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91–141 PDF 2014

S. HRG. 113–461 

COMBATING FORCED LABOR AND MODERN-DAY 

SLAVERY IN EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN 

AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 8, 2014 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey, Chairman

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut 

TIM KAINE, Virginia 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

BOB CORKER, Tennessee 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JOHN McCAIN, Arizona 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

DANIEL E. O’BRIEN, Staff Director

LESTER E. MUNSON III, Republican Staff Director

——————

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland, Chairman

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JOHN McCAIN, Arizona 

(II)

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from Maryland, opening statement ... 1 

CdeBaca, Luis, Ambassador at Large for the Office to Monitor and Combat 

Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC ............... 7 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 

Eaves, Jesse, senior policy advisor for child protection, World Vision, Washington, DC ............................................................................................................. 36 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 

Marciel, Hon. Scot, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and 

Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC ............................ 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 

Misra, Neha, senior specialist, Migration and Human Trafficking, Solidarity 

Center, Washington, DC ...................................................................................... 22 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 

(III)

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

(1) 

COMBATING FORCED LABOR AND MODERN– 

DAY SLAVERY IN EAST ASIA AND THE 

PACIFIC 

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014 

U.S. SENATE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m., in room 

SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Present: Senators Cardin and Rubio. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MARYLAND 

Senator CARDIN. Well, good morning and welcome to the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific for today’s hearing. 

Senator Rubio has indicated to me that he will be here shortly, 

but that it is certainly okay for us to start the hearing. And I want 

to give a maximum amount of time for the committee to have a 

discussion. 

Slavery still exists. It exists around the world today, and it is 

something that we cannot allow to continue. Trafficking is the modern-day slavery. We understand that. And, thanks to the U.S. leadership, we have taken action not only in the United States, but we 

have been a global leader in combating modern-day slavery and 

trafficking. 

I am proud of the role that the U.S. Helsinki Commission has 

played. I had the honor this year to chair the U.S. Helsinki Commission. It rotates between the House and the Senate. My cochairman, Chris Smith, has been one of the leaders on trafficking issues. 

But, going back many years ago, the Helsinki Commission raised 

the issue of trafficking as a human rights issue and discussed the 

matter in which the United States could play a major role. As a 

result of the hearings in our Commission, the OSCE took major 

steps to help all 57 states in the OSCE deal with trafficking issues. 

But, it also led to the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000, and we now have what is known as 

the Trafficking in Persons Report that we receive every year. This 

report, to me, is extremely valuable. And whenever an Ambassador 

from another country or a leader from another country is in my 

office, I look at this report, and it becomes part of the conversation 

as to what they are doing in regards to addressing trafficking. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

2 

In 2010, we added the United States as one of the countries that 

we evaluate, because no country is perfect, and every country can 

improve. The Trafficking in Persons Report has four categories in 

which countries are listed: Tier 1, which is those countries that are 

in basic compliance with international standards to combat trafficking; Tier 2 are countries that are not there yet, but we believe 

are on the right path toward accomplishing and meeting their 

international responsibilities; Tier 2 Watch List, which are countries that are not moving in the right direction—they have made 

some progress, but they must do more to comply with their international responsibilities; and Tier 3, those countries that are out of 

compliance. If a country is in the Tier 2 Watch List for 2 consecutive years, there is a requirement they be downgraded to Tier 3 

unless a waiver is sought, which can last for only up to 2 years. 

If a country is in Tier 3, the consequences can be possible foreign 

aid restrictions. So, it is an important guide for us to determine 

what to do. 

Now, trafficking can take many forms. We all know about young 

girls and boys that are trafficked for prostitution. That is a matter 

that should be of outrage to everyone. But, we also traffic labor, 

which should also be outrageous to everyone. 

So, today’s hearing is combating forced labor and modern-day 

slavery in East Asia and the Pacific. And, for those who have been 

following the hearings of the subcommittee, you know we have had 

many hearings dealing with the Rebalance to Asia. We have looked 

at it from many different points of view. We have looked at it from 

human rights and good governance, we have looked at it from the 

economic point of view, we have looked at it from the military security point of view. And our objective has been to strengthen the bilateral ties between the countries of East Asia and the Pacific and 

the United States, consistent with President Obama’s policies. But, 

our bilateral relationship is very much dependent upon the fundamental human rights, rule of law, and the dignity for vulnerable 

women, men, and children, and the commitments made by the 

countries of East Asia and the Pacific. 

The International Labor Organization has come out with some 

startling numbers. One-third of the global illegal profits generated 

from the use of forced labor in the private sector are made in Asia 

and the Pacific. Illegal profits obtained through the use of forced 

labor in the private economy worldwide are estimated to be about 

$150 billion per year. Over one-third comes from the Asia-Pacific 

region. It is a problem that we need to focus on. Of the 20.9 million 

forced labor victims worldwide, 11.7 million, more than half, are 

estimated to be in the Asia-Pacific region. That is why we are holding this hearing. We are holding this hearing to get a better understanding of what can be done in regards to forced labor trafficking. 

And let me point out, we are all consumers, and in many cases, 

we are buying products that have been produced, in part, by forced 

labor. But we can be better in helping solve this problem of forced 

labor and modern-day slavery. 

The TIP Report that I referred to had some disappointing downgrades of countries that are within the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. Thailand, a long-time ally of the United States, has been 

downgraded. And Malaysia, which is a TPP-aspirant country, has 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

3 

also been downgraded. We have several countries that are on the 

Tier 2 Watch List: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. These are countries that we expect 

better from, particularly if they are to achieve a stronger bilateral 

relationship with the United States. 

So, one positive sign, I might point out, is that China, which was 

previously Tier 3, is now on Tier 2 Watch List. That is an improvement, and we hope that those improvements will continue. And I 

expect it had something to do with the fact that they have eliminated their—or at least have made a commitment to eliminate 

their reeducation through labor provisions. 

So, today we have a panel of experts with us who can help us 

sort out where we are on forced labor and the trafficking. And I 

am pleased to introduce our witnesses that are on the first panel. 

Scot Marciel, who has been a frequent visitor to this committee— 

we thank you for your participation—the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs at the 

State Department, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, 

previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia. 

And he is joined by Lou CdeBaca, the Ambassador at Large for 

the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, served as 

Ambassador at Large and Senior Advisor to the Secretary, and 

directs the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Person, previously served as counsel to the House Committee on Judiciary, and one of our country’s most decorated Federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice. 

So, we have two people who I think can help us greatly understand this. As I think both of you understand, as is the practice of 

our committee, your formal written statement, without objection, 

will be included in the committee record, as will the second panel’s 

formal statements, without objection. 

So, Scot, you may proceed as you wish. 

STATEMENT OF HON. SCOT MARCIEL, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC 

AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Thank you. Chairman Cardin, members of 

the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on 

human trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region. 

It is really a privilege for me to be able to testify alongside 

Ambassador CdeBaca. He and his team, as you have mentioned, 

have done so much to combat trafficking across the region and 

around the world. 

I have worked on human trafficking issues both here in Washington and abroad, most recently as Ambassador to Indonesia. 

There, among many other anti-trafficking activities that we did, I 

was involved, for example, in the MTV End Exploitation and Trafficking Campaign in 2012. This is an effort that U.S. Government 

has funded. It has been very successful in raising awareness about 

the dangers of trafficking in Southeast Asia. 

Human trafficking, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, remains a 

visible and pressing concern in East Asia and the Pacific. While 

governments across the region are more aware of the issue than in 

years past, and many are doing more to combat it, progress to date 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

4 

is insufficient. Many governments in the region have developed 

legal and policy frameworks to deal with trafficking, and several 

have recently enacted comprehensive anti-trafficking laws. However, implementation of these laws is sometimes weak. 

And the insufficient progress on anti-trafficking efforts is sometimes linked to broader challenges facing some of these governments: inadequate rule of law, a weak justice system, and corruption. So, the State Department seeks to sustain progress on these 

issues, because they are key to development and to democracy and, 

of course, to more effective efforts against trafficking. 

So, the EAP Bureau and—along with our colleagues from the 

JTIP office, work closely with foreign governments and international partners on strategies and programs to prevent trafficking, protect victims in vulnerable populations, and prosecute 

offenders. And, in this, the TIP Report is actually a very effective 

tool, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman. 

In his letter accompanying this year’s report, Secretary Kerry 

stated that, ‘‘We face no greater assault on basic freedom than the 

evil of human trafficking.’’ And in EAP, Assistant Secretary Danny 

Russell and I and our Ambassadors throughout the region regularly meet and encourage governments to do more against trafficking. We use the TIP Report and other tools, working throughout 

Asia, to increase public awareness, encourage better and more 

effective legislation, and promote greater efforts to prevent trafficking, investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, and assist 

victims. 

Because so much of the work that we do is done by our embassies, I would like to highlight a few examples of some of the work 

that our embassies in the field have been doing. 

For example, our Embassy in Cambodia recently hosted the firstever Anti-Trafficking Tech Camp, where technologists and civil 

society organizations, together, developed creative, low-cost, easyto-use solutions for areas with historically high rates of trafficking. 

Our Embassy staff in Cambodia also worked with the Ministry of 

Labor there to develop an interactive voice-response system that 

makes information on safe migration readily available by phone 

throughout the country. The Embassy is also working with Cambodian authorities to develop policies and guidelines for conducting 

undercover investigations of human trafficking. 

Our Embassy in Thailand is supporting NGOs that help 

migrants and trafficking victims get access to justice. Our programs are enhancing Thai investigation and prosecution capacity, 

and we are arranging to place a technical advisor in the Ministry 

of Labor to help guide policies on forced labor trafficking. 

In the Pacific Islands, our Embassies are encouraging greater 

effort to tackle forced labor on fishing vessels. In the Marshall 

Islands, we are providing technical assistance in support of the 

government’s drafting of anti-trafficking legislation and working to 

help the police and prosecutors understand how better to identify 

and prosecute trafficking crimes. 

In all of our Embassies, our Ambassadors and our Embassy staff 

regularly engage with host government officials, civil society, and 

international partners to highlight the importance of increased 

anti-trafficking efforts. I can say, from my own experience, that 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

5 

this effort is well integrated into our Embassies’ overall plans, as 

well as its daily work. 

Finally, in addition to bilateral efforts, we are acting at the 

regional level. With the TIP office funding, we supported the firstever ASEAN–United States Joint Regional Project to Combat 

Human Trafficking and the American Bar Association’s Rule of 

Law Initiative to train heads of anti-traffic units from all 10 

ASEAN countries. 

Looking forward, we are committed to continuing our work with 

governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region to help them more 

effectively combat human trafficking. EAP and the TIP office will 

continue to work closely together to assess the situation, develop 

programs and diplomatic strategies to better combat trafficking, 

and encourage governments to take action to prevent trafficking, 

protect victims, and prosecute traffickers. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity to testify 

today. I look forward to your questions. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador Marciel follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT AMBASSADOR SCOT MARCIEL

INTRODUCTION

Chairman Cardin, Ranking Member Rubio, members of the subcommittee, thank 

you for the opportunity to testify today on human trafficking in the Asia-Pacific 

region. It is a privilege to stand alongside my colleague, Ambassador CdeBaca, 

whose experience and expertise help us boost anti-trafficking efforts across the 

Asian-Pacific region. 

I would also like to thank the subcommittee for its contributions to combating 

human trafficking, and to thank you, in particular, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership on this issue. 

TRAFFICKING IN ASIA-PACIFIC

Human trafficking remains a visible and pressing concern in East Asia and the 

Pacific. While governments across the region have an increased awareness of trafficking in persons, corruption and a lack of political commitment hinder more substantial gains in some countries. Many governments in the Asia-Pacific have developed adequate legal and policy frameworks to deal with human trafficking, and 

several have recently enacted laws that comprehensively combat this crime; however, implementation of these trafficking laws is sometimes weak. It is important 

to note that, in some countries, the limited progress we have seen on anti-trafficking 

efforts is linked to a broader set of challenges facing the government. When civilians 

routinely encounter police intimidation, corrupt judges, or poorly trained immigration officials, human rights violations go unnoticed, unaccounted for, and multiply. 

In countries where this occurs, State Department officials seek sustained adherence 

to rule of law, democratic practices, and good governance. Expanding democracy and 

respect for human rights is central to our policy in Asia-Pacific, and combating 

human trafficking is a priority for the Bureau domestically and at our embassies 

abroad. 

The East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP) Bureau collaborates closely with the 

Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (the TIP Office) 

not only to draft and publish the ‘‘Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report,’’ but to work 

throughout the year on strategies and programs aimed at preventing trafficking, 

protecting victims and vulnerable populations, and prosecuting offenders. In Washington and in our embassies, EAP and the TIP Office regularly share updates, lessons learned, and expertise to secure on-the-ground ‘‘buy-in’’ from governments, civil 

society organizations, and international partners to effectively combat trafficking in 

persons. We place a huge emphasis on working together to encourage foreign governments to improve their anti-trafficking responses. 

As mentioned in this year’s TIP Report, simply equating human trafficking to sexual exploitation misses much of the story. Labor trafficking, prevalent throughout 

the region, is also a crime against human dignity and human security. Worldwide 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

6 

the majority of trafficking victims are held in labor trafficking situations, though we 

know sexual exploitation often occurs with labor trafficking as well. 

The EAP Bureau understands the importance of addressing all forms of trafficking and, with the TIP Office’s support, has strongly encouraged governments to 

do the same. As a direct result of the annual TIP Report and sustained U.S. engagement, some foreign government officials no longer ask for the definition of trafficking or for proof that it exists within their respective borders. Rather, many officials are now asking what steps they can take to improve their anti-trafficking 

efforts. In short, the TIP Report has facilitated substantive discussions abroad to 

strengthen political will, to draft and implement TIP legislation, and to further 

increase public awareness on the issue. 

Because so much of this important work is done by our embassies, in the next 

few minutes I would like to highlight a few examples over the past year where U.S. 

embassies in the region have worked with host governments and civil society to 

combat trafficking. Our work in the region is vital, not only because it increases 

awareness of and local capacity to address TIP, but also because, in private and 

public engagements, we persistently stress to host governments the importance of 

increased action and attention to sex and labor trafficking. 

Our Embassy in Cambodia remains active in boosting anti-trafficking efforts in 

cooperation with the government and has recently hosted the first ever anti-trafficking TechCamp where technologists and civil society organizations developed creative, low-cost, and easy-to-use solutions for areas with historically high rates of 

trafficking. Ambassador Todd not only personally invited Cambodian youth to volunteer throughout the TechCamp, but also publicized the success of the local event on 

his official blog. 

Additionally, Embassy staff worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Labor to 

develop an interactive voice response system, which makes information on safe 

migration more readily available by phone throughout the country. In the area of 

victim protection, we have helped over 760 victims in the past year and will continue to support services to trafficking survivors, including repatriation, medical 

care, psychosocial support, reintegration, and legal aid. To improve efforts to prosecute trafficking crimes, we are working with the Ministry of Justice to develop policies and guidelines for conducting undercover investigations of human trafficking. 

In China, Department officials continue to encourage the Chinese Government to 

improve efforts to prosecute trafficking offenses and protect victims, make legal 

reforms to prohibit all forms of trafficking, end forced labor in state-sponsored 

detention centers, and transparently share information on its anti-trafficking efforts. 

Embassy Beijing continues to advance the U.S. Government’s anti-trafficking agenda with counterparts within the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and PRC law 

enforcement ministries; and by actively recruiting up-and-coming Chinese officials 

to participate in International Visitor Leadership Programs (IVLPs) and other capacity-building programs. 

Since FY 2012, we have sent six professionals from Malaysia to the United States 

on TIP-focused exchange programs (International Visitor Leadership Program) and 

plan to send another four in FY 2015. In our diplomatic engagements, we regularly 

and strongly urge Malaysian officials to improve treatment of trafficking victims by 

reforming its current victim protection regime. 

In the Pacific Islands, we encourage additional efforts to address forced labor on 

fishing vessels in the Pacific and other forms of trafficking. The U.S. Ambassador 

and his staff supported the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Attorney General’s Office’s request for technical assistance and legal advice for the TIP Task 

Force as it writes the RMI’s TIP legislation. The Embassy reached out to the TIP 

Office to request short-term training and technical assistance; the request was 

approved by Ambassador CdeBaca, and the TIP Office plans to provide assistance 

in the coming year. Planned technical assistance includes a component for police 

and prosecutors on how to identify and prosecute TIP using the laws proposed. Partnerships like these, where we provide some support and guidance to governments 

with a significant stake in positive outcomes, will bring long-term success. 

As Ambassador CdeBaca notes in his testimony, Thailand made a concerted effort 

over the past year to improve its anti-trafficking data collection and continued to 

prosecute and convict traffickers. Despite this progress, the government did not 

make sufficient efforts to address forced labor among foreign migrant workers— 

including in the fishing industry—and to address reported official complicity in 

human trafficking. 

Embassy Bangkok will continue to support NGOs that help provide access to justice for migrants and trafficking victims. Department staff will also continue to 

work to enhance Thai capacity to investigate trafficking cases and prosecute perpetrators by training law enforcement officers at our International Law EnforceFOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

7 

ment Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok and by arranging other police-to-police cooperation and networking with counterparts along the Thai border. Embassy Bangkok 

will also arrange the placement of a technical advisor in the Ministry of Labor to 

help guide policies on forced labor trafficking. 

In Thailand and elsewhere, our ambassadors and embassy staff engage regularly 

with host government officials, local civil society organizations, and international 

partners to stress the importance of increasing efforts to combat sex and labor trafficking.I would like to reiterate how important it is ensure that both local politicians 

and local civil society leaders are taking ownership of the TIP problem in their respective countries. For example, with continued U.S. Embassy support on TIP, the 

New Zealand government has partnered with the Salvation Army to identify and 

educate vulnerable populations in specific communities on the dangers and characteristics of forced labor. 

Lastly, I would like to highlight our regional TIP efforts. With U.S. encouragement, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its 6th Expert 

Group Meeting on Trafficking in Persons last month. The group is working to create 

a regional plan of action and hold a workshop on human trafficking later this year. 

With the TIP Office funding, the State Department supported what became the 

first-ever ASEAN-United States joint regional project to combat human trafficking, 

fulfilling a Presidential commitment from November 2012. 

