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80–844 PDF 2002

S. HRG. 107–576

MONITORING AND COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN

PERSONS: HOW ARE WE DOING?

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN

AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

MARCH 7, 2002

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware, Chairman

PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin

PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota

BARBARA BOXER, California

ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey

BILL NELSON, Florida

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia

JESSE HELMS, North Carolina

RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana

CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon

BILL FRIST, Tennessee

LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming

EDWIN K. HALL, Staff Director

PATRICIA A. MCNERNEY, Republican Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN

AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS

PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota, Chairman

ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey

BARBARA BOXER, California

PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon

BILL FRIST, Tennessee

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia

(II)

CONTENTS

Page

Cho, Hae Jung, project director, Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking

(CAST), Los Angeles, CA ..................................................................................... 46

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 48

Dinh, Viet D., Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, Department

of Justice, Washington, DC ................................................................................. 10

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12

Responses to additional questions for the record from Senator Wellstone .. 62

Dobriansky, Hon. Paula, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, Department of State, Washington, DC .......................................................................... 5

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7

Responses to additional questions for the record from Senator Wellstone .. 58

Ely-Raphel, Amb. Nancy H., Senior Advisor, Office to Monitor and Combat

Trafficking in Persons, Department of State, Washington, DC ....................... 23

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 24

Responses to additional questions for the record from Senator Wellstone .. 65

Equality Now, New York, NY, statement submitted for the record .................... 57

Hanh, Nguyen Van, Ph.D., Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC ................................... 26

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28

Responses to additional questions for the record from Senator Wellstone .. 66

Jordan, Ann, director, Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons, International

Human Rights Law Group, Washington, DC .................................................... 42

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44

Loar, Theresa, president, Vital Voices Global Partnership, statement submitted for the record ............................................................................................ 53

Scalia, Eugene, Solicitor of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington,

DC, statement submitted for the record ............................................................ 54

Smolenski, Carol, coordinator, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking

(ECPAT-USA), New York, NY ............................................................................ 36

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39

Wellstone, Hon. Paul D., U.S. Senator from Minnesota, prepared statement ... 3

(III)

(1)

MONITORING AND COMBATING TRAFFICKING

IN PERSONS: HOW ARE WE DOING?

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2002

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN

AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met at 3 p.m., in room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Paul Wellstone (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding.

Present: Senators Wellstone and Brownback.

Senator WELLSTONE. The hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs will come to

order.

I want to apologize to all of you who are here, panelists and

those who are intensely interested in the hearing and the issue before us. We had some votes and it was unavoidable, otherwise I

would not have kept you waiting. I am sure that Senator

Brownback is probably on his way over here as well, and we will

try to move things forward expeditiously. Senator Brownback is

here right now.

Certainly what I want to try to do is myself be relatively brief

and then hopefully Senator Brownback as well, and we will ask

each of you to try to stay within a 5-minute limit. Then we will

have questions. Probably some of the questions we will submit in

writing as well because we have a number of people who are here

to testify.

Sam, I was apologizing for the delay, explaining the votes that

we had.

A year ago, the Congress enacted landmark human rights legislation to put an end to trafficking in human beings. This was the

Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and it provided a comprehensive plan of attack on trafficking from various agencies of the Federal Government and the advocacy community as well. There were

prevention programs. I guess we called it the three P’s. There was

the protection of trafficking victims, and then there was the prosecution of the traffickers.

I would like to again, for probably the 100th time, thank Senator

Brownback for his wonderful leadership in this area. It has been

a joyous journey for me to be working with him.

Today’s hearing is actually to assess our efforts against human

trafficking one year after the passage of the bill.

2

We have asked the witnesses to discuss the extent to which various agencies of the U.S. Government have discharged the responsibilities imposed upon them by the act. We need to know whether

we have effectively used the tools provided by the act, and we need

to know whether new tools might be necessary. A law without vigorous and effective implementation and oversight, at least in my

view, is worse than no law at all because it lulls us into the false

sense that we have done something to solve the problem. We are

here today to learn whether or not we are doing all that we can

to end this trafficking in persons, and we are here today to learn

how committed the administration is to truly solving this growing

problem of modern day slavery.

