29 May 2003
Report Urges Passage of Comprehensive Sex Trafficking Laws
(State Department report on February sex trafficking conference) (2220) The U.S. Department of State has released a report calling on countries to marshal their resources to interdict and punish the perpetrators of sex trafficking and to protect and restore its victims. The report, released May 29 in partnership with the non-governmental War on Trafficking Alliance, is the product of an international conference hosted by Secretary of State Colin Powell February 23-26, 2003. The purpose of the conference, which drew participants from more than 100 countries and from all walks of life, was to find new ways to take action against the growing international crime of sex trafficking, which enslaves up to four million people each year. The conference report includes dozens of recommendations related to the protection of victims, prosecution of the traffickers and prevention of future abuses. The report calls on local and national governments to pass comprehensive national anti-trafficking laws that prosecute traffickers and provide for the safety and privacy of the victims, proper representation in court, access to medical care, social assistance, compensation for damages and the right to seek and receive residency. On June 11, the United States will issue its annual report on international compliance with the Victims of Violence and Trafficking Protection Act of 2000, which will result in sanctions against offending nations. The full text of the conference report just released by the State Department can be found at the following Web site: http://www.state.gov/g/tip Following is the text of the conference report recommendations: (begin text) U.S. Department of State May 29, 2003 PATHBREAKING STRATEGIES IN THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST SEX TRAFFICKING -- A CONFERENCE HELD FEBRUARY 23-26, 2003, WASHINGTON, DC CONFERENCE RECOMMENDATIONS The Department of State, in partnership with the non-governmental War Against Trafficking Alliance, hosted a conference on "Pathbreaking Strategies in the Global Fight Against Sex Trafficking" from February 23-26, 2003. The conference was designed to recognize activists from around the globe who had devised practical solutions to the problem. More than 400 American and international participants met to discuss the most successful strategies against sex trafficking and to suggest innovative methods to combat traffickers and rescue victims. Participants came from all walks of life and from more than 100 countries to share lessons they had learned and to find ways to further regional and international cooperation on the issue. President George W. Bush sent a message to the conference stressing the United States government's strong commitment to fighting this form of modern day slavery. U.S. dedication to the cause was underscored by the presence at the conference of Attorney General John Ashcroft, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Claude Allen, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios and Congressmen Frank Wolf and Chris Smith. The conference was also honored to include keynote addresses from the Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, Francisco Santos Calderón, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Margareta Winberg. Summaries of the recommendations made by the various conference workshops follow. ... Recommendations of the Conference The following recommendations summarize the many excellent ideas that were suggested by the conference participants. Those attending included government ministers, legislators, scholars, medical personnel, religious workers, jurists, victims, journalists, and representatives of NGOs, international organizations and government agencies. The opinions that were exchanged and debated over the course of the two and a half day conference reflected a wide range of experiences and operational viewpoints. These recommendations have been synthesized and divided into three categories: Protection of the Victims; Prosecution of the Traffickers; and Prevention of Future Abuses. They were not endorsed by the conference as a whole nor do they necessarily represent the policies of the United States government. Instead, they reflect ideas that have worked for some, and hopefully will work for others, in the global fight against trafficking. Protection of the Victims --Pass comprehensive national anti-trafficking laws that prosecute traffickers and provide for the safety and privacy of the victim, proper representation in court, access to medical care, social assistance, compensation for damages, and the right to seek and receive residency. --Incorporate local customs and circumstances into anti-trafficking legislation. --Enforce international conventions at the local level. --Bring international pressure against nations that violate or exploit women and children by permitting forced marriages, marriages of widows to brothers of deceased husbands, genital mutilation and selling of children for future marriages. --Develop a network and a local taskforce of all NGO, religious, law enforcement and government organizations to facilitate assistance to a victim when found. Expand network from destination countries to transit and source countries. --Protect victims, even those not willing or able to leave their situations immediately. Establish more halfway houses to provide adequate reintegration and counseling for returning victims. Establish deportation points to arrange for the victims' safe travel and reception in the home county. --Ask victims what they need; what might help them and help law enforcement. --Recognize the importance of faith based organization (FBO) activities among the most marginalized and vulnerable. Encourage government/FBO cooperation. --Work with immigration and border authorities to inspect suspicious trucks that transport children from place to place. --Counsel exploited youth and provide special courts for handling child testimony, shelter and rehabilitation services. Support trafficked children, but return them to the mainstream as soon as possible. Child victims become lifetime victims without this support. --Ensure that women and children in post-rescue situations are placed in homes or shelters that provide better living conditions than before their exploitation. Expand services beyond major cities. --Allow grant-receiving organizations to use funds with some flexibility to assist victims in complicated trafficking situations. --Establish better cooperation and planning between governments and NGOs through close communications and regular meetings. --Examine closely international employment agencies and mail order bride and adoption businesses. Ensure their compliance with government regulations and shut down front companies. --Publicly denounce corruption and maintain a consistent policy of governmental transparency in trafficking matters. --Consider fingerprinting, photographing and acquiring personal data on a voluntary basis on youth who are traveling abroad. --Create a private chat room behind a firewall to build a network of community organizers. --Provide governments with concrete goals and suggestions instead of overly broad and general wishes that are difficult or impossible to implement. --Use international organizations to transport and receive victims once they have been rescued. --Pass legislation banning the use of children as camel jockeys. --Establish contact points in source, transit and destination countries so that each country knows exactly whom to contact in emergencies. --Consider financial support for employers who make it possible to successfully repatriate and reintegrate the victims. --Issue an amnesty for illegal workers and offer repatriation assistance. --Outlaw the holding of passports and other travel documents by employers