The TIP Office issued a grant to the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative to train heads of specialized anti-trafficking units from all 10 ASEAN member countries with ASEAN Secretariat support and enhance cross-border collaboration to combat human trafficking. 

With U.S. Government funding, the MTV End Exploitation and Trafficking 

(MTV–EXIT) campaign has raised a tremendous amount of TIP awareness in Southeast Asia, particularly with the youth demographic. In Indonesia, I personally witnessed how an MTV–EXIT campaign in West Java in September 2012 raised public 

awareness by engaging with literally tens of thousands of people, influential local 

leaders and politicians, and millions more via live broadcast on TV. Additionally, in 

January 2013, MTV–EXIT made roadshows and youth engagement activities in several cities in Indonesia such as in Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Lombok (West 

Nusa Tenggara), and Sukabumi (West Java). Education on human trafficking is 

especially important to facilitating change in this region, where trafficking is so 

widespread. This program has been extremely successful and an important part of 

our successes in Southeast Asia. 

CONCLUSION

As we look toward the future, our Bureau and embassies and consulates in the 

EAP region are committed to working with foreign governments to help them more 

effectively combat human trafficking. EAP and the TIP Office will continue to collaborate to assess the situation; develop programs and diplomatic strategies to better combat trafficking; and encourage governments to take action to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute traffickers. 

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss human trafficking in Asia-Pacific. I look forward to answering any questions 

the subcommittee may have. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Secretary Marciel. 

Ambassador CdeBaca. 

STATEMENT OF LUIS CDEBACA, AMBASSADOR AT LARGE FOR 

THE OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN 

PERSONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Thank you, Chairman Cardin, for the 

opportunity to speak with you today. 

And I—just a note of personal privilege—Scot Marciel, not only 

with the MTV Exit Program, but also in his time both within EAP 

and at post, has been a real leader on this. I just wish that we had 

a photo of him at that MTV concert out on the stage to offer for 

the record. [Laughter.] 

A few weeks ago, the Secretary of State released the 14th Annual 

Trafficking in Persons Report, what Secretary Kerry called a 

‘‘Roadmap for the Journey to Freedom.’’ This roadmap sets forth 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

8 

progresses and challenges in fighting modern slavery in 188 jurisdictions, including 29 in the Asia-Pacific region. And, while there 

is progress, with more than 20 million estimated trafficking victims 

in the world and fewer than 45,000 victims identified, we know 

that we all have a lot more to do. In EAP, we see both sex trafficking and forced labor, even state-sponsored forced labor in the 

recruitment and the use of child soldiers in some places, and pervasive victimization of migrants seeking better jobs. These are real 

people, people trapped in slavery, people in the sights of traffickers, 

people recovering from the trauma of being trafficked. They do not 

just impact our foreign policy, they touch our conscience. 

As you may know, we are working closely with the Vatican as 

they intensify their engagement on this scourge. And the words of 

Pope Francis, I think, are very appropriate, when he says that 

‘‘Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary 

society.’’ 

So, the United States is focused on identifying and seeking justice for victims, supporting survivors, and creating a world where 

people are no longer subjected to human trafficking. And that 

means developing common standards and getting governments to 

step up. 

While my written testimony deals in the efforts of a number of 

jurisdictions in EAP, along with several U.S.-funded initiatives to 

combat trafficking in the region, I will highlight a few of those 

efforts and initiatives today. 

First, some laudable efforts. The Republic of Korea, Papua-New 

Guinea, and Solomon Islands all passed legislation to strengthen 

their legal frameworks. The Federated States of Micronesia initiated a landmark prosecution of a trafficker and implemented a 

national action plan. 

As you mentioned, Senator, we welcomed the formal abolishing 

of the Reeducation Through Labor System. However, we remain 

deeply concerned that forced labor persists in some government institutions in China, including Reeducation Through Labor facilities 

that have been reportedly converted into different types of detention centers. And so, we will be keeping an eye on that. However, 

there were other issues in China, as well. A second 5-year plan 

came into operation that included labor trafficking and covered 

men victims, the accession to the Palermo Protocol, all good signs 

of forward progress. 

Elsewhere, we see mixed efforts. The Government of Burma 

undertook efforts to improve anti-trafficking response, but some 

military officials and insurgent militia continue to subject civilians 

to forced labor and to recruit child soldiers. We are lending our 

support to help Burma improve its anti-trafficking response 

through training and a joint action plan on trafficking in persons. 

While we saw an uptick in public commitment by the Government of Japan this spring, we are concerned about the steady 

decline in the number of victims identified in the last 9 years in 

Japan, despite no evidence of a diminution in the scale of the problem. Thirty-one sex traffickers convicted in 2013, but no labor 

traffickers. And we know that the traffickers continue to use the 

Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program there to subject victims to forced labor. We will work closely with the Japanese 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

9 

Government to enhance oversight of this program and improve 

their anti-trafficking response. 

And then there are some countries that did not demonstrate 

increased efforts to combat trafficking, countries that were downgraded. You mentioned Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia, a 

flawed victim protection regime that detains foreign trafficking victims in government facilities, sometimes for more than a year. We 

call upon the government to amend its laws and regulations, to 

improve victim care, to enable all trafficking victims to work and 

travel outside of these facilities. And we have heard plans 

announced to allow certain restrictions to be lifted. We hope that 

we can work with them to turn those promises of future action into 

credible results. 

In Thailand, widespread official complicity continues to be a 

longstanding problem that remains a significant obstacle to antitrafficking progress. And whether it is in the fishing industry, 

forced labor among migrant workers, or the sex industry, the magnitude of the human trafficking problem continues to be of great 

concern. 

I want to close, Senator, with a positive story, though, this year’s 

report on our 10 trafficking-in-persons heroes who are making a 

difference on the front line. One such hero, Van Ngoc Ta, has personally assisted over 300 trafficking victims of forced labor in Vietnam and sex trafficking victims who had been taken to China. His 

team works with Vietnamese authorities to liberate victims and 

then represents them in court against their traffickers. I would 

offer for the record a recent article about Mr. Van’s work. But, his 

efforts show that homegrown civil society actors can move governments in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, and are an inspiration to 

us all. 

We remain committed to supporting such heroes on the front 

lines to support and sometimes nudge governments to prevent, protect, and prosecute for our shared goal: a world without slavery. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador CdeBaca follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR LUIS CDEBACA

Chairman Cardin, Ranking Member Rubio, members of the subcommittee, thank 

you very much for giving me the opportunity to share with you the Department of 

State’s latest findings on human trafficking in East Asia and the Pacific Islands. 

A few weeks ago, Secretary of State John F. Kerry released the 14th annual ‘‘Trafficking in Persons Report.’’ This year’s 432-page volume discusses the progress and 

ongoing challenges in fighting trafficking in persons in 188 countries and territories, 

including 29 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region. The world has come 

a long way in our shared fight against human trafficking over the past 14 years. 

But, with more than 20 million estimated trafficking victims around the world and 

fewer than 45,000 victims identified in 2013, we have much more work to do. 

Today, I will discuss human trafficking in East Asia and the Pacific, what governments in the region are doing to combat it, and how the Department of State is supporting those efforts. The Department’s efforts in Asia require the close collaboration of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (the TIP Office) and 

the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. We are grateful for the leadership provided by Assistant Secretary Danny Russel, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Scot Marciel, and all of the chiefs of mission throughout the region. Their partnership and collaboration, and the work of their staff on this issue, are making our 

diplomacy and programs to combat trafficking and assist victims in Asia effective. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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REGIONAL OVERVIEW

A staggering portion of the world’s trafficking victims come from East Asia. These 

victims include men, women, and children subjected to both forced labor and sex 

trafficking. Forced labor occurs in the fishing, agriculture, mining, textile, and 

domestic service sectors, and in factories that produce other goods. In parts of East 

Asia, there is also state-sponsored forced labor, including by state militaries. 

Migrant workers are especially vulnerable to forced labor and debt bondage—in 

their home countries or upon traveling to other countries for employment. The fishing industry continues to be plagued with forced labor and is in need of additional 

law enforcement action and anticorruption efforts to curb abuses. Girls and women 

are forced into prostitution in bars, brothels, massage parlors, and other venues. Sex 

tourism in some countries fuels the sex trafficking of children. Governments in the 

region have typically had more success in identifying victims of, and prosecuting 

cases related to, sex trafficking than labor trafficking; however, more must be done 

to combat both forms of modern slavery. 

Our thematic focus for the 2014 ‘‘Trafficking in Persons Report’’ is the ‘‘Journey 

from Victim to Survivor.’’ The impact of human trafficking is horrifying; those who 

escape modern slavery struggle to recover, heal, reclaim their lives, and become 

survivors. It is not an easy path, and true recovery is far from guaranteed. Governments must devote more resources and attention to help victims recover, restore 

their inner strength and personal voice, and return to their communities as survivors. 

Partnerships between governments and the private sector can facilitate this process. As an example, shortly after President Obama’s and Secretary Kerry’s March 

2014 visit to the Vatican, the State Department TIP Office announced its plans to 

partner with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Apostleship of the Sea 

to coordinate efforts by the Catholic Church and its partners to combat human trafficking. The project will focus on ramping up capacity around the world to identify 

and assist victims, particularly those trafficked in maritime labor, which is a significant problem in East Asia and the Pacific. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Over the past year, governmental efforts to eliminate human trafficking and 

assist victims varied dramatically across countries in East Asia and the Pacific. 

Some countries and territories undertook laudable anti-trafficking efforts. The 

Republic of Korea, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands passed legislation 

to strengthen their anti-trafficking legal frameworks. The Government of the Federated States of Micronesia initiated a landmark prosecution of an alleged trafficker, declared a national day to spread awareness of trafficking, and implemented 

a national anti-trafficking action plan. The Chinese National People’s Congress ratified a decision to abolish the ‘‘Re-education through Labor’’ (RTL) system, a systemic 

form of forced labor that had existed in China for decades. Although some media 

and NGOs report that the government ceased operations at many RTL camps, it has 

also been reported that the government converted some RTL facilities into different 

types of detention centers, some of which continue to employ forced labor. We welcome China’s decision to abolish the RTL system and its subsequent steps to shutter 

RTL facilities, but remain deeply concerned that forced labor persists in some government institutions. 

Other countries in the region demonstrated mixed efforts to combat trafficking 

over the past year. 

The Government of Burma undertook efforts to improve its anti-trafficking 

response, but some military officials and insurgent militia continued to subject civilians to forced labor and recruit child soldiers. Burma remains the only country in 

East Asia on the U.S. Government’s Child Soldiers Prevention Act list. We welcome 

the military’s release of 206 children illegally recruited into its ranks over the 

reporting period, and encourage the Burmese military to continue to take further 

steps to fulfill commitments it has made under the joint U.N. action plan to end 

child soldier recruitment. 

The United States is partnering with Burma to improve its anti-trafficking efforts, 

formalized in 2012 through the U.S.-Myanmar Joint Plan on Trafficking in Persons. 

In support of this joint plan, the TIP Office is funding a $500,000 project to help 

strengthen Burma’s new Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division in the Ministry of 

Home Affairs by sharing best practices in the area of law enforcement investigation 

and victim-witness interviewing. Later this year, the TIP Office plans to fund a 

$700,000 project that will contribute to prevention of trafficking and protection of 

victims by strengthening institutional and NGO capacities. In this way, the intervention will respond directly to the priority of the Joint Plan of Action to ‘‘encourage 

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greater civil society participation in anti-trafficking efforts throughout the country.’’ 

Funding anti-trafficking efforts in Burma will continue to be a priority in FY 2015. 

In Cambodia, the government developed guidelines for a standardized, nationwide 

system for the proactive identification of victims among vulnerable groups. Unfortunately, the government prosecuted and convicted fewer trafficking offenders and 

identified fewer victims than it did in the previous year. Effectively finalizing and 

implementing the guidelines will be critical to Cambodia’s ability to identify more 

victims, assist them, and prosecute their traffickers. 

We are also concerned that Japan has experienced a steady decline in the number 

of trafficking victims identified over the past 9 years, despite no evidence of a diminution in the overall scale of the problem. Traffickers continue to use the government’s Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program (TTIP) to subject victims to forced labor, and the program lacks adequate government oversight. The 

Japanese Government convicted 31 sex traffickers in 2013—but no labor traffickers. 

It is working on initiatives to enhance oversight of the TTIP and improve its antitrafficking response. We look forward to working with the Government of Japan 

over the coming year as they implement these proposed reforms. 

A few countries did not demonstrate increased efforts to combat trafficking over 

the past year, and they were downgraded in the 2014 TIP Report. 

The Government of Malaysia decreased its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts 

and made minimal efforts to improve its victim protection regime. In Malaysia, the 

greatest need is to reform this flawed victim protection regime that detains foreign 

trafficking victims in government facilities for periods of time that sometimes exceed 

a year. The Government of Malaysia has announced plans to allow a limited set of 

foreign trafficking victims to have freedom of movement and the right to work, and 

for NGOs to operate a government funded shelter. We encourage the government 

to amend its laws and regulations to improve care for victims and enable all trafficking victims to travel and work outside government facilities. Malaysia identified 

significantly fewer victims in 2013 than in 2012 and only convicted nine traffickers 

despite the country’s vast trafficking problem. Improving Malaysia’s victim protection regime would also be expected to lead to more victims coming forward and providing testimony that leads to more successful prosecutions. 

We have been committed to helping Malaysia achieve these goals. The TIP Office is currently programming $750,000 to assist NGOs’ anti-trafficking programming in 

Malaysia, and plans to fund training for Malaysian special prosecutors and judges. 

We continue to encourage the Government of Malaysia to remove restrictions on 

NGOs assisting trafficking victims. 

Despite improving its anti-trafficking data collection and prosecuting and convicting traffickers, the Government of Thailand failed to address key shortcomings 

in its anti-trafficking efforts, and its actions continued to be insufficient given the 

magnitude of the human trafficking problem in Thailand. During the period covered 

by the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Thai Government made few efforts 

to address forced labor and debt bondage among foreign migrant workers—including 

in the fishing industry, which has a significant proportion of trafficking victims in 

Thailand. It failed to address widespread official complicity in human trafficking. 

We continue to call on the Thai Government to take significantly greater steps to 

protect foreign migrants—including in the fishing and shrimp industries, to punish 

traffickers who enslave foreign workers, and to prosecute officials complicit in 

trafficking. 

We welcome continued engagement with the Thai Government to address our 

shared goals: to assist victims, convict traffickers, and prevent future instances of 

human trafficking from occurring. The TIP Office is currently programming $1.2 

million in Thailand to support anti-trafficking activities. This support includes funding to conduct prevention and protection-related activities, especially among tribal 

populations; enhance Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation’s ability to 

investigate trafficking cases; raise awareness and advocate for justice on high-level 

trafficking cases; coordinate government and NGO activities to combat human trafficking in the nine provinces of the upper northern region of Thailand and their 

associated Burmese and Lao border regions; and support coordination among the 

heads of specialist anti-trafficking units in ASEAN. Before the end of the current 

fiscal year, the TIP Office expects to provide an additional $687,510 to support protection and prosecution-related activities and we anticipate providing continued assistance, pending congressional appropriation in FY 2015 and beyond. 

In Laos, the government relied almost entirely on local and international organizations to implement anti-trafficking programs. It continued to prosecute trafficking 

offenses and convict traffickers, but did not make proactive efforts to identify victims of trafficking. We continue to encourage the government to expeditiously 

approve Memoranda of Understanding with anti-trafficking organizations to more 

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effectively combat trafficking and coordinate government and NGO efforts. In FY 

2010 and FY 2013, our office provided $1 million to the UNODC to assist the Government of Laos with legislative reform of its anti-trafficking law. 

The Government of Timor-Leste did not investigate or prosecute any trafficking 

offenses or convict any traffickers. The government’s victim identification efforts remained inadequate, and long-awaited anti-trafficking legislation remained pending. 

Finally, one country in the region has continually failed to combat trafficking and 

has subjected its citizens to trafficking. North Korea did not demonstrate any effort 

to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention measures. The government participated in human trafficking through its use of domestic 

forced labor camps and its provision of forced labor to foreign governments through 

bilateral contracts. North Korea also failed to protect victims of trafficking when 

they were forcibly repatriated from China or other countries. 

THE WAY FORWARD

Over the past few weeks, the 2014 ‘‘Trafficking in Persons Report’’ and country 

tier rankings have received considerable international attention. The report is an 

important tool to better understand human trafficking in 188 countries and territories around the world and to promote ways to better combat this global problem. 

In accordance with the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act, as amended, each 

country and territory in the report is assigned a tier ranking based on its government’s compliance with certain minimum standards to eliminate trafficking. Tier 

rankings are important. But they are a means to an end, not an end unto themselves. We must not lose sight of the true goal: stopping modern slavery and helping 

victims of human trafficking. This includes victims like the six young women rescued from a bar by one of our grantees during the devastation of Typhoon Nari in 

the Philippines, where they had been trafficked and sold as sex slaves. After the 

rescue and with the storm raging and the power out, our grantee began the interview process by flashlight. The grantee reported that a targeted investment in law 

enforcement has brought about a nearly 80-percent reduction in the number of girls 

available for sex in the metropolitan area of Cebu. We agree with our grantee’s 

assessment: ‘‘That kind of dramatic reduction can be replicated. It must be replicated.’’ Only with such efforts, and concrete programs to help victims find their 

voice and reclaim their lives, can we help victims become survivors. 

During the rollout of the 2014 report, we honored 10 ‘‘Trafficking in Persons 

Report’’ Heroes from all over the world who are helping to make a difference. One 

Hero from Vietnam, Van Ngoc Ta, has personally assisted over 300 trafficking victims of forced labor in Vietnam and sex trafficking in China. Mr. Van’s team works 

with Vietnamese authorities to arrange and implement a plan to facilitate victims’ 

release and represents the victims in court against their traffickers. Mr. Van’s tireless efforts have had an impressive positive impact on communities in Vietnam in 

which he conducts awareness campaigns and meets with leaders and families to 

educate them on prevention. 

These are the types of efforts that must be duplicated around the world. I will 

now turn to my colleague Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot 

Marciel, with whom I work closely on efforts to combat trafficking. He will discuss 

U.S. diplomatic engagement on this issue, which is critical to advancing rule of law 

and human rights as important pillars of our foreign policy. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, let me thank both of you, not just for your 

testimony, but for your commitment in this area. It is well known, 

and we very much appreciate the fact, that you have been very 

strong in raising these issues wherever you travel, and making it 

clear that we expect greater progress. So, I start with that. 