I think the administration has done some very important work.

The State Department released its first Trafficking in Persons report in July of last year. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons was established later that October. We are now

in the administrative comment period for the regulations implementing the trafficking T-visa at the Department of Justice, and

the first meeting of the Interagency Task Force on Trafficking was

held last month. But I think much more remains to be done.

I will finish with concerns. I wanted to start with the positives

because I think you should always give credit to people when they

are doing good work.

I am concerned that many victims of trafficking are not getting

the assistance they need because the programs may not be designed appropriately or interagency coordination is lacking. I am

concerned that many victims are still not recognized as trafficking

victims due to lack of effective training back in our states for law

enforcement. And I am concerned that our diplomatic message may

not be getting through. We expect other nations to take vigorous

actions to fight trafficking and we will hold them accountable if

they do not. All of these concerns I hope will be addressed by the

panelists.

I am going to be asking the Office of Trafficking to tell me—I

know there was a hearing just a day or two ago, but from my point

of view, the Office of Trafficking is critically important in bringing

the agencies together and having a real clear focus and having

some benchmarks. And I am not sure that has been done in anywhere near as rigorous or vigorous a fashion as I would like to see.

I am going to be asking questions about the INS because it

seems to me, on the basis of reports we are hearing, that you have

got some of these women and children in detention centers. We

need the INS to be going into those detention centers to be interviewing these women and children and to be getting them out.

That has not happened to the extent that it should. I understand

we are only in one year, but I am impatient to see this happen on

the ground.

The Health and Human Services Administration. We received

some calls from law enforcement that are doing their best, and

they say, listen, we have got these refugees and they need specialized services. These are victims of trafficking, and yet we do not

really know where to get the help for them. Obviously, Health and

Human Services needs to do a better job of getting these specialized services to them.

3

We know that some of these traffickers are being prosecuted, but

I do not understand, Senator Brownback, why they are not being

prosecuted according to the new criminal statutes that came with

this legislation. And I am going to be asking questions about that.

I do not want to take up any more time. I again want to thank

all of the panelists for being here. I want to thank all the rest of

you for being here, and I want to say that I am privileged to be

working with Senator Brownback.

[The prepared statement of Senator Wellstone follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR PAUL D. WELLSTONE

Thank you all for coming today. Just over a year ago, Congress enacted landmark

human rights legislation to help put an end to trafficking in human beings. The

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) provided a comprehensive plan of attack

on trafficking from various agencies of the Federal government and the private sector. It provided for prevention programs, the protection of trafficking victims, and

the prosecution of traffickers. The purpose of today’s hearing is to assess our efforts

against human trafficking one year after passage.

We have asked our witnesses to discuss the extent to which various agencies of

the United States government have discharged the responsibilities given them by

the Act. We need to know whether they have effectively used the tools provided by

the Act, as well as whether new tools might be necessary. A law without vigorous

and effective implementation and oversight can actually be counterproductive if it

lulls us into a false sense that we have solved a problem. We are here today to learn

whether we are doing all that we can to end trafficking in persons. We are here

today to learn how committed this Administration truly is to solving the growing

problem of modern day slavery.

I applaud the Administration for the work it has done so far. The State Department released the first Trafficking in Persons Report in July of last year. The Office

to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons was established later that October.

We are now in the Administrative comment period for the regulations implementing

the new trafficking T-visa at the Department of Justice, and the first meeting of

the Inter-Agency Task Force on Trafficking was held last month. But much more

remains to be done.

I am concerned that some victims of trafficking are not getting the assistance they

need because programs may not be designed appropriately, or inter-agency coordination is lacking. I am concerned that some victims are still not recognized as trafficking victims due to the lack of effective training for law enforcement. And I am

concerned that our diplomatic message may not be getting through. We expect other

nations to make legitimate efforts to fight trafficking and we will hold them accountable if they don’t. I hope all of these concerns will be addressed here today.

Trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal

activity, now ranking third as the largest source of profits for organized crime behind only guns and drugs. We should be very clear in our understanding of this

problem. It is a growing industry. It affects virtually every country in the world,

and it must be stopped. The United States has a moral obligation to lead this fight,

and I know we will do the right thing. I am confident there is still broad bi-partisan

support in Congress for whatever is necessary—more resources, further legislation,

whatever it takes—to win the worldwide struggle against trafficking.

Senator WELLSTONE. Senator Brownback.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It

has been my pleasure to be able to work with you and to hold this

hearing, that a year later we are going to look at the progress

being made under this particular bill that I think was one of the

most significant pieces of anti-slavery legislation that has passed

since 1865, when it moved forward and was passed last year. We

are moving and pushing for freedom.

Our assignment in this bill that we have given to the administration and others pressing forward with this is to eradicate slavery,

starting with forced prostitution. The central objective was and reVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
4

mains freeing victims everywhere and empowering those who do

this noble work.

I suppose there were similar tensions regarding objectives and

getting it initially implemented back in pre-1865 days. I think of

some of the legendary figures of that time, of William Wilberforce,

a parliamentarian in England, or Amy Carmichael in India who

faced overwhelming odds at that time, who poured their lives into

their work to end slavery, to end temple prostitution in India.

I would like to think, Mr. Chairman, that we have in the audience here today some like-minded people with those individuals,

heroic people who really worked a long time to try to bring freedom

to these people who are underserved, not represented in some of

the most difficult, dire situations that today’s modern culture could

find. And we want to empower you to work and to press this on

forward.

There are some technical admonitions I could make, which we

will hear about today, but I really am more compelled to talk about

the larger issues.

I want to press the State Department and administration to encourage them to engage in direct advocacy to end trafficking, going

beyond reporting, which is important. And I think your initial reports have been fantastic. I have stated that to Secretary Powell.

I want to state that to Under Secretary Dobriansky, but to also say

we need to move on forward past that into advocacy—and I am

sure you will talk some about that today—advocating directly with

countries worldwide to end this obscene practice, coordinating

amongst countries regionally because I assure you the traffickers

do. And you know what it takes and you are working on that effort,

and I want to encourage that to move forward on advocacy.

Combating trafficking is among the top human rights agendas

for this administration. Truly you are cursed with a great and historic task and also blessed with that opportunity. Please fully embrace this assignment to deliberately and aggressively advocate for

the eradication of trafficking both internationally and domestically.

This legislation was written for you to do just that.

Separately, Mr. Chairman, there will be a witness also on the

third panel today. Carol Smolenski of ECPAT is going to testify

about an insidious practice of tour operators worldwide on international sex tourism. I point this out because some of the operators

are deliberately targeting international pedophiles and other adults

who engage in this practice offering children with impunity.

What I want us to do and look toward is the possibility of legislation in this area to be able to prosecute those who would engage

in such a horrific international practice, and we will be hearing Ms.

Smolenski a little bit later on in the third panel. And I am hopeful

that we can press forward on addressing that legislatively. A number of Senators have expressed interest on working on that piece

of legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I hope we can get at the problems here at this

hearing, but overall too, I want to make sure that people understand that I am excited about what has taken place to date. I think

there are things that we need to continue to press forward and, as

the chairman said, we are impatient about it. But the steps that

have been taken I think have been great. We want to keep moving

5

those on forward because the little girls and little boys who are

being held in some of these situations cannot wait, and we need to

be as aggressive as we can. I know the administration shares that

objective.

Mr. Chairman, thanks for working with this legislation and

thank you for holding this hearing.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you, Senator Brownback.

We have some statements here, one from Theresea Loar, president, Vital Voices Global Partnership, that will be included in the

record, and also one from Eugene Scalia, Solicitor of Labor, U.S.

Department of Labor. That will also be included in the record.

Senator BROWNBACK. I have a statement, Mr. Chairman, from

Equality Now to submit for the record.

Senator WELLSTONE. And another one from Equality now, which

will also be included in the record.

[The statements can be found beginning on page **:]

Senator WELLSTONE. We can actually hold the record open too for

another 2 weeks for additional statements if you want to submit

those.

