RIGHTS-US: Congress Passes Sweeping Labour Anti-Trafficking Law

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 2000 (IPS) - A new law that will toughen penalties against international trafficking of women and children for sex or other forms of forced labour swept through both houses of Congress here this week.

The law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, will also make it possible for victims of such activity in the United States to gain permanent residency here in exchange for their co-operation in prosecuting traffickers accused of the most serious abuses.

In addition, the bill earmarks almost 100 million dollars to fund overseas efforts to fight human trafficking over the next two years.

“This is the most significant human rights legislation of this Congress,” claimed Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, an original sponsor of the bill, which passed the Senate in a rare unanimous vote. “This bill challenges the largest manifestation of modern-day slavery worldwide.”

Indeed, the scope of the human trafficking problem has become very great in recent years and continues to grow, according to a recent study by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

As many as 2 million people, primarily women and children, are smuggled across national borders each year in search of what they believe is legitimate work, but which turns out to be a form of virtual slavery or indentured servitude to employers who use them as prostitutes or in hard labour.

Of that total, some 50,000 are brought to the United States each year, mostly from Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, and Asia, according to the CIA, which concluded that human trafficking has become the fastest-growing source of profits for organised criminal enterprises around the world. Globally, human trafficking is estimated to have become a 7 billion dollar-a-year business.

The CIA study cited, among other examples, cases of Latvian women brought to Chicago where they were forced to dance naked in private clubs; and Mexican women, including girls as young as 14, brought here on the promise of house-keeping or child-care jobs but sold directly to brothels.

If they resist, they are often threatened with bodily harm, even death, or they are told that their families back home will be harmed. If they still do not co-operate, they are beaten and often raped, according to experts and victims who testified before Congress earlier this year.

Still others are brought here as indentured servants in sweatshops or in households. The public was shocked in 1995 when 72 Thai workers were discovered in a town near Los Angeles where they were forced to work assembling and stitching garments 20 hours a day for 69 cents per hour in a compound ringed by razor wire fencing to prevent their escape.

In another case cited in the CIA study, a Nigerian smuggling ring charged parents as much as 12,000 dollars to bring their children to New York to gain a better education. Once in the United States, however, the children were forced to work as domestics.

Moreover, trafficking is growing both in the United States and worldwide, according to the report, which singled out Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mexico, Russia, and the Czech Republic as the major sources for traffickers who deliver to the United States.

The study found that the US justice and immigration systems were ill-equipped to deal with the challenges presented by trafficking in part because of confusion over jurisdiction, the difficult in investigating and prosecuting cases, and the light penalties – until now maximum prison sentences were 10 years – handed out to traffickers or employers when they are discovered.

“Traffickers are rarely punished,” according to Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone, another co-sponsor. “The penalties are light and do no reflect the human rights abuses perpetrated against the victims.”

Worse, the victims, particularly those compelled to work in the sex industry – are most often immediately deported to their home countries where the underlying economic conditions which propelled them into the hands of traffickers in the first place are unlikely to have changed. Their deportation also makes it impossible for them to testify against the traffickers here.

The new law is an attempt to deal with a number of these problems. Under it, maximum criminal sentences for trafficking or forced labour will be doubled to 20 years, with the possibility of life imprisonment in cases where the offence results in death or involves kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

To deal with the deportation problem, the bill creates a new “T” visa for trafficking victims – even if they entered the United States illegally – that would permit them to stay in the United States at least through the prosecution of their captors and permanently if they suffered serious abuses. They would also be eligible to receive federal assistance during the period of their stay.

The bill also creates an inter-agency office in the State Department to direct and co-ordinate all federal efforts to promote the various facets of the bill and require the State Department to report each year on the efforts of other nations to stop trafficking. It also authorises withholding aid to countries which are found not to be making reasonable efforts to combat trafficking.

Some 94.5 million dollars are earmarked for working with other countries on anti-trafficking efforts, including programmes to increase public awareness of the dangers of trafficking in communities where the practice is widespread. The bill also directs the US Agency for International Development to give special consideration to the same communities for funding projects that could boost local economies and thus deter trafficking.

“This legislation establishes an entirely different approach by punishing the perpetrators, not the victims,” said Brownback. “It also facilitates important advocacy efforts to raise public awareness about sexual trafficking throughout the world.”

The House of Representatives passed the bill with only one dissent earlier this week.

Added to the final bill was a 3.4 billion dollar authorisation for the Violence Against Women Act. The money is to be used over the next five years to fund programmes in the United States to combat violence against women, including support for battered women’s shelters and services, prevention efforts, public information, and training for judges.