But, my first question deals with whether we are making 

progress or whether we are moving in the wrong direction. And I 

say that because there were four countries that were downgraded 

in this report, that are in our region. Only two countries were upgraded. We mentioned China. Let me also mention Micronesia 

moving from Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2, which is certainly 

progress, and we very much acknowledge, in both countries, that 

progress was made in the right direction. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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I have already acknowledged that we have had countries that 

have been downgraded. Four countries were downgraded in our 

region: Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. 

There were 10 countries that are on Tier 2 that remain on Tier 

2, so no progress made. There are four countries that are on Tier 

2 Watch List, no progress made: Burma, Cambodia, Marshall 

Islands, and Solomon Islands. Now, if no progress is made, those 

countries will be downgraded to Tier 3, as required under the law. 

So, my question is, Are we moving in the right direction? 

Because it looks like the TIP Report would indicate that we have 

not made progress, when, in fact, there are more countries in worse 

condition this year than they were in the prior report. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Senator, I actually think that we have 

seen progress. And some of it is reflected in the report as far as 

the tiers are concerned. But, even in countries that did not necessarily raise up in a tier, we have seen progress. I hate to use the 

American grading system as the way that we look at it, but, you 

know, there is a difference between a ‘‘B’’ that is an 80 and a ‘‘B’’ 

that is an 89. They are still both ‘‘B’s’’ on your report card, but, 

when you see a student that is starting to make that kind of 

progress, you can look at that trajectory in a good way. 

I think that is what we are seeing with a number of the countries in the region, and especially with the passage, for instance, 

of the new trafficking legislation in Papua-New Guinea. It did not 

get quite through the gazetting process, it did not get through the 

entire process, but is something that we will be looking at in next 

year’s report. And that is a country that is on Tier 3. And yet, we 

see the government starting to engage. We see that kind of energy, 

we see an openness, not just to U.S. involvement, but Australian 

and others who are willing and able to help. So, I think that that 

is one of the places that we are really looking at. 

I think that what we have seen historically is that governments 

can look at their situation and make a decision to change. We saw 

that with Vietnam, some years ago. And, at this point, I think that 

we very much see them as a solid Tier 2 country. There was a few 

years when we would look at it and, frankly, we would be wondering, Is this still really a Tier 2 country? Should they be back to 

Tier 2 Watch List? Kind of, where are they? We are seeing that 

solidifying as they are starting to work with civil society organizations like Blue Dragon, as they are starting to look at labor trafficking instead of just sex trafficking. 

So, I think that we are seeing what, to us, looks like progress. 

I think that the four downgrades actually—in some ways, not only 

does that reflect the lack of progress in some of those countries, but 

it reflects good, solid reporting on the part of our Embassies and 

otherwise. As we get more information, as we are engaging with 

them, we are learning more and more about the trafficking situation in these countries. So, the notion of downgrades is not something that we necessarily see as a failure in the region. We see it 

as honest reporting that allows us and you and others to make a 

difference. And we have already heard that, in the press coverage, 

in some of the public statements that we are seeing out of Malaysia 

and other places, a commitment to going out and working. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

14 

Senator CARDIN. Well, I would just observe, we absolutely believe 

that the TIP evaluations are honest reporting and honest grading. 

This is accurate grading that we expect that will continue. 

But, having said that, it is disturbing to see, with all of the 

global attention on trafficking—and there has been a tremendous 

focus on trafficking issues globally, not just the United States of 

America—and with all the technical support that is now available 

to deal with improving the trafficking issues, it is disturbing to see, 

in the jurisdiction of this subcommittee, East Asia and the Pacific, 

that, with all the priorities being given, we have not made the type 

of advancements that I think is expected. 

Now, there are three countries here that are TPP aspirants. Two 

have dealt with their trafficking issues. Vietnam has been under 

tremendous focus in this committee, and they have consistently 

been a Tier 2 country. Now, we would like to see them at Tier 1, 

but they have made progress on the trafficking issues. I was in 

Vietnam this year, and we talked about the trafficking issues, and 

the country is very much focused on dealing with the issues. 

Brunei, which has serious human rights issues in trafficking, 

they have been consistent. 

Malaysia moved in the wrong direction. What does that mean, as 

far as they are ready for TPP? Are they ready for TPP, if they cannot deal with their trafficking issues? It raises a question to me. 

So, Secretary Marciel, are we making progress? Are we moving 

in the wrong direction? 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Clearly, we have a lot more work to do in Malaysia; and, more 

importantly, the Malaysians have a lot of work to do on trafficking, 

particularly their treatment of trafficking victims. It is a big priority in the relationship, for sure. 

In terms of TPP, one of—I mean, the whole idea of TPP, as you 

know, in addition to opening markets, is setting high standards, 

including in labor. And, I mean, obviously, the negotiations are still 

underway, but the intent is to have a very strong labor chapter in 

there. So, we actually think the TPP process should reinforce— 

even though it does not have a TIP chapter, per se, it does have 

very high standards, including on labor. So, I think it should reinforce the effort. But, clearly, the Malaysians have a lot more to do. 

Senator CARDIN. One more observation on that. Many of us support a very high standard—ILO standards in regards to labor in 

TPP, but we also want to see that within the core agreement, with 

enforceability within the core agreement, which we did not have in 

CAFTA. So, the TIP Report and the spotlight of the TIP Report 

was not enough to get Malaysia at the level that it needed to be. 

It is just a clear signal, at least to this Senator, that the TPP needs 

to have enforceable labor commitments, because we have not been 

able to make the progress by just putting a spotlight through the 

TIP Report. 

Let me ask one more question. Senator Rubio had explained to 

me that he was going to be late getting here, for personal reasons, 

and I fully understand that. I want to give him a moment to catch 

his breath and thank him so much, because he has been one of the 

real leaders, in the United States Senate, on trafficking issues and 

on human rights issues in East Asia and the Pacific, and I very 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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much appreciate his commitment to our mutual agenda to underscore and highlight these matters. 

I was in Moldova last week, and their leadership is really committed to human rights issues, and I think they have made a lot 

of progress. I know it is not one of our countries. But, it was interesting. They identified, as the core area for improvement on trafficking, would be to deal with corruption. And they have dealt with 

corruption. They have put some of their judges in jail because they 

were not enforcing the laws dealing with trafficking. Those who 

trafficked knew they could get away with their activities. But, 

Moldova has made a commitment to change that. 

In the countries of East Asia and Pacific, particularly those that 

need to improve on trafficking, they have significant challenges on 

dealing with corruption. How well is that understood in these countries, that in order to deal with modern-day slavery, they have to 

deal with the corruption in their system? 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Well, Mr. Chairman, I will start. 

I think, for a lot of these countries—and I have spent quite a bit 

of time in many of them—corruption is a huge issue. In some cases, 

it is arguably the biggest issue in the eyes of the people, not only 

because of the impact on trafficking, but the impact on people’s 

daily lives, writ large, and certainly on rule of law and people’s desire for justice. So, I think the problem of corruption is very widely 

understood, and there is—in the places I have been, there is, you 

know, tremendous public pressure and societal pressure on governments and political leaders to improve, to clean up on corruption, 

including because of its relationship to trafficking in persons. 

In my experience, it is a difficult challenge to tackle. It requires 

a tremendous amount of political will and a lot of effort over time. 

But, it is critical, not only on the trafficking front, but if these 

countries are going to achieve economic development and the justice that their people demand. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. 

Senator Rubio. 

Senator RUBIO. thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and both of you for being here. 

I want to just open—and I apologize for being a few minutes late, 

but let me just begin with a statement about all this. 

Human trafficking, of course, is a monstrous crime which plagues 

the entire world, including, quite frankly, my home State of Florida, which is one of the top three destinations for human trafficking in the United States. Unfortunately, the populations of East 

Asia and the Pacific region are disproportionally affected by trafficking. The International Labor Organization estimates that there 

are currently 7.9 million victims of forced labor in the Asia-Pacific 

region. The recently released 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report 

includes four Asian countries in the worst-of-the-worst Tier 3 category: Malaysia, North Korea, Papua-New Guinea, and Thailand. 

Numerous other Asian nations find themselves near Tier 3, in the 

Tier 2 Watch List. That includes Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos— 

the list goes on and on. 

Today, we will explore, and have been exploring, the causes of 

human trafficking in the region, as well as the governments in that 

region and the responses that they have had in compliance with 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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the laws and the expectations upon them. And the United States 

has always been, and will continue to be, a leader in combating 

modern-day slavery in the world. And I appreciate the work both 

of you do with regards to that. We must highlight this issue, hopefully at every level, when working on a bilateral and multilateral 

levels, with countries in this important region. 

And then, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this 

hearing on this important topic. And I want to thank the witnesses 

for being here. 

I was going to start with Secretary Marciel. I wanted to ask you, 

How does our anti—and you may have answered this already, so 

I apologize, but—How does the anti-trafficking platform—how does 

that work with the other priorities that we have in the region, such 

as defense or economic issues? How do we coordinate those sometimes competing interests, I suppose? 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Thank you, Senator Rubio. 

Yes, it is a very good question and a challenge for us. I mean, 

I guess what I would say is, in all of our relationships in the 

region, we obviously focus a lot on the diplomatic relationship, 

building people-to-people ties, trade relations, all of these sorts of 

things. But, in every country where we see problems on human 

rights and/or trafficking, more specifically, this is another important piece of what we do, and we make clear, in our discussions 

with government officials, that, you know, we want to build a 

closer relationship, but our ability to do so depends certainly, to a 

significant extent, on their willingness and ability to address these 

concerns, whether it is broad human rights or trafficking in persons. And then, in addition to that, in many of these countries, we 

will have programs—either, you know, training prosecutors or 

police or judges, or often working with civil society, because civil 

society’s role is critical in this, both exposing the problem, but putting pressure on governments to do more, but then, actually helping victims. So, it is a combination of diplomatic pressure and making it a priority plus specific programs. And I know Ambassador 

CdeBaca can talk more about that. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Senator, I think that one of the things 

that we are really looking at is how it works with our priorities 

both around rule of law and human rights, and bringing those two 

together. I think that often human trafficking has been seen in 

the—especially in Southeast Asia—as a transnational problem of 

moving people. And one of the things that I think that we have 

seen often because—just to get into the weeds—it is the same 

reporting officers in our embassies that are doing the human rights 

report, as well as the trafficking report. It brings a little bit of a 

harder edge to the human rights approach, and it brings a little 

human rights to the law enforcement approach. And I think that 

that has enabled us to have a conversation that is moving into each 

of these countries. We are starting to be able to deal with the Thai 

person who is enslaved in Thailand, the Vietnamese person 

enslaved in Vietnam. Whereas, 5 years ago, I think a lot of the 

countries were only focused upon the cross-border. 

What that is doing is, it is allowing us to introduce other aspects 

of rule of law, whether it is the corruption issue, whether it is 

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general judicial training, access to justice, et cetera. And I think 

that that kind of lifts all boats, that rising tide. 

So, we are trying to make sure that it is incorporated in that 

way. 

Senator RUBIO. Let me ask you this. I have gotten—a number of 

NGOs have expressed concern that, during the Trafficking in Persons Report, the regional bureaus include political considerations 

in the tier rankings and press the TIP office to not downgrade certain countries. Is that accurate? Is that happening? 

Whoever has the answer. 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Senator, actually, Ambassador CdeBaca 

and I sat down, on a number of occasions after our teams had 

worked through these, to go through the countries. There were, you 

know, some countries that we all agreed clearly fell into one category, and there were others that were a little bit closer. You know, 

was it a strong ‘‘B’’ or a weak ‘‘A minus,’’ as Ambassador CdeBaca 

said? And, basically, we went through and discussed—I would not 

say ‘‘debated,’’ but just discussed what the countries have done and 

what they had not done. And our conversations were all about 

what had been done on trafficking. So, we were not saying, ‘‘No, 

but—you know, that, yes, they did not do anything on trafficking, 

but they are good friends, you cannot downgrade them.’’ We did not 

have that conversation. It was purely—— 

Senator RUBIO. So, the political considerations are not used in 

the TIP process to distort the tier rankings. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. I think actually they—we do—we, collectively, the State Department, do a pretty good job of keeping this 

focused on trafficking. And it helps that there is real criteria, so 

you cannot really fudge it, in that sense. 

Senator RUBIO. Because I am—you know, what I am getting— 

I mean, some people are concerned—and I am glad to hear your 

statement here today; it is important to have that on the record— 

that, in fact, there are some countries, where, because of certain 

geopolitical issues, there might be some internal pressure not to 

downgrade them or to move them off their current tier ranking. 

But, your statement here today is that because of the criteria that 

is in place, that is not happening. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. That is correct, Senator. And I think if 

you look at the fact that long-time friend and treaty ally Thailand 

was downgraded, as well as Malaysia, where the President had just 

visited, have a very good relationship—they were both downgraded. 

Senator RUBIO. Okay. 

And, Ambassador, let me ask this question about China. And 

again, I apologize, you may have answered this already before. In 

the 2013 report, China was automatically downgraded to the lowest 

level of Tier 3 because it had been on the Tier 2 Watch List for 

2 consecutive years—and, by the way, waived for 2 more years— 

and had not made any improvements. In the 2014 report, they 

were upgraded back to the Tier 2 Watch List. So, what exactly did 

China do—what improvements did they make in that reporting 

period that allowed them to be upgraded to Tier 2? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Senator, there are a few things that we 

were really looking at last year, especially the Reeducation 

Through Labor Camps, the state-sponsored forced labor that we 

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saw in China. And that was one of our biggest recommendations 

for the Chinese. And we saw movement from them this last year. 

Senator RUBIO. I am sorry to interject. Is that actually happening, or are they running that program under a different name? 

I mean, is there real evidence that they have dismantled those 

programs? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. We have seen evidence that they have 

dismantled the main program, but we are concerned that it not be 

shunted over to other reeducation camps, whether it is drugs or 

other morality offenses, or things like that. And it is something 

that we are very much looking at very closely, because I think we 

share the skepticism, no—to make sure that this is a trust-butverify. 

Senator RUBIO. Okay. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. On the other hand, we see other things 

that they have done, such as acceding to the Palermo Protocol, the 

issuance of a new 5-year plan, that directly went to some of the 

issues that we had raised. Their previous structure did not allow 

for the identification of male victims at all, so they were having 

cases where men would be brought out of—mentally retarded or 

drug-addicted men brought out of a brickkiln, where they had been 

held for 5 years, kidnapped off the street, and they were not charging that as trafficking, because their definitions, their laws, just 

did not see those men as trafficking victims, because they were not 

women being taken across an international border. They have 

changed that now. They have changed the structure so that you are 

bringing in the All China Women’s Federation to do victim protection at the beginning of the cases. 

All of those, we think, are enough of a change that we did not 

feel that a Tier 3 was appropriate for China. We are not saying, 

however, that this is a feel-good story. This is not a Tier 2, this is 

certainly not a Tier 1. This is just enough to come off of Tier 3, and 

we are going to be really looking at this. 

Senator RUBIO. Let me just highlight one more thing that I am 

hearing from NGOs with regards to China. And that is that many 

students from Chinese vocational schools are being forced to work 

in factories as interns, performing work that is not related to their 

major and, quite frankly, has no educational benefit. These students risk not receiving their diploma if they refuse to work. Is 

that something that we are looking at and taking into account, that 

they are using these sorts of forced labor situations hidden and disguised as some sort of vocational training program? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. We have not seen it necessarily rise to 

the level of abuse that we have expressed concern about in the Japanese Training and Technical Internship Program or in the Uzbek 

use of the students for the cotton harvest, and others. But, it is 

something that we are looking at and something that we continue 

to keep an eye on. 

Again, we do not want there to be ways to try to get around 

getting rid of the RTL camps by coming up with other forced labor 

situations. 

Senator RUBIO. And is that okay? 

In your testimony, you noted that foreign governments tend to 

focus—and I think this was you—yes, Ambassador, it was you that 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

19 

said this in your testimony, that foreign governments—and you 

alluded to a it, a second ago—they tend to focus their anti-trafficking efforts on sex trafficking, which is horrifying, but there is 

also the issue of labor trafficking that has not—sometimes people 

do not think about that as equally horrifying, in many cases. So, 

how are we engaging with foreign governments—and you started 

to touch upon that a moment ago—can you describe how we engage 

with foreign governments to explain that they are—that—because 

that is where I think you are running into a lot of the situations 

you just outlined, a moment ago. What are we doing to kind of create more awareness on their part that labor trafficking is also trafficking—that sex trafficking is horrifying, and we want to put a 

stop to it, but also the labor trafficking element of it, as well? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. I think this is actually the culture change 

that we are moving into with these governments. A lot of folks in 

Southeast Asia have had a real learning curve, especially around 

the domestic servant issues, whether it is in Singapore, Hong 

Kong, other places, Malaysia, where there is such a strong culture 

of bringing in foreign domestic servants. Those cases often, when 

they manifest, to the degree that they are ever dealt with, get dealt 

with as assault cases. And so, we have been going in, almost on 

a case-by-case basis, and doing the legal arguments with these governments to say, ‘‘No, this case, under international law, is a trafficking case.’’ 

What we have also been doing, frankly, is to then harness the 

anti-trafficking community in the United States so that we end up 

getting experts, whether it is folks from the Freedom Network or 

other consortia of the people who are doing the hard work, and we 

send them out to the countries. Some of the folks from the Florida 

coalition, for instance, have been able to travel in that way. And 

I think that what it is doing is, it is starting to get to the prosecutors and the police. I think the next step is going to be the judges. 

The judges do not, still, seem to understand this. But, we are kind 

of lining them up and knocking them down, one by one. 

The Thailand downgrade, I think, will speak volumes in the 

region, because we made it very clear in the narrative that there 

had been work done, over the last year, against human trafficking. 

It just had been almost exclusively done in the sex industry. And, 

while we want that, and while we laud the people who are doing 

that in Thailand, the crushing numbers actually show up in forced 

labor. And the fact that we are willing to downgrade such an 

important country largely over labor trafficking, hopefully sends 

that signal. 

Senator RUBIO. I just have a brief comment and a quick question. 

Senator CARDIN. Sure. 

