 updated the post-Civil War 
     involuntary servitude and slavery statutes and adopted an 
     approach known as the ``3P'' approach of victim protection, 
     vigorous prosecution, and prevention of human trafficking; 
     and
       Whereas the effort by individuals, businesses, 
     organizations, and governing bodies to commemorate January 11 
     as Human Trafficking Awareness Day represents one of the many 
     positive examples of the commitment in the United States to 
     raise awareness of and to actively oppose modern slavery: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports--
       (1) the goals and ideals of observing the National Slavery 
     and Trafficking Prevention Month from January 1 through 
     February 1, 2010, to recognize the vital role that the people 
     of the United States have in ending modern slavery;
       (2) marking this observance with appropriate programs and 
     activities culminating in the observance on February 1 of 
     National Freedom Day, as described in section 124 of title 
     36, United States Code; and
       (3) all other efforts to raise awareness of and opposition 
     to human trafficking.

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