We are going to hear the first panel. Again, I want to ask everyone, if you can, to try to stay within a 5-minute limit. Dr. Paula

Dobriansky, who is Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. We

thank you for being here and thank you for your leadership. Mr.

Viet Dinh, who is Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, and prior to that was at Georgetown University Law Center.

I could give you all much more extensive introductions. You have

got real impressive resumes, but I think we want to get right to

the substance of it. Secretary Dobriansky.

STATEMENT OF HON. PAULA DOBRIANSKY, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF

STATE, WASHINGTON, DC

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding today’s hearing. I will submit my full text for the record and

make some brief comments.

Senator WELLSTONE. It will be included in the record.

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. Thank you.

It is important to review the progress we have made on monitoring and combating trafficking in persons since the passage of the

anti-trafficking law.

The United States Government’s efforts to fight trafficking and

protect trafficking victims have been greatly enhanced by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. I applaud you and your colleagues for your foresight in the creation of this law. It was enacted

due to your leadership, your commitment, your tireless efforts and

dedication.

This law has provided policymakers and prosecutors with the

tools necessary to fight trafficking in persons.

Since the law’s passage, I am pleased to report that we have released the first Trafficking in Persons report. We are working on

the next. We established the Trafficking Office and convened the

first President’s Interagency Task Force on Trafficking.

I might add that the law has also not only been an important

tool in fighting trafficking in persons, but it has also been an inVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
6

valuable model to share with other countries that are committed to

ending this horrendous violation of human rights.

Let me just say a few words about the report. Last July, the Secretary of State released the first annual Trafficking in Persons report. It was based on information gathered from 186 embassies and

consulates, as well as reporting from NGOs, international organizations, and the press.

The report is an invaluable tool in our bilateral dialog on trafficking. It has prompted many countries at senior levels to engage

with the United States on this issue. Significantly several countries, in fact, have asked for our advice and assistance in developing a plan of action to combat trafficking as a result of the report.

In addition, the Department released earlier this week the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which included

expanded information on trafficking and which was called for in

the act.

We are now preparing the 2002 Trafficking in Persons report,

and in producing this next report, we have carefully considered

many suggestions that we have received from the non-governmental community, from Members of Congress, from congressional

staff, and from others. One key area that we have strengthened in

our solicitation out to our posts is governmental corruption. Basically we have asked our posts to come in with much more specific,

concrete data in this area.

Let me say a few words about the office. In October 2001, the

State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking was

established. It reports directly to me and coordinates policy and

programmatic efforts with respect to trafficking in persons. Ambassador Nancy Ely-Raphel is the Senior Advisor and Dr. Laura

Lederer is the Deputy Senior Advisor of the office.

I am also pleased to announce today that the office will soon be

fully staffed with 14 permanent positions and complemented with

personnel from other agencies, specifically HHS, DOJ, CIA, and

USAID. In other words, commitments have been made and some

are already in place as detailees to the office.

The office focuses on three key areas: the compilation and the release of the Trafficking in Persons report, the assessment and implementation of programs, and outreach not only to partner agencies, to Congress, the non-governmental community, but also outreach entails our diplomatic strategy.

A few words about the task force. Last month, the Task Force

to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons was convened and

chaired by the Secretary of State. I would like to thank Senator

Brownback and Mrs. Wellstone, as well as Representative Chris

Smith, for joining the first meeting of the task force. At the task

force, Secretary Powell announced the formation of a senior policy

advisory group.

I convened the first meeting of this group which is a subgroup

of our Democracy PCC. It will meet regularly, and it is to provide

policy oversight and coordinate policy and programs on an interagency basis.

A few other words, and then I will bring my remarks to a close.

7

The Trafficking Office is designing a State Department-wide

international program strategy to identify prevention, prosecution

and protection needs in each country, and to assist governments

and non-governmental and international organizations to address

trafficking. We will tailor our programmatic initiatives to identify

the opportunities for greatest improvement and the greatest needs.

We will ensure that our programmatic and diplomatic strategy are

complementary to ensure that we are holding governments accountable and encouraging strengthened political will, while providing programmatic support where needed.