Senator RUBIO. No, just one more point. You just spoke about the 

Thailand thing a moment ago. Just here domestically, I think one 

of the most important things we need to continue to do—and this 

is more of an editorial statement—is, we need to make it very clear 

there is nothing culturally acceptable about going to these other 

countries, as Americans, and participating in these sorts of things. 

I mean, there is this attitude that I have run into now and then, 

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20 

able in some way. And I think you have seen this reflected sometimes in popular culture, but even anecdotally among people. 

And I think one of the things we have to make very clear, that 

there is nothing acceptable about Americans going abroad to one 

of these countries and going into brothels at all, not to mention 

those that have people underage working there. And I think that 

is important to point out, because we do find the presence of Westerners and Americans frequenting some of these places that we 

have talked about in the sex trafficking industry, and we should 

truly try to stigmatize that in our society. 

The last question I had—this is for you, Mr. Secretary—as the 

United States considers increased military engagement with 

Burma, how is the issue of child soldiers factoring into those conversations? And will that be a priority for us, moving forward, as 

we have those conversations on increasing that military relationship? 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Senator, yes, very much so. There is a lot 

that we want the Burmese military to do as part of the country’s 

broader reform effort, and we have highlighted to them the issue 

of child soldiers, as well as use of forced labor. We have seen some 

movement—I think there were a couple hundred child soldiers who 

were released—and a willingness to talk about it. A lot more that 

needs to be done. Our Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, Tom 

Malinowski, along with our Deputy PACOM Commander, General 

Crutchfield, were in Burma a couple of weeks ago, met with the 

military and talked about a range of human rights issues, including this. So, we have made it very clear, this is hugely important, 

and we will continue to do that. 

Senator CARDIN. Senator Rubio, thank you for your questions 

and your support here, and your leadership. 

You are absolutely right about being complicitous in trafficking. 

And you are right about Americans traveling abroad visiting brothels. We have taken strong leadership with our military to make it 

clear that they cannot at all participate in those types of activities, 

and that what it is doing is undermining the security of the United 

States and the principles that we believe in. That has been part of 

our policy, and I thank you for underscoring that today. 

The challenge on forced labor is, How do you deal with consumers who want to know if the products that they are consuming 

have been produced, in part, by forced labor? And that is an issue 

that we can all do a better job in figuring out how we can connect 

consumers to what is happening so that they are not participating 

in trafficking activities through their purchases, or supporting it. 

I just want to underscore one point that you raised. And that is 

the objectivity of the TIP Report. The two people who are at the 

witness table have been critical in making it clear that politics does 

not play a role in this evaluation, that this is an objective test used 

to help countries get the help they need to improve their record on 

trafficking. And this report is very objective. 

Let me just read, from one Pacific country, the beginning. It 

says, ‘‘Is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, 

and children, both citizens and foreign nationals subjected to sex 

trafficking and forced labor, including domestic servitude. Trafficking can occur in both legal and illegal industries or markets, 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

21 

including in brothels, escort services, massage parlors, strip clubs, 

street prostitution, hotel services, hospitality, sales crews, agriculture, manufacturing, and janitorial services, construction, health, 

and elder care and domestic service.’’ 

That is the beginning report on a Tier 1 country, the United 

States. So, it is pretty clear that every country can improve in its 

record. 

Well, let me just read from Malaysia, which is now a Tier 3 country and a TPP aspirant, ‘‘Where Malaysia is a destination and, to 

a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men, women, and 

children subjected to forced labor, and women and children subjected to sex trafficking, the overwhelming majority of trafficking 

victims are among the estimated 2 million documented and 2 million or more undocumented foreign workers in Malaysia. Foreign 

workers typically migrate willingly to Malaysia from other countries in Asia, primarily Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, 

Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, and India, Thailand, and Laos, 

in search of greater economic opportunity. Some of the migrants 

subsequently encounter forced labor or debt bondage at the hands 

of their employer, employment agents, or informal labor recruitments.’’ 

I mention that because Malaysia is an aspirant country for TPP. 

And I must tell you, Secretary Marciel, yes, I believe we can elevate that through a strong labor provision within the TPP, but it 

has got to be enforceable. And I have underscored that point. We 

have yet to enter into a trade agreement that had enforceable labor 

provisions. We had labor provisions; they have not been enforceable. 

So, I can tell you, this Senator is going to be watching very 

closely, and the fact that we have not seen the type of progress in 

Malaysia is of great concern to me. 

I want to ask one final question, if I might. And that is, in 

Europe and Central Asia, the United States and Canada, through 

OSCE, participate in a robust effort to elevate trafficking and technical support to improve actions against trafficking within the 

OSCE framework. And there is a formal part of OSCE that deals 

with anti-trafficking measures. 

I do not see a similar commitment within the ASEAN nations. 

Now, we are not a participating state. We do have observer status, 

and we do participate, but not as a full member of ASEAN. Could 

ASEAN be stronger in its commitments on dealing with the trafficking issues? And what can the United States do about that? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. I think that it could be, and we are seeing a lot of energy for that among the different member states. 

What the United States can and has done is, for the first time now, 

we are actually bringing together the ASEAN Secretariat on 

Human Trafficking, through the Transnational Organized Crime 

efforts, with U.S. funding, to actually have the beginning of a Secretariat for anti-trafficking work. It kind of mirrors the early years 

of the Stability Pact Task Force that then grew into the antitrafficking unit at OSCE headquarters. We are very pleased to see 

that the immediate past Special Representative for Trafficking, 

Maria Grazia Giamarinaro, is now going to be the United Nations 

Special Rapporteur for Trafficking. So, that OSCE experience is 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

22 

going to be available to the entire world through our support. But, 

we are also then trying to replicate that model at the beginning 

stage, in working with the folks at ASEAN. And, to that end, we 

are in the planning stages of bringing folks together during the 

Burmese Presidency to have a discussion across ASEAN and with 

the United States and other supporters this fall so that we can 

start working on it. I cannot guarantee you that it will end up as 

formal or successful as what we saw in the OSCE, but I think it 

is certainly a seed that we can germinate. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. 

Mr. Secretary. 

Ambassador MARCIEL. Mr. Chairman, if I could just add, in addition to what Ambassador CdeBaca said, the ASEAN—first, I agree, 

ASEAN can and should do more. I think they are beginning to 

move—a little bit slowly, but moving. They are working on drafting 

an ASEAN convention on trafficking in persons and a regional plan 

of action. And we are engaging with them. When Assistant Secretary Danny Russell met with his ASEAN counterparts in Burma, 

I think it was a month ago, he raised this issue, stressed the importance of it. And we are funding, through Ambassador CdeBaca’s 

office and the American Bar Association, a rule-of-law initiative, a 

program to work with ASEAN to help improve their anti-trafficking 

units. 

So, there is potential there, and they are beginning to move down 

the path. But, they have a ways to go to catch up to OSCE. 

Senator CARDIN. I thank you. 

Senator Rubio? 

Let me thank both of you, again, for your commitment on this 

issue and for your frankness with this committee. And we very 

much look forward to working in partnership with you to make 

progress to end trafficking, our modern-day slavery. 

Thank you. 

We will now move to our second panel. We have Ms. Neha Misra, 

senior specialist for migration and human trafficking at the Solidarity Center, AFL–CIO, an international workers’ rights NGO 

based in Washington, DC. Previously, Ms. Misra was the deputy 

county director and program manager for the Solidarity Center, 

Counter-Trafficking in Persons Project in Indonesia and served as 

the director of the Solidarity Center Democracy Project in Indonesia. 

We have, also, Mr. Jesse Eaves, senior policy advisor for child 

protection at World Vision. He has worked at the World Vision, focuses on issues of child protection, including child soldiers, exploitation, child labor, child trafficking, and child sexual exploitation. 

It is good to have both of you with us today. You have heard our 

comments during the first panel, so I think you know our concerns. 

As I have indicated before, your full statements will be made 

part of the record. You may proceed as you wish. 

And we will start with Ms. Misra. 

STATEMENT OF NEHA MISRA, SENIOR SPECIALIST, MIGRATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING, SOLIDARITY CENTER, 

WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. MISRA. Thank you very much, Senator Cardin. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

23 

I just, first, wanted to start by not just saying thank you for 

inviting us to testify today, but also thank you specifically to the 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then directly, Senator 

Rubio and yourself, Senator Cardin, for the leadership that you 

have shown on addressing issues of human trafficking. And, as you 

mentioned, not just issues of trafficking for sexual exploitation, but 

also labor trafficking. The committee and both of your leadership 

on this issue is very much appreciated. 

Working to promote and protect worker rights globally with programs in more than 60 countries and through 26 field offices, the 

Solidarity Center’s anti-trafficking programs scan the globe. And, 

while each country we work in has its own set of unique circumstances and problems, we have found a common link between systematic worker rights violations and human trafficking. This is 

particularly acute in the three countries on which I will focus my 

testimony today: Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. 

We commend the State Department for downgrading Thailand 

and Malaysia to Tier 3 in this year’s TIP Report, and ranking Cambodia on the Tier 2 Watch List. These rankings reflect the reality 

that Solidarity Center and our partners on the ground in these 

countries deal with every day—specifically, the lack of progress by 

these governments in the identification and protection of victims, 

particularly migrant workers; prosecution of perpetrators, especially labor recruiters and employers; and prevention and deterrence of labor trafficking. We believe the tier rankings should be 

just the first step. The U.S. Government and U.S. companies conducting business in these countries have additional tools at their 

disposal to push Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia to implement 

concrete and effective initiatives to combat human trafficking for 

forced labor, debt bondage, and other forms of labor exploitation. 

There are three main factors involved in labor trafficking in 

Thailand, Malaysia, and in Cambodia that I would like to highlight. 

First, a common element of the trafficking problem in these three 

countries is the particular vulnerability of migrant workers to 

forced labor and the lack of political will in the governments to do 

much about it. The potential profits to be made from the labor 

migration business in the region by government officials, employers, employment agencies, and labor recruiters seem to trump initiatives to combat migrant workers’ vulnerability. In all three countries, unsafe migration processes and the lack of labor law and 

other legal protections for migrant workers make them an easy target for traffickers. 

In 2008, my organization, the Solidarity Center, released a report 

entitled ‘‘The True Cost of Shrimp: How the Shrimp Industry 

Workers in Bangladesh and Thailand Pay the Price for Affordable 

Shrimp.’’ Thailand is one of the main exporters of shrimp to the 

United States. The report highlighted how companies in Thailand 

systematically use the lack of labor rights and weak labor law enforcement to exploit, traffic, and put Burmese migrant workers into 

forced labor and debt bondage. Six years later, little progress has 

been made. Despite the overwhelming evidence of a high vulnerability of migrant workers in Thailand to trafficking, the Thai 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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Government has actually implemented measures that increase 

migrant worker vulnerability to labor trafficking. 

The recent military coup in Thailand also raises concerns. While 

it is too early to tell how the current military government will 

respond to the human trafficking crisis, there have been reports of 

a crackdown on undocumented migrant workers, with thousands of 

Cambodian workers fleeing over the border from Thailand to 

Cambodia. 

Migrant workers in Malaysia face a similar situation. With 

migrant workers comprising nearly 30 percent of the workforce, 

Malaysia is one of the largest destination countries for migrant 

workers in Asia. At the same time, migrant workers in Malaysia 

routinely have their rights violated, with little recourse under 

Malaysian law and policies. Similar to the Thai Government, the 

Malaysian Government has actually implemented policies to increase migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking. 

Cambodia is primarily an origin country for migrant workers, as 

the Cambodian Government promotes labor migration as a way to 

increase revenue and address high unemployment. Yet, the government fails to monitor the recruitment process or protect its workers 

overseas. Cambodian officials have been tied to actual trafficking 

of victims over the Thai border. 

The second factor among the three countries is the lack of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for forced labor, which is 

linked to corruption, complacency, and complicity of government officials. There have been ridiculously few prosecutions for forced 

labor in these countries. And even when prosecutions are brought, 

they usually result in small fines and jail time, and perpetrators 

are often let out on bail. 

The third factor that I would like to talk about is the lack of economic pressure by governments and businesses to eliminate forced 

labor and other forms of labor trafficking in supply chains. Clearly, 

Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia are important bilateral partners for the United States. Thailand is one of the largest exporters 

of seafood to the United States, and ready-made garments come 

into the United States from Malaysia and Cambodia. Given the significant problem of trafficking of migrant workers along these supply chains, it is likely that products made with forced labor are 

ending up on retail shelves in the United States. 

Given I am running out of time, I just very quickly wanted to 

mention a few recommendations that I hope you will ask me about 

in the question-and-answer period. 

Senator Cardin, you have already mentioned my first and primary one, and that is using trade agreements as a way to prevent 

trafficking in the region. The TPP is a prime example of this, and, 

as you mentioned, we believe strongly that labor standards in the 

TPP and other trade agreements should include the same enforcement and dispute resolution mechanisms as other provisions, like 

international property rights. 

We also feel strongly that Congress should encourage the U.S. 

Trade Representative to suspend GSP and other trade preferences 

for any country that does not effectively address forced labor. The 

AFL–CIO recently filed a GSP petition against Thailand, asking 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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the USTR to suspend Thailand’s GSP status based on issues of 

forced labor and exploitation of migrant workers in the country. 

I also—just two more quick ones—one is, we need to regulate 

labor recruiters around the world. The U.S. Congress can take a 

lead in this by passing legislation to regulate foreign labor recruiters who bring migrant workers into the United States. 

Again, I would like to thank both Senator Cardin and Senator 

Rubio on helping to pass, last year, Subtitle F as part of S. 744, 

which regulates labor recruiters and has great provisions on the 

elimination of fees. We hope that this bill can get passed in the 

House and become law and serve as a model for countries such as 

Thailand and Malaysia. 

I will just end by saying a few other things that we need to do 

is look at the Tariff Act of 1930 and the consumptive demand exception. When you talked about consumers, Senator Cardin, and 

the role that they can play, there are absolutely products being 

made with forced labor that are in our grocery stores, in our retail 

stores. And Thai shrimp may be one of these. A way that we can 

help consumers figure out what to do is to enforce the Tariff Act 

and stop these products from being exported into the United 

States. But, without getting rid of the consumptive demand exception, we will be unable to do that. 

We also need to put more pressure on companies to map their 

supply chains and multinational corporations as buyers who have 

the economic pressure that they can put on the suppliers in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia, to exert that pressure. And we feel one way to do that is through the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014. 

Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Misra follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF NEHA MISRA

Mr. Chairman, Senator Rubio, and other distinguished members of the Senate 

Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, thank you for 

the opportunity to present the Solidarity Center’s perspective on the scope of human 

trafficking in East Asia and the Pacific. We appreciate the committee’s attention to 

this horrific human rights abuse and particularly its emphasis on the labor issues 

related to trafficking in the region. I ask that my full written statement be put into 

the record, and I will summarize my main points now. 

My name is Neha Misra. I am the Senior Specialist for Migration and Human 

Trafficking at the Solidarity Center. We are an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) that promotes and protects worker rights globally, working in more 

than 60 countries through 26 field offices. The Solidarity Center is an allied organization of the AFL–CIO, and a member of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Building upon more than 20 years of experience in the areas of 

child labor, migrant worker exploitation, and supply chain accountability, the Solidarity Center raises awareness about the prevalence and underlying causes of 

forced labor and other forms of trafficking for labor exploitation, and implements 

programs with partners from myriad sectors to combat the problem. These programs 

include initiatives that address each of the four ‘‘Ps’’ that have become part of the 

anti-trafficking paradigm: prevention, protection of victims, prosecution (or as we 

prefer to describe it, ‘‘rule of law’’), and partnerships. The Solidarity Center has the 

unique ability to work across borders, in both countries of origin and destination for 

trafficked workers, as we have long-term on the ground relationships with local 

partners. We have implemented antihuman trafficking programs in countries such 

as China (Hong Kong), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, 

Sri Lanka, Thailand, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Moldova, and the 

Dominican Republic. 

The Solidarity Center’s anti-trafficking programs span the globe. And while each 

country we work in has its own set of unique circumstances and problems, we have 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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found common themes. Human trafficking and forced labor have, at their core, violations of worker rights and lack of labor standards and protections for workers. 

Whether its low-wage workers in sectors such as domestic work or construction, 

migrant workers 1 toiling on palm oil plantations, or other marginalized groups such 

as poor women workers or child laborers, human trafficking is a worker rights issue 

because it is linked to various forms of labor exploitation. It is one of the worst 

forms of worker abuse. This link between worker rights violations and human trafficking is particularly acute in the three countries on which I will focus my testimony today: Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. 

Although U.S. and international definitions of human trafficking clearly include 

forced labor, many policymakers and much of the general public around the world 

associate trafficking only with forced prostitution or commercial sexual exploitation. 

We continue to struggle to get governments to respond adequately to the problem 

of labor trafficking. Victims of trafficking for labor exploitation frequently go unidentified. Immigration officials regularly categorize migrant workers who are trafficking 

victims as undocumented workers and deport them. Police and labor inspectors 

often view involuntary servitude or debt bondage in sectors such as agriculture, construction, manual labor, and manufacturing as worker rights abuses that do not require their intervention. And governments have prosecuted shockingly few cases of 

forced labor globally. Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia are prime examples of this. 

We commend the U.S. Department of State for downgrading Thailand and Malaysia to Tier 3 in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, and ranking Cambodia on 

the Tier 2 Watch List. After 4 years on the Tier 2 Watch List, U.S. law required 

that Thailand and Malaysia be either upgraded or downgraded. The Solidarity Center and ATEST are ardent supporters of the U.S. Department of State’s Office to 

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) because we have witnessed the 

crucial global leadership role that J/TIP plays in promoting the eradication of trafficking and forced labor. We are also strong supporters of the annual TIP Report, 

which in recent years has documented an exponential increase in trafficking for 

forced labor, debt bondage and other severe forms of labor exploitation. 

Over the years, however, there have been specific country cases where political 

considerations rather than trafficking eradication were brought into play in the tier 

rankings. This undermines the credibility of the TIP Report. The State Department 

2012 Inspector General’s Inspection of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking 

in Persons found: ‘‘. . . there is an inherent difference in perspective between J/TIP 

and the regional bureaus, which stems from J/TIP’s mandated responsibility to 

implement the TVPA [Trafficking Victims Protection Act] and the regional bureaus’ 

responsibilities for overall bilateral relations.’’ 2 We are pleased to see, however, that 

the narratives and tier rankings for Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia in the 2014 

TIP Report reflect the reality that the Solidarity Center and our partners on the 

ground deal with every day—specifically, the lack of progress by the governments 

of these countries in the identification and protection of victims, prosecution of perpetrators (especially labor recruiters and employers), and prevention and deterrence 

of labor trafficking.3

As I will discuss below, we believe the tier rankings should be just the first step. 

