[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 16 (Friday, January 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S673-S674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 60--SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF OBSERVING THE 
   NATIONAL SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH FROM JANUARY 1 
  THROUGH FEBRUARY 1, 2015, TO RAISE AWARENESS OF, AND OPPOSITION TO, 
                             MODERN SLAVERY

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Toomey, Ms. 
Klobuchar, Mr. Coons, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Shaheen, 
Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. King, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
Isakson, and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following resolution; which was 
considered and agreed to:

                               S. Res. 60

       Whereas the United States has a tradition of advancing 
     fundamental human rights,

[[Page S674]]

     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 human trafficking is estimated to be a 
     $32,000,000,000 criminal enterprise, making it the second 
     largest criminal enterprise in the world, behind the drug 
     trade;
       Whereas the United Nations estimates that nearly 21,000,000 
     people around the world are victims of forced labor, 
     including 4,500,000 people who are victims of forced sexual 
     exploitation;
       Whereas the Department of Justice estimates that up to 83 
     percent of sex trafficking victims in the United States are 
     citizens of the United States;
       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 that support, 
     advance, or commit acts of human trafficking;
       Whereas through education, the United States must also work 
     to end slavery in all of its forms around the world;
       Whereas victims of modern slavery need support in order to 
     escape and 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 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) and title XII of the 
     Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Public 
     Law 113-4; 127 Stat. 54), 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 on which 
     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, 2015, 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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