I have just a minute more.

Senator WELLSTONE. Absolutely.

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. We are committed to also reaching out to the

public to educate them both domestically and internationally about

the issue and what the United States is doing. At every opportunity, I have raised trafficking in my meetings with foreign governments, and I know that also many of my colleagues at the State

Department have.

A last word about training. We also have looked for new opportunities to educate U.S. officials about the problem so they too can

contribute to the fight against trafficking. We have spoken to newly

designated U.S. Ambassadors, to new classes of Foreign Service officers, law enforcement officers, and others as well as to senior Foreign Service officers who have been taking courses at the Foreign

Service Institute.

In sum, we have been busy. We have made significant progress,

but much remains to be done.

Mr. Chairman and colleagues, I want to thank you again for your

leadership on this issue and the act. It has provided a solid framework for our efforts, impetus for increased coordination, and a

model which we are able to use in reaching out to partners and

partner countries.

I look forward to our continued partnership on this issue and to

a day when we can truly say that we have successfully eradicated

trafficking.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Under Secretary Dobriansky follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. PAULA DOBRIANSKY, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

‘‘IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT’’

It is a pleasure to be here today to review the progress we have made on monitoring and combating trafficking in persons, since the passage of the anti-trafficking

law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

Trafficking in persons is the new slavery of the 21st century. Both its magnitude

and the inhumane conditions in which its victims find themselves are deeply troubling. The egregious nature of this crime has clearly been the driving force for many

of you and for those of us who work on this issue.

The United States Government’s efforts to fight trafficking and protect trafficking

victims have been greatly enhanced by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of

2000. I applaud your foresight in the creation of this law. It was enacted due to your

tireless efforts and dedication.

This law has provided policymakers and prosecutors with the tools necessary to

fight trafficking in persons, a truly grave human rights concern and a growing

transnational crime problem. And it has given us a model to share with other countries that are also committed to ending the horrendous violation of human rights.

Let me just highlight two mechanisms upfront. The report has been a crucial instruVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
8

ment in fostering dialogue with other countries and heightening global awareness.

Similarly, the interagency coordination on policy and programs—particularly the

Task Force—has strengthened the USG’s efforts as a whole.

Since the law’s passage, I am pleased to report that we have released the first

Trafficking in Persons Report, established the Trafficking Office and convened the

first President’s Interagency Task Force on Trafficking.

Annual Report on Trafficking in Persons

Last July, the Secretary of State released the first annual Trafficking in Persons

report. The report was based upon information gathered from 186 embassies and

consulates, as well as reporting from NGOs, international organizations, and the

press, regarding the extent of trafficking and the efforts of governments to combat

it. In compiling the report, the Department assessed the efforts of governments of

those countries where it was determined that there were a significant number of

victims of severe forms of trafficking—82 countries last year—to determine whether

and to what degree such governments meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking specified in the law.

As expected, the report has become an invaluable tool in our bilateral dialogues

on trafficking. It has prompted many countries—at senior levels—to engage with the

U.S. government on the trafficking issue. I have met personally with a number of

senior representatives of countries who said that the report had motivated them to

examine and improve their efforts. Significantly, several countries even asked for

our advice and assistance in developing a plan of action to combat trafficking. Many

of our posts are reporting a higher degree of interest, awareness, and, more importantly, action, since the release of the report. This increased interest is indicative

of a larger positive trend as many more countries are beginning to take this issue

seriously.

In addition to the trafficking report released last July, and in keeping with the

provisions of the Trafficking Victims and Violence Protection Act, the Department

released earlier this week the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

included expanded information on trafficking. The Bureau of Democracy, Human

Rights, and Labor worked with our embassies overseas and with other offices within

the Department to include detailed information, including data on conditions for victims and efforts to provide them with protection and assistance.

We are now preparing the 2002 Trafficking in Persons report. In producing this

next report, we have carefully considered suggestions received in our meetings with

NGOs, members of Congress and their staff and the interagency working group. One

key area that we are looking to strengthen is consideration of governmental corruption. Ambassador Ely-Raphel will provide some specific examples of the changes we

are making in the substance and methodology of this year’s Trafficking in Persons

Report process in the next panel. This report is an important and evolving document.