The United States Government and U.S. companies conducting business in these 

countries have additional tools at their disposal to push Thailand, Malaysia and 

Cambodia to implement concrete and effective initiatives to combat human trafficking for forced labor, debt bondage, and other forms of labor exploitation. It is 

past time to use these tools, as millions of workers continue to face vulnerability 

to human trafficking in the region. 

Trafficking for labor exploitation is pervasive in all three countries. There are 

three main factors involved in labor trafficking in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia I would like to highlight: 

1. The high vulnerability of migrant workers to human trafficking, and the lack 

of political will among the governments to take serious measures to combat it. 

2. Lack of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for forced labor (linked to 

corruption, complacency and even complicity of government officials in labor trafficking). 

3. The lack of economic pressure by governments and businesses to eliminate 

forced labor (and other forms of labor trafficking) in the supply chains of products 

exported to the United States and other global destinations. 

THE HIGH VULNERABILITY OF MIGRANT WORKERS TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING

A common element of the trafficking problem in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia is the particular vulnerability of migrant workers to forced labor, debt bondage, and involuntary servitude, and the lack of political will in the governments to 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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do much about it. The potential profits to be made from the global labor migration 

business—by government officials, employers, employments agencies and labor 

recruiters—seem to trump initiatives to combat migrant workers vulnerability. 

Unsafe migration processes and the lack of labor law and other legal protections 

for migrant workers make them an easy target for traffickers. Migrant workers are 

often explicitly excluded from the protection of labor and other laws—either because 

of their immigration status or because of the sector they work in (such as domestic 

work). Traffickers—in the form of labor recruiters and employers—take advantage 

of this exclusion and of the failure to enforce and monitor laws when they do exist, 

increasing the vulnerability of migrant workers to human trafficking. 

Moreover, employers, businesses, and multinational corporations increasingly rely 

on foreign labor recruiters or brokers to facilitate the movement of workers from one 

country to another (and even manage workers in the workplace after arrival). 

Recruiters are often complicit with or directly involved in trafficking of workers. 

They regularly charge exorbitant fees for their services, forcing workers into debt 

bondage, falsifying documents, and deceiving workers about their terms and conditions of work, increasing their vulnerability to human trafficking. Labor recruiters 

play a major role in the trafficking of migrant workers throughout Asia. 

Thailand 

The majority of human trafficking victims in Thailand are migrant workers. 

There are an estimated 3 to 4 million migrant workers in Thailand comprising 

about 10 percent of the country’s workforce. Most come from neighboring countries, 

with the majority from Burma. Many, if not most, of these migrant workers are undocumented. Migrant workers in Thailand (men, women, and children) toil in almost 

all sectors of the economy, but especially commercial fishing, fishing-related industries like seafood processing, low-end garment production, factories/manufacturing, 

and domestic work. They perform dangerous, difficult, and dirty jobs—and there is 

high demand for their cheap labor among Thai employers. 

In 2008, the Solidarity Center released a report as part of its Degradation of Work 

series entitled, ‘‘The True Cost of Shrimp: How Shrimp Industry Workers in Bangladesh and Thailand Pay the Price for Affordable Shrimp.’’ Thailand is one of the 

main exporters of shrimp to the United States. The report highlighted how companies in Thailand systematically use the lack of labor rights and weak labor law 

enforcement to exploit the mostly Burmese shrimp processing workers. The report 

uncovered major human rights abuses in the industry: unpaid wages, unsafe and 

unhealthy workplaces, child labor, forced labor, physical intimidation, violence and 

sexual abuse of Burmese migrant workers. Six years later, little progress has been 

made to clean up the industry. Reports continue to surface about human trafficking 

of migrant workers in the seafood processing sector in Thailand.4 The Thai fishing 

industry has also received harsh criticism for the trafficking of migrant worker men, 

not only Burmese, but increasingly Cambodians and Rohingya refugees, onto fishing 

boats.5 This was a major factor in the downgrading of Thailand in the 2014 TIP 

Report.6 Just this year, the Guardian newspaper conducted a 6-month long investigation and found that a large number of migrant workers are bought and sold like 

slaves and held against their will on Thai fishing boats. The Guardian found that 

such forced labor plays an integral part in the production of shrimp sold in leading 

supermarkets around the world, including in the U.S. in stores such as Walmart, 

Costco, Carrefour, and Tesco.7

Despite the overwhelming evidence of a high vulnerability of migrant workers in 

Thailand to trafficking for forced labor and debt bondage, the Thai Government has 

done very little to address the problem, and in fact has implemented measures that 

may actually increase migrant workers vulnerability to labor trafficking. 

It is an established norm in the anti-trafficking field that providing documentation and legal status to migrant workers reduces their vulnerability to human trafficking. The Thai Government, however, makes it difficult for migrant workers, and 

especially Burmese, to register and work legally in Thailand. As noted in a recent 

letter to Secretary of State Kerry from a global coalition of unions and human rights 

NGOs: 

A complicated, expensive registration process that requires nationality 

verification and lack of a refugee law leaves stateless people (mostly 

Rohingya from Burma), migrant workers, and refugees at the mercy of 

labor recruiters to arrange for the documents they need to live in Thailand 

legally. Even through the official state process, brokers are not licensed or 

regulated, workers are responsible for paying the majority of the registration costs, and there is no state mechanism through which to apply for asylum outside the camps on the Thai-Burma border. Thus, many workers find 

themselves in some form of debt bondage to brokers. . . . [R]egistration has 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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expired for more than 250,000 workers who often paid several times more 

than the official rate to register under the National Verification System 4 

years ago. As their documents expire, and official directives of how they 

must renew them remain in flux, more and more migrant workers are going 

to find themselves in the country illegally and more vulnerable to trafficking.8

Migrant workers, ethnic minorities, and stateless persons in Thailand are the 

most vulnerable to human trafficking because they lack legal status. Lack of legal 

status, identity papers, and travel documents are major indicators for forced labor. 

Moreover, the Thai Government continues to make it difficult for migrant workers 

to obtain permits to work legally in the country. Only employers can apply for work 

permits and the permit binds the worker to that employer. Work permits also are 

tied to registration documents, so even legally registered workers can be immediately deported for leaving an abusive employer. Workers often face physical abuse 

and other forms of retaliation if employers find out they complained to the authorities to seek better treatment or to transfer to another employer.9

Through our programs in vulnerable work sectors around the world, the Solidarity 

Center has seen firsthand how a democratically elected and independent union in 

a workplace can help prevent trafficking. And yet, the Thai Government has failed 

to amend its 1975 Labor Relations Act, which prohibits migrant workers from organizing labor unions, serving as leaders of a union, or participating in collective 

bargaining. 

The recent military coup in Thailand also raises concerns. While it may be too 

early to tell how the current military government will respond to the human trafficking crisis, there have been reports of a crackdown on undocumented migrant 

workers, with hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers fleeing over the border 

from Thailand back to Cambodia in early June 2014. We have seen in other countries where there is a forced mass exodus of migrant workers that workers face an 

increased vulnerability to exploitation as they cross the border back into their home 

country with few resources. (See example from Malaysia below). In recent days, the 

Thai and Cambodian Governments announced new measures to streamline the process for Cambodian migrant workers to return to Thailand to work legally, promising 

to lower fees to workers and shifting some recruitment costs to agencies.10 While 

this sounds promising, whether it will actually help to reduce migrant workers vulnerability to forced labor and debt bondage remains to be seen. 

Just last month, Thailand was the only government to vote against adoption of 

a new International Labor Organization (ILO) treaty on forced labor. I was a delegate on behalf of the AFL–CIO to the ILO Conference, which approved a key supplement to the 1930 Forced Labor Convention. The 2014 Forced Labor Protocol and 

Recommendation contain key provisions to help address the vulnerability of migrant 

workers to trafficking, such as the elimination of recruitment fees. Given Thailand’s 

poor record on protecting migrant workers from human trafficking, its ‘‘no’’ vote was 

particularly troubling. Following the vote, after pressure from Thai labor unions and 

others, the Thai Government has indicated it will adopt the protocol. The United 

States and other governments should continue to exert pressure to ensure that the 

Thai Government ratifies the instrument. 

Malaysia 

Migrant workers in Malaysia face a similar situation as migrant workers in Thailand. Malaysia is one of the largest destination countries for migrant workers in 

Asia. There are approximately 2 million documented and 2 million undocumented 

migrant workers, including Indonesians, Nepalese, Filipinos, Indians, Bangladeshis, 

Sri Lankans, and increasingly Vietnamese, Cambodians, Burmese, and Laotians. 

These migrants comprise nearly 30 percent of the Malaysian workforce. While the 

Malaysian economy thrives on cheap migrant labor, foreign workers in sectors such 

as agriculture, construction, service, manufacturing, and domestic work often have 

their rights violated with little recourse under Malaysian laws, policies, and 

practices. 

Despite the constant demand for cheap migrant labor, as well as an invariable 

influx of migrants, Malaysia does not have concrete policies and laws to protect 

migrant workers. The few existing policies protecting migrants are not enforced, or 

are enforced inconsistently, and tend to be short-term, temporary fixes. Malaysia 

has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with several countries mentioned 

above, yet these agreements are often weak and difficult to enforce. 

Migrant workers in Malaysia consistently face serious violations of internationally 

recognized labor and human rights. These violations include confiscation of passports, restrictions on movement, and deceit and fraud in wages (including nonpayment), forced labor, involuntary servitude, debt bondage and other forms of trafFOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

29 

ficking in persons. Physical and mental abuse, including sexual violence, is also a 

common phenomenon. 

Debt bondage is a major problem for migrant workers in Malaysia. Employers 

increasingly rely on labor recruiters or employment agencies to recruit foreign workers. These recruiters/agencies charge high fees to migrant workers, often forcing 

workers to mortgage homes/land or to take out loans at exorbitant interest rates. 

Workers may end up in conditions of bondage, as they are unable to leave abusive 

employers because of the debt. The Malaysian Government and the origin governments have failed to adequately address this problem. Moreover, Malaysian employers shift additional costs to workers that are the employer’s responsibility, and use 

other economic coercion tactics to deny migrant workers their rights. The U.S. 

Department of State explains this well: 

Many Malaysian recruitment companies, known as ‘‘outsourcing companies,’’ recruit workers from foreign countries. Contractor-based labor 

arrangements of this type—in which the worker may technically be employed by the recruiting company—create vulnerabilities for workers whose 

day-to-day employers generally are without legal responsibility for exploitative practices. In some cases, foreign workers’ vulnerability to exploitation 

is heightened when employers neglect to obtain proper documentation for 

workers or employ workers in sectors other than that for which they were 

granted an employment visa. In addition, a complex system of recruitment 

and contracting fees, often deducted from workers’ wages, makes workers 

vulnerable to debt bondage. . . . 11

Rule of law for migrant workers in Malaysia is weak. Labor laws exempt migrant 

workers, or are weakly enforced. Many laws do not comply with international labor 

standards. For example, Malaysia excludes certain categories of workers, like 

domestic workers, from the protection of its 1955 Employment Act. There is little 

support for trafficked workers to access justice. Migrant workers are often put in 

detention centers or deported even if they are victims of worker rights violations, 

including forced labor. 

Although it is lawful for migrant workers to join unions in Malaysia, they are prohibited from holding leadership positions, and may be banned from joining a union 

if they are contract employees, which most migrant workers are. Moreover, many 

employment contracts for foreign workers contain provisions banning workers from 

joining labor unions. Origin governments, such as Vietnam, also prohibit workers 

from joining unions in Malaysia. Further, employers routinely fire and blacklist migrant workers for trying to form unions with impunity. Such restrictions on freedom 

of association further prevent migrant workers from accessing justice for worker 

rights violations because they cannot access grievance procedures, or use collective 

bargaining to gain rights in the workplace. 

Union leaders and migrant workers activists in Asia have criticized the 2007 

Malaysian Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (ATIP) for merging smuggling and trafficking offenses, ‘‘making trafficking victims more likely to be treated as undocumented migrants subject to immediate deportation, undermining government efforts 

to counter trafficking.’’ 12

Similar to the Thai Government, the Malaysian Government has actually implemented policies recently that are increasing migrant workers vulnerability to forced 

labor rather than decreasing it. For example, a Malaysian Government policy implemented in January 2013 places the burden of paying immigration and employment 

authorization fees on foreign workers, rather than on employers, increasing the risk 

of debt bondage. Moreover, the Malaysian Government periodically implements 

crackdowns on undocumented migrants, most recently in January 2014, where they 

conducted massive operations to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of migrant workers. However, the Malaysian Government does not have adequate screening procedures to ensure that trafficking victims are not also detained and deported. 

In addition, the deportations often involve leaving migrant workers literally just 

over the border in Indonesia without any resources or support. Indonesian NGOs 

report that these migrant workers are then vulnerable to traffickers who promise 

them new jobs or assistance in getting home. 

Finally, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), which is active on the promotion of migrant worker rights and the eradication of labor trafficking, notes that 

the Malaysian Government has been blocking the completion of the ASEAN Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, which migrant 

worker rights activists have been pushing for since 2007. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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Cambodia 

Unlike Thailand and Malaysia, Cambodia is primarily an origin country for migrant workers traveling mostly within the ASEAN region (often to Thailand and 

Malaysia). Cambodian men, women, and children have been subjected to forced 

labor, domestic servitude, and debt bondage, in sectors such as fishing, agriculture, 

manufacturing, and domestic work. 

Similar to the situation of its neighbors, recruitment agencies play a major role 

in the trafficking of Cambodian workers. Agencies, along with corrupt local government officials, falsify legal identification documents to facilitate the illegal migration 

of children. Labor recruiters also charge exorbitant fees to migrant workers. A Solidarity Center Cambodian partner NGO cited fees as high as $600, which may be 

1 year’s salary for a low-wage migrant worker. Such fees often push Cambodian migrant workers into debt bondage. Corrupt Cambodian officials have also been implicated in cooperating with labor recruiters to facilitate the transport of victims across 

the border into Thailand.13

The Cambodian Government’s response to labor recruiter violations has been 

weak, and rife with corruption. For example, a local Cambodian newspaper 

reported: 

[T]he appointment of General Sok Phal to head the Interior Ministry’s 

newly formed department to monitor migrant workers has raised concerns 

over his close familial connection to a labor recruitment industry fraught 

with human rights abuses. Gen. Phal’s sister, Ung Seang Rithy, is the 

owner of one of the biggest labor recruitment agencies sending Cambodian 

workers overseas . . . the Ung Rithy Group, which has been named by 

rights groups as a serial abuser of Cambodian migrant workers. Ms. Seang 

Rithy is also president of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies . . . ‘‘When I heard this news, I was concerned about the close relationships between high-ranking people in the government and in recruitment 

agencies,’’ said Moeun Tola, head of the labor program at the Community 

Legal Education Center. ‘‘Since the Labor Ministry failed to properly manage and monitor [migrant workers], labor recruitment basically became 

human trafficking,’’ Mr. Tola said. ‘‘The Ministry of Interior will now take 

on much more of the work, meaning Sok Phal will have even more influence 

than before.’’ . . . 14

In response to harsh media reports of Cambodian women and girls being trafficked into domestic servitude in Malaysia,15 the Cambodian Government instituted 

a ban on the migration of women to Malaysia for domestic work. The Cambodian 

Government, however, lacks the infrastructure, capacity, and resources to manage 

labor migration and there are reports that Cambodian women and girls continue to 

migrate to Malaysia through even more insecure channels and methods, increasing 

their vulnerability to trafficking. The Cambodian Ministry of Labor is currently 

finalizing a draft MOU with its Malaysian counterpart to facilitate the migration 

of domestic workers once again from Cambodia to Malaysia. Without effective enforcement measures, however, activists are skeptical that the MOU will protect 

Cambodian domestic workers. Cambodian men have also been a large percentage of 

the victims of forced labor described above on Thai fishing boats. 

The Cambodian Government promotes labor migration as a way to increase 

national revenue (through remittances) and address high unemployment in the 

country. Yet the government fails to monitor the recruitment process, enforce labor 

recruiter regulations, and support Cambodian workers in destination countries. The 

government has not created the structures or infrastructure to support Cambodian 

workers abroad. It negotiates weak agreements with destination countries (the 

MOU with Malaysia in relation to domestic workers is a prime example). Cambodian Embassies abroad are ill-equipped to deal with the large numbers of 

exploited and trafficked Cambodian workers. There is very little accountability for 

corruption. 

ASEAN 

The planned ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), currently being developed by 

the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, will include 

initiatives related to labor mobility in the region. The proposed labor mobility 

negates the whole concept of ‘‘migrant workers’’ at least for citizens of member 

states, though high-skilled workers will have easier mobility than low-wage workers. The ASEAN labor mobility initiatives, however, are being developed without 

any accompanying safeguards or labor rights standards to ensure that migrant 

workers will be protected. Migrant worker rights activists in the region have serious 

concerns that without the proper infrastructure in place, including strong regulaFOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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tions, migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labor and human trafficking will 

likely increase. Cambodian labor rights activists are particularly concerned for Cambodian workers, who will be a large percentage of the low-wage workers leaving 

their homes to travel to other ASEAN countries (like Malaysia and Thailand) to 

work in the most dangerous jobs, and in jobs the most rife for exploitation. 

Lack of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for forced labor (linked to corruption, complacency and even complicity of government officials in labor trafficking) 

Systematic abuse of migrant workers, rising to the level of forced labor and 

human trafficking, goes virtually unpunished throughout Asia. The 2014 TIP Report 

country narratives for Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia provide examples of these 

governments’ reluctance to hold employers accountable for trafficking in their workplaces. Even in the rare cases when labor trafficking is identified and charges 

brought, the labor recruiter is blamed and not the employer who also perpetrates 

the exploitation. This lack of political will translates into pathetically few cases of 

human trafficking for forced labor or other forms of severe labor exploitation being 

prosecuted in the region. When cases are prosecuted, they often result in small fines 

and no jail time for the perpetrators—barely a deterrent for exploitative employers. 