of foreign workers. Prosecution of Traffickers --Assign specially trained female officers to anti-trafficking in persons units and hot lines. --Provide trafficking victims who serve as witnesses adequate safety, privacy, legal, social and economic assistance, and a right to residence in the prosecuting country. --Review the prosecution process and streamline wherever possible. --Utilize the influence and prestige of popular faith based organization (FBO) leaders to combat slavery, child labor and other forms of injustice. Networking among international branches of many FBOs has revealed important trends and movements of human trafficking that led to better-targeted programs. --Use existing laws, as well as anti-trafficking legislation, to prosecute and punish traffickers and customers. For instance: Strengthen slavery, forced labor, indentured servitude and peonage laws when these elements are easy to prove but trafficking is not. Pass legislation punishing the customer. As appropriate, focus on statutory rape, sexual exploitation and other sex offenses -- not just prostitution. The other offenses are generally graver and more accurate in terms of offense and impose more severe penalties. Charge administrative court fees to sex offenders of adult prostituted women for treatment programs and for health and other services for victims. Order sex offenders to attend peer education programs. Require profiteers of trafficking (including brothels, taxis, bathhouses, banks and money-transfer institutions) to financially compensate victims. Apply criminal and civil statutes and penalties. --Set up national and local commissions composed of government officials, police and NGOs to develop policy guidelines for the investigation and prosecution of cases and for programs to protect victims. --Create multi-disciplinary investigative teams comprising Ministries of Health, Labor, Finance, Interior, Border/Immigration, Child Protection, and service providing NGOs and utilize all applicable laws against traffickers. --Use and update Interpol's electronic database of sex trafficking convictions. --Make hotlines available in every country to receive information on trafficking and corruption involving trafficking. --In every district worldwide make a prosecutor available for contact by other law enforcement officials and NGOs. --Investigate and subpoena records of Internet service providers whose customers transmit and receive pornographic materials involving minors. --Develop a Judges Bench Book to include relevant international, national and local laws related to trafficking. Prevention of Future Abuses --Strengthen individual country assessment reports. --Pursue all means, formal and informal, to undertake cooperative measures bilaterally and multilaterally with regional and global partners. --Adopt national plans of action for each country and harmonize the approaches into a regional multi-year anti-trafficking action plan focusing on regional cooperation. --Organize regular action-based coordinating meetings that bring together all relevant regional governmental and non-governmental actors. --Examine more closely policies of donor countries to strengthen the coherence, integration and reinforcing efforts of all of the anti-trafficking work undertaken. --Continue to develop numerical data on all forms of trafficking in persons to formulate national policies regarding protection, prosecution and prevention requirements. --Fund research that will directly assist practitioners. --Conduct research on the demand side and develop adequate strategies to reduce demand for trafficked persons. Address these issues in the context of a culture of male privilege. --Provide awareness training of young men on gender issues, training should be by peer group teaching from their experience including former victims when possible and appropriate. --Review appropriateness of bank secrecy and privacy laws with respect to organized criminal groups and money laundering activities related to trafficking. --Designate women as formal representatives at peace discussions in post-conflict situations and include them in the new governments. Known human rights abusers and organized criminals should not be part of government. --Provide more micro-credit loans and educational opportunities for women to generate income, develop their abilities and serve as role models for at-risk boys and girls. --Create community watch committees to monitor vulnerable families or those that have trafficked members before. --Use international and regional fora to share trafficking information, pool resources and develop responses, including the Pueblo Process, the ECOWAS Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons and other encouraging bilateral initiatives. --Negotiate bilateral and multilateral agreements that can be used to expand the limited interpretation of national laws regarding trafficking in persons. --Issue tamper resistant documents that identify children from birth. States should also issue tamper resistant passports and other identity documents based upon secure issuance procedures. --Enforce codes of sexual conduct upon employees of international organizations in conflict or post-conflict areas to reduce the demand for trafficked women. Provide appropriate training on anti-trafficking policies and practices. --Extend extraterritorial jurisdiction of nations whose citizens commit crimes while deployed in peacekeeping or other international forces. --Provide law enforcement personnel including border guards and jurists, consular officials and medical professionals, educators and journalists special training to include: Identification of victims and their humane, sensitive treatment. Broad application of trafficking and related laws. Health issues, including HIV/AIDS, faced by trafficking victims and their families. Ethical handling of news stories and proper care and safety of victims. Connection of organized crime to illegal prostitution, illegal migration, labor and work exploitation. Methods to improve cooperation between police, intelligence and social services. Access to Interpol information on corruption, its police integrity survey, best practice guide, and key points of contact. --Publicize prosecutions of traffickers to encourage local residents to identify other traffickers. --Allow the free expression of religion. Faith based movements should include all forms of faith and should provide services to beneficiaries regardless of their religious backgrounds. --Create independent E-mail groups of conference participants to share best practices and improve intra-national and international communications. --Require governments and NGOs to embed mega tags that make windows appear on the monitors of their employees who look for sex-related sites. Appropriate admonishments would directly target the right audience. --Raise public awareness of trafficking. For example: Nine European airlines run in-flight videos about sex tourism and the criminal and social aspects of engaging in sex with minors. Include journalists in government and NGO plans to fight trafficking. Employ television and radio commentators, respected village elders and others to communicate the dangers of trafficking and how to get help in national languages and local dialects. Theatrical groups and posters have been effective means of communication in certain countries. Actors can communicate the dangers of trafficking by highlighting experiences, sometimes as victims. Advise travelers of conditions in countries of destination including potential dangers of trafficking and sex tourism. Educate students of all age groups from primary to post-high school levels and reach out to their parents. Videos of trafficked women and children telling their own stories have a strong impact. (end text) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