Or cases get put on hold for years while perpetrators are out on bail. 

While public awareness campaigns and education for at-risk groups are important 

tools for prevention, one of the key ways to prevent forced labor is to create an enabling environment through the rule of law that promotes transparency and accountability. Increasing prosecutions and convictions, and imposing harsh penalties 

(including long jail time and economic restitution) may be an even more effective 

prevention tool. 

As mentioned above, corrupt officials in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia are 

part of the problem. For example, Thai Government officials have been implicated 

in the trafficking of Rohingya refugees on Thai fishing boats. Cambodian officials 

have been tied directly to working with labor recruiters to traffic workers over the 

border to Thailand, and Malaysian immigration officials have been linked to facilitating the transportation of trafficking victims. Human Rights Watch has reported 

that abuses of Cambodian migrant domestic workers by employers and recruiters 

‘‘went unchecked due to connections between recruitment agencies and highly 

placed officials.’’ 16

Moreover, whistleblowers, in the form of trade union or NGO activists, journalists, 

and migrant workers, have been retaliated against by all three governments for 

raising issues of forced labor and corruption linked to human trafficking. For example, late last year, Thai authorities charged two journalists with defamation for 

writing and publishing a report alleging that members of the Thai navy were involved in trafficking captured migrants from Burma. This not only raises concerns 

about the freedom of the press, but also concerns of how the Thai military will 

respond to trafficking abuses now that it is in charge of the government. 

The Solidarity Center sees the low levels of forced labor prosecutions, lack of political will and impunity as evidence of these governments’ absolute disregard of forced 

labor as a serious issue. Labor migration is seen as a profitmaking mechanism, for 

employers, owners of recruitment agencies, and government officials, and human 

trafficking as just an unfortunate consequence. 

The lack of economic pressure by governments and businesses to eliminate forced 

labor and other forms of labor trafficking in the supply chains of products exported to the United States and other global destinations 

Clearly, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia are important bilateral partners for 

the United States. They are also important trade partners. Malaysia is part of the 

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with the United States and 10 other 

countries. The U.S. and Cambodia negotiated the Trade and Investment Framework 

Agreement (TIFA) in 2006, which ‘‘facilitates and promotes greater trade and investment of the two countries and provides a forum to address bilateral trade and 

investment issues.’’ 17 Thailand is one of the largest exporters of seafood to the 

United States. The AFL–CIO has filed a petition to suspend Generalized System of 

Preferences (GSP) status for Thailand with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). 

The AFL–CIO has called for a suspension of GSP as a way to incentivize the Thai 

Government to effectively address forced labor and human trafficking, and other 

labor rights abuses of migrant and Thai workers. The U.S. is a major market for 

Malaysian and Cambodian ready-made garments. Given the significant problem of 

trafficking of migrant workers along the supply chains in these and other export 

sectors, it is likely the U.S. Government is allowing imports of products made with 

forced labor into the United States. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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When the Solidarity Center issued its True Cost of Shrimp report in 2008, we 

were immediately attacked by Thai shrimp producers and industry associations, 

who all claimed that they had good labor practices and clean supply chains. The 

companies also made promises to be transparent and institute measures to ensure 

that there was no forced labor in fishing and seafood production in Thailand. Yet 

every year since, the media, unions, and NGOs have provided strong evidence of 

forced labor in the industry. When the State Department ranked Thailand on Tier 

3 last month, the Thai fishing industry again claimed the allegations were outrageous.18 The industry representatives can make these false claims because they 

know that they likely will not be held accountable by the Thai Government or anyone else. 

U.S. multinationals may be complicit in this. As mentioned earlier, Thailand is 

one of the largest importers of shrimp to the U.S.; resulting in Thai shrimp ending 

up in the freezers of major retailers here. As buyers of Thai processed seafood, these 

U.S. companies have not done enough to prove to consumers that their supply 

chains are not tainted with forced labor. 

Again, public awareness campaigns and education for at-risk groups are important tools for prevention; but in and of themselves they will not eradicate trafficking 

for forced labor. Together with increased prosecutions and convictions, one of the 

most effective prevention tools that governments and businesses have is economic 

pressure. Governments should impose trade restrictions or penalties on products 

made with forced labor, and multinational corporations should exert their significant power as buyers to hold suppliers accountable to supply chains free of forced 

labor. 

In general, it is difficult to quantify the exact number of forced labor victims in 

global supply chains but, as those supply chains reach down to smaller and smaller 

suppliers, the chances increase that the labor force includes trafficked people. 

• When employers (buyers and multinational corporations) demand cheap or 

unrealistic pricing structures, severe labor abuses, including forced labor, often 

will result in their supply chains. 

• Similarly, when employers contract out or hire unregulated subcontracted suppliers, they should not be surprised to find that they have trafficking victims 

in their production lines. 

• When employers refuse to enforce or claim that it is too difficult to monitor 

adherence to core labor standards in their supply chains, the probability that 

they will find forced labor, debt bondage, and other severe forms of labor exploitation increases. 

The pricing structure as a cause of human trafficking cannot be overemphasized, 

as this is an underlying factor that employers, business, corporations and consumers 

can all address. As described in the Solidarity Center’s report, ‘‘The True Cost of 

Shrimp’’: 

As a commodity, the price of shrimp fluctuates according to supply and 

demand, and price pressure is significant all along the supply chain. Retailers, sensitive to the risk involved with importing fresh food, press import 

companies for faster distribution, acceptable quality, and the lowest prices. 

Importers, aware that market fluctuations can affect prices, leverage their 

bulk purchasing power to demand speedy delivery from producers. Trapped 

between producers and importers are labor-intensive shrimp factories. 

Often, the factories’ response to price pressure is to squeeze wages, neglect 

workplace health and safety regulations, and cut other corners that leave 

shrimp workers bearing the social cost of affordable shrimp.19

And yet, Thai shrimp continues to be found in major U.S. retail markets. Similar 

concerns may be raised on the potential of forced labor in the supply chains of products exported from Malaysia and Cambodia. 

The U.S. Government must do more to ensure that U.S. corporations are held 

accountable for their practices abroad. And we must increase government scrutiny 

of imports and exports to ensure goods made by forced labor are not allowed in the 

U.S. marketplace. The 1930 Tariff Act prohibits the importation of goods into the 

U.S. made with forced or child labor. This law however is rarely enforced as the 

‘‘consumptive demand exception’’ weakens it. As required by the 2005 TVPRA, the 

U.S. Department of Labor ‘‘maintains a list of goods and their source countries 

which it has reason to believe are produced by child labor or forced labor in violation 

of international standards.’’ 20 Even though many of the goods on the list are produced for export by the identified countries, the list has not been used to enforce 

the Tariff Act. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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After the publication of the Solidarity Center’s ‘‘True Cost of Shrimp’’ report, Senator Harkin asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate. U.S. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigators admitted to the Solidarity Center that they knew that their investigation would not find forced labor 

in the Thai seafood sector because the investigation process is flawed. Currently, 

ICE must notify foreign governments of their intent to inspect workplaces that 

export products to the United States. Such notification results in the ‘‘cleansing’’ of 

these workplaces to remove any signs of trafficking or forced labor. Moreover, U.S. 

law does not allow evidence collected by unions, the media or nongovernmental 

sources to be the basis for restricting the importation of products made by trafficked 

or forced labor. This must be reformed. The DHS must review and rework the role 

of ICE in overseas inspections. 

Multinational corporations’ codes of conduct have failed to curtail trafficking practices in many sectors, including garment/textile, agriculture, and seafood processing. 

There is no easy solution to this problem, but we know that a key deterrent is the 

ability of unions and labor rights organizations to shine a light on these practices 

through on-the-ground investigations. We believe it is important that Congress and 

the administration support such monitoring efforts and the efforts of workers to 

monitor their own workplaces. Ultimately, workers and trade unions must be empowered to monitor supply chains because history shows that abuses in the workplace only end when workers have the power to ensure that their rights in ILO conventions and national laws are respected. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INITIATIVES TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING FOR LABOR

EXPLOITATION IN THE EAST ASIA REGION

‘‘End Worker Exploitation, End Human Trafficking.’’ This simple slogan captures 

one of the most critical solutions to ending human trafficking in Thailand, Malaysia, 

and Cambodia as migrant worker exploitation is a major factor in forced labor in 

the region. 

Key initiatives to combat trafficking for labor exploitation in the region should 

include: 

1. Using trade agreements to prevent forced labor (economic pressure) 

a. Congress, the administration, and other governments should ensure that bilateral and multilateral trade agreements (like the TPP) contain labor standards and 

protections as a preventative measure, ensuring they are applied to all workers, 

including migrants. Labor standards in trade agreements should include the same 

enforcement and dispute resolution mechanisms as other provisions like intellectual 

property rights, and not be relegated to secondary status. 

b. Congress should encourage and support the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to suspend GSP and other trade preferences for any country that does 

not effectively address forced labor. Given the clear evidence of forced labor of 

migrant workers in Thailand, once Congress reauthorizes the GSP program, the 

USTR should give serious consideration to the AFL–CIO’s petition to suspend Thailand’s GSP status. Economic pressure is key to eradicating forced labor. 

Prevention through regulation of labor recruiters 

a. Congress and other governments should strictly regulate labor recruiters and 

employment agencies. Specifically, eliminate worker recruitment fees and shift costs 

back to the employer. Workers should not be required to pay any fees associated 

with recruitment, the migration process, or placement. Employers must be held liable for the abuses of labor recruiters they hire. In addition, workers must have a 

way to ensure that a recruiter is legitimate and licensed. 

b. To that end, the Senate passed Subtitle F: Prevention of Trafficking in Persons 

and Abuses Involving Workers Recruited Abroad and similar provisions in Subtitle 

I as part of S. 744 (Immigration Reform) in 2013 is a significant step forward in 

addressing #15 above. In the House of Representatives, H.R. 3344, introduced last 

year by Chairman Ed Royce, is modeled after Subtitle F, and has bipartisan support 

with over 70 cosponsors. The Senate and the House of Representatives should make 

efforts at the earliest possible time to pass such legislation to end fraud in our nonimmigrant visa programs and prevent trafficking in the labor recruitment system. 

Not only will such a law help to protect migrant workers in the U.S.; but, it will 

also serve as a powerful model for other countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, and 

Cambodia, which need to pass and enforce similar laws and policies. 

c. Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia must specifically adopt measures to de-link 

government officials from recruitment agencies, including measures to address possible conflicts of interest. High level prosecutions of corrupt government officials and 

owners of labor recruitment agencies would also send a powerful message. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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3. Safe Migration 

Congress and the administration (J/TIP, DRL, DOL, DOJ) should emphasize safer 

migration processes for workers. Immigration policies should emphasize ways to 

make workers safer during the migration process, and reflect economic reality. For 

Thailand and Malaysia, this means ending operations that result in mass deportations of undocumented migrant workers, without effective measures in place to identify and support trafficking victims. It also means ensuring that deported workers 

are provided with a safe passage home. Finally, Thailand and Malaysia should 

amend their laws and policies to make it easier for migrant workers to obtain valid 

work permits and residency documents at little or no cost, in streamlined processes. 

4. The rule of law (prosecutions and accountability) 

a. Governments should increase the number of prosecutions and convictions for 

forced labor. For Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia, this means training police and 

prosecutors to better investigate and prosecute forced labor cases; and protecting 

police and other law enforcement officials from retaliation by powerful employers, 

businessowners or high-level government officials for bringing cases forward. 

b. Penalize abusive workplaces. Strengthen enforcement and penalties against 

employers who are found to have trafficked workers or to companies who have 

bought products or raw materials made by forced labor. This means prosecuting 

employers and imposing stiff penalties. Employers must be held accountable for the 

abuses of their subcontractors, including labor recruiters, and for abuses in their 

supply chains. 

5. The rule of law (creating an enabling environment) 

a. Congress, the administration, governments in the region, and multinational 

corporations should ensure freedom of association, the right to organize, join trade 

unions and collectively bargain for all workers, regardless of status or nationality, 

in both origin and destination countries, and as an essential component of ASEAN 

economic integration. 

b. For Thailand and Malaysia, the freedom of association must be assured in practice and not just law. This means strict penalties for employers who fire, blacklist, 

or retaliate against migrant workers who try to organize; and reform of laws that 

prohibit migrant workers from joining or holding leadership positions in unions, and 

from participating in collective bargaining. 

c. Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia should reform their labor and other laws to 

include and protect migrant and domestic workers. All workers—whether national 

or foreign, documented or undocumented—must have equal protection under the 

law, and receive full protection of the laws. In addition, governments and employers 

must recognize and enforce all ILO core labor standards, including the freedom of 

association and right to organize. 

d. Congress and the Departments of State and Labor should promote the ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic 

Workers, and the ILO Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labor Convention, 1930 and 

its accompanying Recommendation. 

e. Congress, the administration, and governments in the region should give equal 

attention not only to passing better laws, but also implementing, monitoring, and 

enforcing those laws. To do so, governments must enhance the role of labor inspectors. Labor inspectors must be engaged in and be an integral part of law enforcement initiatives to combat human trafficking. In particular, labor inspectors must 

be given special training to recognize the signs of human trafficking in a workplace, 

including debt bondage and other forms of economic coercion that result in human 

trafficking, and to identify victims. Governments must also ensure that there are 

sufficient numbers of labor inspectors, and that they have the responsibility to inspect all workplaces—including those with high percentages of migrant workers. 

f. Congress and the Thai, Malaysian and Cambodian Governments must pass 

national whistleblower protection laws regarding trafficked workers. Also, companies should ensure that there are such protections in company policy all along the 

supply chain, and advocate to governments for such protections for workers. 

6. Preventing the importation of goods made with forced labor 

a. DHS should increase scrutiny of imports and exports to ensure goods made by 

trafficked or forced labor are not allowed in the U.S. marketplace. This includes 

reviewing and re-working the role of ICE in overseas inspections. The Senate may 

consider holding a hearing on this issue. 

b. Congress should amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to remove the ‘‘consumptive 

demand exception.’’ The demand loophole ‘‘renders the ban almost useless, since 

courts have ruled that U.S. Customs cannot block any product unless the U.S. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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makes enough of it to meet 100 percent of domestic needs . . . The 1930 provision 

is unsuited to a globalized 21st-century economy that gives importers a wide choice 

of suppliers. As the dominant force in this new era, the U.S. has an obligation to 

set the example.’’ 21 Congress and the administration should also amend U.S. law 

and policy to allow evidence collected by unions or nongovernmental sources to be 

the basis for restricting the importation of products made by forced labor. 

c. As an immediate measure to implement #11 and #12, DHS and Congress 

should review the importation of Thai seafood under the 1930 Tariff Act. 

7. Supply chain accountability 

a. Congress should increase pressure on companies to map their supply chains 

and make such information public. Companies argue that it is too difficult or expensive to completely map their supply chains. If NGOs and the media can do it, however, companies can too. There needs to be a change in business practices. 

b. To that end, Congress should pass supply chain transparency legislation, similar to H.R. 4842, the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014, which was introduced on a bipartisan basis by Representatives 

Maloney and Smith on June 11, 2014. Such legislation would require companies to 

report annually to the SEC and on their Web sites what measures they have taken 

to address forced labor, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within 

their business operations, including supply chains and labor management, in a way 

that is consistent with the obligations of businesses as outlined by the U.N. Guiding 

Principles on Human Rights. While such legislation would purely be a transparency 

measure, we see it as a first step in ensuring forced labor-free supply chains. 

c. As an effective way to monitor supply chains for trafficking and forced labor, 

Congress, the administration, other governments, and businesses should promote 

freedom of association and the right to organize, worker agency and worker representation, over codes of conduct and third party monitoring. The Bangladesh 

Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food 

Program are promising models of how to do this. 

8. U.S. Government Bilateral and Multilateral Support 

a. Congress and the administration should provide support to origin countries 

(like Cambodia, Indonesia and Bangladesh) to negotiate multilateral agreements 

with more powerful destination countries to level the playing field for migrant workers. Because of unequal bargaining power, and the desire of developing origin countries for remittances and employment abroad for their citizens, bilateral agreements 

are often weak, and provide few worker rights protections. Multilateral agreements 

may provide more avenues for labor standards. 

b. Congress should authorize and appropriate sufficient long-term resources to the 

Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) and 

J/TIP, as well as the Department of Labor-International Labor Office (ILAB) to support government efforts in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia, and in other highrisk countries around the world, in their efforts to combat forced labor and other 

forms of trafficking for labor exploitation. All three agencies have an important role 

to play in this effort to provide technical assistance to governments and moral and 

financial support for civil society (including Solidarity Center long-term local partners) in all three countries to enhance monitoring and implementation of anti-trafficking capacity building programs. 

c. Congress should continue to call for the Department of State to strengthen the 

labor reporting function in its Embassies abroad. The Cambodian Government 

should also assign, and properly train, labor attache ́s in Embassies abroad where 

there are large numbers of Cambodian migrant workers. 

9. Victim Protection 

a. Promote better protection measures for victims. For Thailand and Malaysia, 

this means training government officials to recognize and identify victims of forced 

labor and other forms of labor trafficking, and not detain or deport them as undocumented migrants. 

b. Provide compensation to victims, including payment of withheld or back wages. 

Thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify and for your help to combat labor 

trafficking in the East Asia and Pacific region. I welcome your questions. 

———————— 

End Notes 

1The term ‘‘migrant worker’’ is the internationally accepted term for a person who migrates 

for employment, whether temporary, seasonal, or permanent. In the United States, in everyday 

language, ‘‘migrant worker’’ may refer to a seasonal or temporary worker, and ‘‘immigrant worker’’ refers to someone who migrates for work on a more permanent basis, or who has residency 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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rights. I will use the term ‘‘migrant worker’’ in my testimony to refer to all workers who migrate 

for work, regardless of their status or length of stay in the destination country. 2Office of Inspections, Inspection of the Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons, 

Report Number ISP–I–12–37 (June 2012). 3There were a few rankings in the 2014 TIP Report that advocates believe were based on political considerations—India and the Dominican Republic to name two; however, we can save 

that discussion for another hearing. 4See for example: ‘‘Trafficked into Slavery on Thai Trawlers to Catch Food for Prawns,’’ The 

Guardian, June 10, 2014. 5See ‘‘Special Report: ‘‘Thailand Secretly Supplies Myanmar Refugees to Trafficking Rings,’’ 

Reuters, December 4, 2014. 6http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2014/226832.htm. 

7See ‘‘Revealed: Asian Slave Labour Producing Prawns for Supermarkets in U.S., U.K.,’’ The 

Guardian, June 10, 2014. See also ‘‘Thailand’s seafood industry: a case of state-sanctioned slavery?’’ The Guardian, June 10, 2014. 8 ‘‘Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry Regarding Human Trafficking in Thailand,’’ May 

9, 2014. 9 ‘‘Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry Regarding Human Trafficking in Thailand,’’ May 

9, 2014. 10See ‘‘King Grants Pardon to Thai Activist Veera’’, The Cambodia Daily, July 2, 2014. 11http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2014/226770.htm 12 ‘‘More Bold Actions Need to be Done to Address Trafficking in Persons in Malaysia,’’ Statement by Jose ́ Sonny G. Matula, National President, Federation of Free Workers-Philippines, to 

the 2014 International Labor Conference, June 2014. 13See Trafficking in Persons Report 2014. 14 ‘‘Concern over Migration Chief’s Family Connections,’’ The Cambodia Daily, April 24, 2014. 15See, for example, ‘‘Cambodia: Trafficking Domestic Workers to Malaysia,’’ IRIN, March 17, 

2011. 16 ‘‘ ‘They Deceived Us at Every Step.’ Abuse of Cambodian Domestic Workers Migrating to 

Malaysia,’’ Human Rights Watch, 2011. 17http://www.ustr.gov/tpp. 18 ‘‘Fishery Invites Supply Chain Inspection,’’ The Nation, June 25, 2014. 19The True Cost of Shrimp, Solidarity Center, 2008, p. 11. 20http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/. 21 ‘‘U.S. Can Help End Child Labor by Amending 1930 Tariff Act: View,’’ Bloomberg View, 

January 2, 2012. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Eaves. 

STATEMENT OF JESSE EAVES, SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR FOR 

CHILD PROTECTION, WORLD VISION, WASHINGTON, DC 

Mr. EAVES. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for convening 

this incredibly important hearing and for inviting us to testify 

today. 

Both you and Senator Rubio are leaders in the fight against 

forced labor, human trafficking, and modern-day slavery. And, 

thanks to your tireless efforts, America remains a global leader in 

combating these and other crucial issues that endanger and impact 

children around the world. And this hearing really is an important 

opportunity to shine a light on what is happening in East Asia and 

discuss how the United States can strengthen its role as a partner 

in the region. 

World Vision is a Christian relief, development, and advocacy 

organization that focuses on serving millions of children and families around the world, in about 100 countries. Our 45,000 employees are dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to really tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice. 

We have been asked to testify about our experience in preventing 

and responding to forced labor and human trafficking in East Asia. 

And East Asian countries are a vital and increasingly influential 

component to the global economy, yet the region is also home to 

large pockets of the poorest and most vulnerable people on Earth. 

The nature of the global marketplace is producing many opportunities to make money in a few East Asian nations, but it is also creating more ways to exploit a person for their labor. The opportunity 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

37 

is now and the tools are available to make U.S. engagement and 

funding more coordinated, effective, and efficient in tackling this 

vulnerability. So, together with partners in East Asia, we can 

ensure that the region’s growth is built on the strengths of its people and not on their backs, through bondage. 

So, in other countries, including America, you know, forced labor 

and human trafficking take on many forms, as they do in East 

Asia, so we see children exploited as child soldiers, working in 

brickkilns, in the construction industry, the fishing industry, and 

forced to be domestic servants. And, as Neha mentioned, it is 

nearly impossible to address the issue of forced labor and human 

trafficking in the region without talking about migration. 

My written testimony contains the full account of Min Min, a 

Burmese boy who was sold to an Indonesian fishing vessel and 

spent 9 years as a slave at sea. Cases like these have led World 

Vision to spend a great deal of effort educating communities, especially children aged 15 through 17—that is the age where they are 

most likely to go seek a job—we educate them on the dangers of 

risky migration and the proactive steps that they can take to prevent themselves from becoming victims. 

So, for instance, throughout Southeast Asia, we provide this 

booklet, called ‘‘The Smart Navigator Booklet.’’ It is small, easy to 

understand; it covers what human trafficking is like; and it is provided in local languages. It provides a checklist for ensuring safe 

travel, and even includes basic information, like how to make an 

international phone call. So, these simple, yet effective, steps come 

from having seen so many stories like Min Min’s, when migrating 

to earn money goes wrong. 

So, the details of the dangers of unsafe migration and trafficking 

and countless other insights fill the pages of the U.S. State Department’s TIP Report. And that reports serves as an invaluable tool 

in the U.S. diplomatic toolbox to combat human trafficking. And 

the findings and recommendations listed in the country narratives 

often inform the development of governments’ laws and national 

action plans to combat trafficking. So, these plans provide a guide 

for what governments need to do in order to strengthen their 

efforts, and provides NGOs like World Vision with a roadmap that 

shows what a government’s priorities are in this area. So, these 

action plans create an opening for us to work alongside governments to accomplish their goals. 

And, just as an aside, it is critical to point out that governments 

cannot make progress alone, and there is no single intervention or 

effort that can defeat the use of forced labor and human trafficking 

in the long term. So, World Vision programs have been most successful when we have taken a multifaceted, multisector approach 

to combating exploitation. 

So, for example, in a project in Cambodia funded by the U.S. 

Department of Labor, World Vision reaches 28,000 children who 

have worked in the fishing industry, in agriculture, domestic servitude, and other sectors. The program focuses on protection, education, household income, access to credit, empowerment of local 

communities, and the list goes on. 

World Vision also focuses on another key factor that most people 

take for granted, which is birth registration. Human traffickers 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

38 

pursue individuals who are vulnerable and powerless. And without 

a birth certificate, children are an especially easy target. And, Senator Rubio, I want to thank you, in particular, for the work you 

have done recently in this area. 

The U.S. Government has multiple options for partnering with 

East Asian governments. In addition to the diplomatic tool that is 

the TIP Report, the U.S. Government has tools to build on the recommendations that the TIP Report provides, with strategic, multisector, bilateral relationships in focus countries. I can refer you to 

my written testimony for a full list that includes USAID’s countertrafficking-in-persons policy, the action plan for children in adversity, and the key provisions of the Child Protection Compact Act 

which both of you supported in the 2013 reauthorization of the 

Trafficking Victims Protection Act. I thank you again for that support. 

These tools allow for constructive and coordinated bilateral partnerships that will enable these countries to develop and expand 

their systems of prevention, protection, and prosecution, and 

ideally address many of the root causes of trafficking in the region. 

So, you all, in Congress, have given the administration good tools, 

and it is critical that we continue to work together so these tools 

are not left to rust in the toolbox. 

So, we thank you again for holding this hearing and for all the 

work that you both continue to do to fight forced labor and human 

trafficking. We are committed to working with you all and with the 

subcommittee on these critical issues. And I look forward to your 

questions. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Eaves follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JESSE EAVES

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this important hearing and inviting 

World Vision to testify. You and Senator Rubio are leaders in the fight against 

forced labor, human trafficking, and modern day slavery. We are especially grateful 

that you have championed programs for the protection of vulnerable children. Children around the world are alive, and contributing to their communities and countries, because of these programs. Your efforts have led to an increased U.S. focus 

on displaced children, orphans, children affected by armed conflict, and children 

trafficked for sex or labor. Thanks to your tireless efforts, America remains a global 

leader in combating these and other critical issues that impact and endanger children. This hearing is an opportunity to shine a light on what is happening in East 

Asia and the Pacific and discuss how the U.S. can strengthen its leadership role. 

World Vision is a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization serving millions of children and families in nearly 100 countries. Our 45,000 employees 

are dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to tackle 

the root causes of poverty and injustice. This work includes emergency relief and 

preparedness for people impacted by natural disasters and armed conflict; long-term 

economic development; preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, exploitation, 

and violence against children; mobilizing children, youth and local communities to 

hold their governments accountable; and advocating for effective systems, laws, and 

policies that provide a safety net and protection for vulnerable populations where 

the social fabric is especially weak. 

World Vision U.S. has more than 1 million private donors in every state and congressional district, partners with over 16,000 churches in the United States, and 

works with corporations and foundations. We are part of the global federation of 

World Vision International, which last year implemented more than $2.6 billion in 

programming to help children and communities through international relief, development, and advocacy assistance. Although private donors support much of our 

work, the U.S. Government is an invaluable partner. We leverage this partnership 

to reach many more children at risk and ensure that the precious resources of the 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

39 

American taxpayer are prudently used to promote and protect the well-being of children and communities abroad. 

World Vision has been asked to testify about our experience preventing and 

responding to forced labor and human trafficking in East Asia. Our testimony will 

focus on the U.S. role in combating forced labor and human trafficking in the region; 

the importance of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report in addressing human trafficking in the region; what the 2014 tier placements in the Trafficking in Persons Report mean for the listed countries and the U.S.; and the impact 

of programs (U.S. funded and non-U.S. funded) and funding that aim to prevent 

these crimes. East Asian countries are a vital and increasingly influential component to the global economy. Yet the region is also home to large pockets of the poorest and most vulnerable people on Earth. The opportunity is now, and tools are 

available, to make U.S. engagement and funding more coordinated, effective, and 

efficient. Together with partners in East Asia, we can ensure that the region’s 

growth is built on the strengths of the people, not on their backs through bondage. 

According to the International Labor Organization, forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry. Most media and governmental attention to human 

trafficking focuses on sex trafficking. However, labor trafficking ensnares more people and makes more money. This is true in East Asian countries like Cambodia, 

Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

As in other countries, including America, forced labor and human trafficking take 

on many forms in East Asia. We see children exploited as child soldiers, working 

in brick kilns, agriculture, construction, the fishing industry, and forced to be domestic servants. All of these countries have laws that address human trafficking 

and fight labor exploitation to varying degrees. As in other countries—including 

America—there is a disconnect between national laws on forced labor and human 

trafficking and local level implementation and awareness of those laws. In fact, 

most laws focus on sex trafficking and often leave labor trafficking as a neglected 

priority at the national and local level. As a result, the level of impunity is high 

and the chances of justice for survivors is often low. There is often little reason for 

employers and traffickers to clean up their act. Furthermore, there are multiple root 

causes for forced labor and trafficking including household income levels, lack of 

education, issues of land tenure, and an increasing demand for cheap, unskilled 

labor. Every story is different. They still all point to how governments, civil society, 

and communities can do better to end modern day slavery. 

In East Asia, migration, within and outside a country’s border, is a common factor 

for many of the children whom we work with. The nature of the global market place 

is producing many opportunities to make money in a few East Asian nations but 

is also creating more ways to exploit a person for their labor. What’s more, economic 

growth in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia has not been matched 

in countries like Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. This creates a strong demand for 

low-skilled labor that cannot be met by the local population. As a result, a steady 

supply of cheap, and often exploitable, labor moves from one country to another or 

from rural areas to urban centers. It is nearly impossible to address the issue of 

forced labor and human trafficking in the region without talking about migration. 

We have seen families in communities where we work in Vietnam, Cambodia, and 

the Philippines torn apart by high amounts of debt that they take on to pay the 

fees that unscrupulous employment agencies often require to secure a job abroad. 

These jobs are often not what was promised and can lead to the dark hole of debt 

bondage. Understanding and addressing the push and pull factors toward unsafe 

migration are critical to preventing and responding to vulnerability. 

Let me share the story of Min Min, who has benefited from one of our programs 

in Myanmar. As the eldest son from a poor family in Myanmar, Min Min felt the 

pressure to help his family earn money and survive. He befriended a man who came 

to his village and told him he could get work in Thailand. When Min Min arrived 

in Thailand by boat, he was immediately sold to an Indonesian fishing vessel. He 

describes his ordeal as nothing short of hell. He was forced to work all night and 

most of the day for 7 days a week. He says he watched his captures torture or kill 

anyone who tried to escape. For 9 years, Min Min toiled on the boat until finally, 

one night, desperate to escape, he slipped off the boat and swam to shore. He found 

himself in Indonesia with no food, shoes, nor clothes. He made it to a small village 

but with no visa or identity documents there was little that the villagers could do 

for him. Min Min was finally able to call his family who contacted World Vision. 

We worked with the Myanmar Government to get him back home and end his 

ordeal. World Vision’s End Trafficking in Persons Program (ETIP) provides direct 

assistance to trafficking survivors like Min Min to fully recover from the trafficking 

harm and reintegrate into life in society. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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Min min’s story illustrates where so much can go wrong and what can be done 

to help prepare migrants for what they might face when they leave home to work. 

In Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos, we’ve worked with scores of children who were 

promised a job either in another city or another country only to find a situation that 

was nothing like they were promised and were forced into a situation where they 

are denied even the most basic human dignity. Cases like these have led World 

Vision to spend a great deal of effort educating communities and especially children 

aged 15–17 (those most likely to take a job) on the dangers of risky migration and 

the proactive steps they can take to prevent themselves from becoming victims. 

Throughout Southeast Asia, World Vision runs youth clubs that follow a toolkit composed of safe migration and trafficking prevention skills and information. Youth participants receive a pocket guide in local languages called the ‘‘Smart Navigator 

Booklet,’’ developed by World Vision’s ETIP Program. This small, easy to understand booklet covers what human trafficking is; provides checklists for ensuring safe 

travel including keeping all identification documents with you; includes warnings 

against borrowing money or placing yourself in debt to your employer; and what to 

do if you think you’ve been trafficked including anti-trafficking hotlines in every 

country in East Asia. It even includes basic instructions on how to make an international phone call. These simple, yet effective, steps come from having seen so 

many stories like Min Min’s when migrating to earn money goes wrong. 

None of what is mentioned above should be considered new. Details about the 

dangers of unsafe migration and trafficking, and countless other insights, fill the 

pages of the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. 

The TIP Report serves as an invaluable tool in the U.S. diplomatic toolbox to combat 

human trafficking. The report is a critical resource to organizations like World 

Vision and (though they may be loath to admit it) governments around the world. 

Whether country governments denounce the TIP Report, and bristle or rejoice in 

their rankings, the TIP Report is a key driver for national change. The findings and 

recommendations listed in country narratives often inform the development of governments’ laws and National Action Plans (NAP) to combat trafficking. These plans 

provide a guide for what governments need to do in order to strengthen their efforts, 

and NGOs like World Vision with a roadmap that shows a government’s priorities. 

These action plans create an opening to work alongside governments to accomplish 

their goals. For example, after continued engagement from the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Children in Armed Conflict and consistent pressure from the 

TIP Report, in 2012, the Myanmar Government and the Country Task Force for 

Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR—of which World Vision is a member) created a 

Joint Action Plan to cease the recruitment and use of child soldiers in the national 

army. To date, 273 children have been demobilized though hundreds more suspected 

cases have yet to be addressed. 

Once a NAP is in place, it is a vital tool that holds the implementing government 

accountable and shows where the successes shine and gaps remain. The National 

Action Plans in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam came after 

recommendations from the TIP Report with additional engagement from the U.S. 

Embassies and the United Nations. In Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam, the 

government has made concerted efforts to include local and international organizations into the implementation of the action plans, again in part as a result from TIP 

Report recommendations. 

The response of governments in the region often focuses on national efforts, as 

opposed to implementation at the local level. Our ETIP program in the region convenes trafficking survivors who provide recommendations to government officials on 

such things as how to get quick access to identification documents for survivors 

returning from abroad. While these conversations influence discussions within the 

capital, slower implementation due to lack of local government awareness, capacity, 

and funding often hinders the effectiveness of the changes that come about. Yet 

awareness at the local level is starting to grow as a direct result of findings from 

the TIP Report and State Department engagement. Myanmar has made strong 

efforts to increase awareness of human trafficking across the country. These efforts 

include a National Anti-Trafficking Day; partnering with MTV Exit and other partners to host concerts and informational events for young people; setting up billboards with hotline numbers; broadcasting and publishing public service announcements on TV, radio, and daily newspapers, and expanding the government’s 

Anti-Trafficking Division to start reaching out to more rural areas. As the TIP 

Report points out, the Government of Myanmar still has work to do and Myanmar 

remains on the Tier 2 Watchlist. We are, however, seeing progress as a result of 

the continuing conversations generated in part through the TIP Report. 

It is critical to point out that governments cannot make progress alone. There is 

no single intervention or effort that alone can defeat the use of forced labor and 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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human trafficking in the long term. World Vision programs are most successful 

when we take a multifaceted, multisector approach to combating exploitation. 

Often times, the most effective efforts seemingly have nothing to do with forced 

labor but in fact are aimed at strengthening the formal (governmental) and informal 

(community-based) systems of protection that form a complete safety net for parents 

and children. For example, World Vision implements the Cambodians EXCEL 

(Eliminating eXploitive Child Labor through Education and Livelihoods). Funded by 

the U.S. Department of Labor, Cambodians EXCEL reaches 28,000 children working 

in fishing, agriculture, domestic servitude, and other sectors. Child labor in Cambodia results from factors like poverty, lack of access to quality education, cultural 

acceptance of child labor, debt, migration, and lack of regulation in the informal sector, particularly in subsistence farming and fishing. The program aims to remove 

kids from dangerous or exploitative working conditions and get them back to school 

through tutoring and catchup classes. 

The focus on education is particularly important. World Vision research found 

that the higher the literacy level of a child, the more aware they are of human trafficking. World Vision and our local partners then work with children’s parents to 

increase and diversify household income and to provide safe options for saving and 

obtaining credit. Access to income and credit reduces the incentive to remove a child 

from school and send him or her to work. This also keeps families out of debt and 

makes them less likely to migrate to find work or place their kids into a risky situations. A World Vision project in the Philippines—a model for the Cambodian project 

and also funded by U.S. Department of Labor—uses a similar approach that has 

removed over 70,000 children out of the worst forms of child labor or prevented 

them from even being subjected to this labor. 

World Vision also focuses on another key factor that most people take for granted: 

birth registration. Human traffickers pursue individuals who are vulnerable and 

powerless. Without a birth certificate, children are an especially easy target. 

According to UNICEF, every year 51 million children are never registered at 

birth, leaving them without an official name or nationality. There are an estimated 

135 million unregistered children in East Asia alone. Children without a birth certificate are denied basic opportunities and their lives read like a checklist to human 

traffickers: poor, no education, unable to access safe credit, separated from family 

with no identification, and unable to verify their age. Lack of age verification makes 

forced marriage easier. 

Birth registration impacts all aspects of a child’s well-being. A birth certificate 

helps protect children from human trafficking, child labor, early marriage, underage 

recruitment, and conscription into military service. If a child is abused, neglected, 

exploited, or exposed to violence, a birth certificate ensures his or her access to services and justice systems. It is also critical for obtaining identity documents needed 

for transborder migration for work. It is therefore unsurprising to see that 80 percent of children in Vietnam, which has almost universal birth registration at 99 percent, are more aware of the need to travel with identity documents. By comparison, 

only 60 percent of children in Burma, which has an 81-percent registration rate, 

have such awareness. WV is partnering with Plan International and the U.N. in 

organizing the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics 

(CRVS) in the Asia and Pacific in November 2014. This is an opportunity to raise 

awareness and generate governmental action on what is the foundation for the protection and well-being of children. 

The U.S. Government has multiple options for partnering with East Asian governments and civil societies to strengthen the overall response to these crimes and prevent them from happening in the first place. In addition to the diplomatic tool of 

the TIP Report, the U.S. Government has tools to build on the recommendations of 

the TIP Report with strategic, bilateral partnerships in focus countries. For instance, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2013 included the key provisions 

of the Child Protection Compact Act (CPCA). This allows the State Department to 

partner with a government and set measurable goals over a multiyear period to 

strengthen the protection system for vulnerable children and improve justice systems so they investigate and prosecute those who would exploit a child. This is an 

exciting opportunity for sustained engagement of the U.S. Government on these 

issues and we’re looking forward to the State Department launching this effort. 

Another opportunity lies with the U.S. Agency for International Development 

(USAID). In 2012, USAID unveiled the agency’s Counter Trafficking in Persons 

(CTIP) Policy. In 2013, they released a field guide for USAID missions to assist in 

the implementation of the policy. One of the programming objectives calls for AID 

to begin integrating CTIP efforts into larger programming sectors such as agriculture, health, economic growth, education, and humanitarian assistance. This will 

allow for an increase in anti-trafficking efforts that take the multifaceted approach 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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that is proving effective at targeting the root causes of vulnerability. Furthermore, 

another programming objective of the CTIP policy is specific CTIP investments in 

what AID calls ‘‘Critical TIP Challenge Countries.’’ These are countries that have 

global strategic importance yet have significant trafficking problems. Of particular 

focus are countries that have spent several years on the Tier 2 Watchlist or Tier 

3 of the TIP Report. This creates opportunities for impactful engagement with several countries in East Asia. 

Finally, further opportunities exist in the Action Plan for Children in Adversity 

(APCA). Launched in 2012, the Action Plan unites and aligns 30 offices in seven 

U.S. Government agencies around the same measurable, achievable goals for international programs relating to vulnerable children. The three main objectives are 

strong beginnings (ensuring children meet early childhood development milestones), 

family care first (making sure every child is in a safe family environment), and 

stronger prevention and response to violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The 

Action Plan, currently coordinated by USAID, enables U.S. Government agencies to 

coordinate their efforts to make U.S. programs more effective and efficient. The 

selection of the first focus countries will provide an opportunity to show how coordinated and multifaceted programs can collectively contribute to reducing the vulnerability of children. 

These tools allow for constructive and coordinated bilateral engagement that will 

enable countries to develop and expand the systems of prevention, protection, and 

prosecution, and ideally address many of the root causes of trafficking in the region. 

With the right engagement and approaches, we can mitigate trafficking and eliminate it as much as it possible. 

Recommendations: 

• Encourage the administration to use bilateral tools like the Action Plan for 

Children in Adversity and Child Protection Compact Act that foster collaboration, sustainably strengthening systems, and measurable results. • Support current U.S. Government birth registration efforts by introducing and 

passing the Girls Count Act in the Senate and urge the U.S. Government to 

support the implementation of East Asia Ministerial Plan of Action (2015–2024) 

that will be finalized during the Ministerial Conference in November 2014. • Encourage USAID to further roll out their Counter-Trafficking in Persons 

(CTIP) policy which calls for integrating anti-trafficking efforts into other programs like economic development, emergency response, health, and education, 

and other steps and makes augmented investments in TIP Challenge Countries. 

Congress has given the administration good tools. It is critical that we work 

together so these tools are used and not left to rust in the toolbox. Thank you again 

for holding this hearing and for all the work you continue to do in the fight against 

forced labor and human trafficking. World Vision is committed to working with the 

subcommittee on these critical issues and I look forward to answering your 

questions. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, again, I thank both of you for your advocacy in this area. 

I want to touch on the two areas that we need to have a better 

public understanding of what is going on. I know very well that we 

had real problems with trafficking for prostitution, and convincing 

the public that the people being trafficked were victims. And it took 

a major effort to be able to turn that around. And I think we have, 

today, and I think that most people, globally, understand that 

those who are trafficked for sex are victims, and are now being 

treated as victims. Took a long time for law enforcement to understand that these people are victims. 

Now, with labor trafficking, it is even more difficult, because I 

do not think people really understand that there are people being 

trafficked and sold to a boat for 9 years for fishing. I do not think 

they really understand. We have up to 4 million people in Malaysia 

that are emigrants. Now, I am not saying all of them are being 

handled illegally or trafficked, but there is a large number, and we 

do not see the faces. 

Can you explain to us how these companies operate in regards 

to debt bondage and can you just give us a typical example, a perFOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

43 

son who is trying to seek a better economic life for herself or himself, gets trapped with the traffickers and gets caught in debt 

bondage. 

Ms. MISRA. Thank you for the question, Senator Cardin. 

So, in the East Asian countries—and I worked in Indonesia for 

several years, so I saw this firsthand myself—the way it happens 

is that usually companies in every industry, from the formal economy to the informal economy, factories, agriculture, construction, 

domestic work, et cetera, hire these employment agencies to find 

cheap labor for them in some of the poorer countries in the 

region—Indonesia, Nepal, Cambodia, Burma, et cetera. And these 

companies will have agents—sometimes they are independent 

agents, sometimes they work directly for the company—who will go 

into the villages to recruit workers. And what we find is a lot of 

false promises being made about the terms and conditions of work, 

the wages, and then also fees being charged directly to the workers 

for every aspect of the recruitment process, from getting their passport to just paying the recruiter for helping them to look for a job. 

And if these costs were minimal, then maybe they would be justifiable, but we have seen cases of people paying 5,000 U.S. dollars, 

20,000, 30,000, just for the privilege of being able to labor for somebody else. And, as a labor rights activist, we find it very hard to 

accept that the definition of ‘‘work’’ is being redefined as ‘‘I pay you 

for the privilege of laboring for you.’’ 

Then once these recruiters find the workers—and the workers 

obviously do not have this money to pay up front—they either take 

loans directly from the labor recruiters or from loan sharks in their 

villages or even, in some countries, from official government banks 

that charge high interest rates, or sometimes their wages are 

directly deducted—in collusion with the employer—from their paychecks, so they actually do not see any wages for months to pay 

back these recruitment fees. 

And then, once they get to the country of destination, into the 

job that they were promised—again, oftentimes these jobs are very 

different than what they were promised, they are not paid the 

wages that they were promised, and we see conditions of forced 

labor. And here is where the debt bondage comes in. Because these 

workers often come in with visas tied to a particular employer, if 

they are being exploited or abused by that employer, the debt that 

they have keeps them in that job, because they cannot move 

because of the conditions of their visa to another job. 

The other thing that we see in terms of debt bondage is complicity of government officials, where government officials actually 

take kickbacks, threaten the workers if they do not pay back the 

debts; or, in certain countries, like Vietnam, we actually see government officials running these recruitment agencies and making 

money out of it. 

A good example of government complicity in labor recruitment 

violations is in Cambodia. Cambodia has a new section in their 

interior ministry to deal with labor migration. The person that they 

nominated to put in that position, his sister, runs one of the largest 

labor recruitment agencies in Cambodia and that agency has actually been found to traffic domestic workers to Malaysia. And yet, 

he is running the Division of the Interior Ministry in Cambodia. 

FOREI-43947 with DISTILLER

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And so, there are lots of issues involved with that bondage, but 

that is the traditional way that we see it. 

Senator CARDIN. Mr. Eaves, the fishing industry is notorious for 

laboring. Can you just give us an idea of how that recruitment 

works, for the fishing boats? 

Mr. EAVES. Yes. In fact, what we often see is people from the 

poorer countries in the region—Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos— 

because the demand is so high for unskilled labor, and it is actually 

so easy to cross the border, very often they will be recruited in 

their home country or will hear that there are jobs available on 

fishing boats. Sometimes, as was the case in Min Min, the boy that 

we highlighted in our testimony, he thought he was coming just to 

work on the docks, and it was not until he showed up that a man 

who told him he was going to get him the job sold him to an Indonesian fishing vessel. 

And because these ships are so often at sea for so long, it is very 

hard to regulate. They are in international waters. And once someone is on those ships, the litany of abuses that happens to them 

is absolutely terrifying, and you hear about people being thrown 

overboard, being tortured, being killed for trying to escape. Min 

Min actually was able to slip out when they got close to land, and 

found himself in Indonesia, but he did not have any documents, he 

had nothing to prove who he was. And it was only after some local 

village people helped him contact the World Vision office in Burma, 

which then got in touch with the Burmese Government and helped 

get him back. So often—I mean, he was definitely lucky. He was 

one in the minority that are able to escape that. 

So, that is not to say that not every fishing boat that is operating 

in the Andaman Sea or elsewhere is full of exploitation, but we do 

see a high number of people being recruited to the fishing industry. 

Senator CARDIN. The three areas of recommendations that you 

made—the trade agreements, dealing with legislation to deal with 

labor recruiters, and then more consumer activism—consumers 

understanding what they are involved with—I wanted to concentrate on the third point for one moment. 

Could you elaborate more how you could map the supply chain 

so that consumers would have better information as to where products are being produced as it relates to forced labor? 

Ms. MISRA. Thank you, Senator Cardin. 

I think that the responsibility for mapping the supply chain 

needs to be put on companies and employers, particularly the end 

buyers of this. Jesse and I are both members of a coalition called 

the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, ATEST, and we have 

engaged with a number of employers on this issue who often make 

arguments that their supply chain is so long, it is difficult to map. 

However, the Solidarity Center has mapped the supply chain of 

shrimp from Thailand to grocery stores here in the United States. 

The Guardian just did it recently with the fishing boat story and 

was able to tie it directly to grocery stories both in the United 

States and abroad. So, we think that it is not as difficult as they 

say it is, and that there should be an affirmative responsibility for 

them to do that. 

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So, that is the first step in the process. I mean, I think it is very 

difficult for a consumer to be able to figure out where their shrimp 

or their garments are coming from. 

With that said, there are different opportunities now, because of 

the Internet, because of different apps, such as FreeToWork, SlaveFree—what is the SlaveFree—there is another app—SlaveFreeFootprint, et cetera, that consumers can find out more information. 

The companies are given grades on what they are doing to address 

forced labor problems, et cetera. But, we really believe that it 

should be the responsibility of the companies, and that they can do 

it. And one way to do that is through economic pressure, which we 

can talk about later. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. 

Senator Rubio. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Misra, I wanted to ask you about labor recruiters. You 

touched upon that in your statement earlier. They often, you know, 

promise victims these lucrative jobs, and then they force them to 

work in either forced labor or prostitution. So, if you could elaborate a little bit more on the type of prevention programs that exist 

in some of these countries that prevent people from falling into 

these false promises. In essence, what I am looking for is examples 

of programs that are actually working or are successful at making 

headway and making people less vulnerable to these recruiters. 

Ms. MISRA. Thank you, Senator Rubio. 

And actually, one of the things that we are looking for also is 

good practices in this area, which is very difficult to find in the 

labor recruitment process. 

A few things that we have seen that have worked, first of all, is 

the elimination, completely, of recruitment fees. Anytime that a 

country allows recruitment fees, it ends up being abused, and people end up in situations of debt bondage. So, really the first thing 

is to promote ‘‘no fees.’’ And we have seen that in certain sectors. 

We have not seen it across the board in any of the countries in 

East Asia, elimination of recruitment fees. But, we have seen it in 

certain sections or for—when certain employers mandate it, and 

then the recruiters that recruit for them do that. 

I will say this is one of the areas—why I mentioned earlier that 

we would like to see the U.S. Government take a lead on this. 

Already, the Congress and the President, through the NDAA, in 

the Executive order last year, have eliminated fees and regulated 

labor recruiters further for government procurement processes. And 

then, as I mentioned—I cannot say thank you enough to you about 

this—but, in S. 744, Subtitle F removes those recruitment fees. 

And we think that that is going to set a great precedent for the 

rest of the world that we will be able to use. 

The last thing that I will just say on this is, the ILO just negotiated this past June a new supplement to the 1930 Forced Labor 

Instrument Protocol. And as part of it—and I was part of these 

negotiations—it calls for the elimination of recruitment fees, in the 

regulation, of labor recruiters. 

Senator RUBIO. And I wanted to ask you, also, because you 

touched upon this a little bit, and actually, so did the chairman 

earlier, when he talked about some of these consumer products 

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that, in the United States, are being bought or consumed that are, 

in some cases, potentially done through forced labor or child 

labor—what are the industries that are the most dependent on 

trafficked labor in Asia? 

Ms. MISRA. So, seafood processing would be high on the list. The 

second one, I would say, is ready-made garments. We have seen a 

lot of issues of forced labor, debt bondage, in the ready-made garment industry, in terms of what is exported to the United States. 

Regionally, you know, there are a lot of issues with construction 

and domestic work. But, I would say, in terms of products that 

come into the United States, it is really ready-made garments and 

seafood. 

Senator RUBIO. And, Mr. Eaves, in your testimony you list several factors that can prevent child trafficking—you know, high literacy rates, birth registration. Can you just describe a little bit 

more in detail how these factors prevent children from entering the 

trafficking cycle? 

Mr. EAVES. Absolutely. I will give an example from a program 

that we have in the Philippines that is similar to the one we have 

in Cambodia, where you have a high number of children who are 

forced to work in the sugarcane industry and then also in the fishing industry and as forced domestic servants. What we do is, we 

identify children who are working, find out the circumstances of 

them being in that position, and then we work with their families 

and with the employer to get them out of that situation and back 

into school. But, that only does so much, because oftentimes they 

are there because their parents are not making enough income to 

be able to support their family. And so, they pull their kids out of 

school, will give them to a labor recruiter or let them work for very 

cheap, because some money is better than none. 

And so, what we will then do is work with those families to do 

everything from working—they can have backyard gardens and 

communal gardens, so they can sell food for more money. They 

receive training on how to start a business, how to run a business, 

kind of, you know, Business 101; make sure that they can have 

access to safe lines of credit so that they are not taking out debts 

and placing their family in debt bondage. 

So, you are looking at all the different areas that can force a 

family into a situation where they find themselves handing over a 

child or themselves to someone who does not want to do the right 

thing by that child. And so, we have seen—in the Philippine example—we have seen over 70,000 children removed from hazardous 

and exploitative child labor, and not go back in, as a result of their 

family having the income and the kids having access to an education and a community that has become empowered to stand up 

and chase people away who are trying to recruit kids. 

Senator RUBIO. You touched upon the Philippines. I wanted to 

follow up, because I know the organization World Vision is involved 

there in the relief efforts in the aftermath of the huge storm that 

they had. I was concerned—and I visited there earlier this year— 

about the impact that the—anytime, we have seen in the past, like 

in earthquakes in Haiti, that there have been massive displacements, the signal goes off in my mind, and in the mind of many, 

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ficked, and even adults, for that matter. What has been, in your 

view, perhaps—you may not be familiar with it, but perhaps you 

are—if you could share with us, if you do have this information— 

what has been the aftermath of the storm? Have we seen an 

increase in vulnerability and/or trafficking as a result of it? Have 

the authorities there been able to do a good job of keeping that 

from happening? 

Mr. EAVES. Actually, I was just in the Philippines last month in 

the typhoon-affected areas. And so, one of the things that we have 

done is, USAID has provided funding to start a project looking at 

preventing and responding to vulnerability to trafficking. And the 

way they are doing it is through their larger counter-trafficking-inpersons policy, which they launched last year, which calls for an 

integration of not only addressing human trafficking, but looking 

at other issues, as well, integrating kind of a trafficking focus into 

other sectors. In this case, it is livelihoods or helping people earn 

a living again. 

And so, we are implementing a project in Ormoc province, which 

was one of the most heavily damaged and where we have seen 

most of—you know, most of the children have not been able to return to school, there is high levels of vulnerability, people’s entire 

crops and livelihoods have been wiped out. And so, we know of 

cases where children have been trafficked. 

And adults, in particular, are incredibly susceptible to labor 

recruiters, under the circumstances that Neha was talking about. 

And so, as part of this project, we are working with these families 

to be able to earn an income so they can protect themselves while 

at the same time educating them on the dangers of labor recruiters 

and risky migration practices, and trying to keep them in their 

home communities, where they can try to get their lives back on 

track and rebuild after the storm. 

But, that is an example of how the U.S. Government can engage 

from multiple angles to prevent vulnerability to trafficking while 

also improving people’s income and safety at the same time. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you. 

Senator CARDIN. Let me thank both of you for your testimony. 

Ms. Misra, if you will follow up with us on the mapping issue, 

the corporate responsibility, company responsibility, I would appreciate that, because I think we are all interested. 

And I think most people in this country—a large number of people in this country would not want to participate in forced labor. 

So, given the opportunity, I think they would take action. So, I 

would be interested as to how you see reasonable, responsible regulations or laws that could help consumers be better consumers in 

this area. So, if you could make that available to us, I would very 

much appreciate it. 

Senator CARDIN. And we thank both of you for your testimony. 

This, to me, has been a very helpful hearing. As I said in the opening, it is a dimension of our Rebalance to Asia that needs to have 

a spotlight on it, and I think this hearing has helped us do that. 

And I thank you both for your participation. 

Ms. MISRA. Thank you very much. 

Mr. EAVES. Thank you. 

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Senator CARDIN. With that, we will keep the record open until 

the close of business on Thursday. 

And the subcommittee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

Æ 

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