New Trafficking In Persons Office

In October 2001, the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking was established. The office reports directly to me and coordinates policy and

programmatic efforts with respect to trafficking in persons, ensuring that both the

human rights and law enforcement components of this problem are adequately addressed. Ambassador Nancy Ely-Raphel is the Senior Advisor and Dr. Laura

Lederer is the Deputy Senior Advisor of the Office. I am pleased to announce today

that the Office will soon be fully staffed with 14 permanent positions and complemented with personnel from other agencies, specifically HHS, DOJ, CIA, and

USAID. We already have an HHS officer on board, and expect officers from CIA,

DOJ, and AID in the next month. The office will focus on three key areas: the compilation and release of the trafficking in persons report; assessment and implementation of programs; and outreach to partner agencies, Congress, and the non-governmental community. The office structure reflects these key priorities.

President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

As envisioned by the law, last month President Bush signed an Executive Order

formally creating the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat

Trafficking in Persons, which is chaired by the Secretary of State. I would like to

thank Senator Brownback and Mrs. Wellstone, as well as Rep. Smith, for joining

the first meeting of the Task Force on February 13. At the meeting, led by Secretary

Powell, six agencies were represented—Department of Justice, Department of

Labor, Health and Human Services, the National Security Council, U.S. Agency for

Development, and the Central Intelligence Agency—in most cases by their principals. Task Force members highlighted current and future initiatives and discussed

the need to enhance interagency cooperation. In addition, Secretary Powell anVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
9

nounced the formation of a Senior Policy Advisory Group to address policy issues

related to trafficking in persons and to ensure the implementation of the Trafficking

Victims Protection Act of 2000.

I convened the first meeting of the interagency Senior Policy Advisory Group this

week. This group, a subgroup of the Democracy PCC, will meet regularly to provide

policy oversight and coordinate policy and programs. The first meeting was very productive and provided an excellent opportunity for extensive exchange among the

agencies in attendance. We identified next steps in a number of areas in which to

increase cooperation, such as intelligence sharing, coordination with local and state

actors, and strengthening the link between our diplomatic efforts and our law enforcement efforts domestically.

Other Initiatives

Let me say a few words about other initiatives that we are undertaking to

strengthen our effort and broaden our information database.

Programs: In the last year, the State Department has supported approximately

100 global anti-trafficking programs or initiatives in over 40 countries. Of these

countries, two were in Tier 1, 24 countries were in Tier 2, and seven countries were

in Tier 3. There were several countries not included in the 2001 Trafficking in Persons report that received assistance. In these instances these countries were part

of a regional initiative, were countries where we saw a potential for an increase in

trafficking, or saw an opportunity to integrate trafficking concerns into other bilateral engagement on, for example, human rights issues such as protection of women

from domestic violence, or alien smuggling. The Trafficking Office is designing a

State-Department-wide international programs strategy to identify prevention, prosecution and protection needs in each country, and to assist governments, and nongovernmental and international organizations, where appropriate, to address trafficking. We will tailor our programmatic initiatives to identify the opportunities for

greatest improvement and the greatest needs. We will ensure that our programmatic and diplomatic strategy are complementary to ensure that we are holding governments accountable and encouraging strengthened political will, while providing program support where needed. Certainly, any strategy will include a review

of the laws, law enforcement, victim protection, victim shelters/safe spaces, victim

services, and repatriation and reintegration.

The Office requested from our embassies a comprehensive listing of proposals they

believe would be effective in strengthening local efforts to combat trafficking. The

response has been great. The Office is now reviewing anti-trafficking proposals from

various embassies and will spearhead the interagency review and coordination process for these proposals.

Public Outreach: While the Act, our report, and other efforts have significantly

raised awareness of the issue, we are committed to reaching out to the public to

educate them about the issue and what the U.S. is doing. At every opportunity, I

have raised trafficking in my meetings with foreign governments. Recently I have

traveled to India, Ukraine and South Korea where I took the opportunity to raise

trafficking at the highest levels. Amb. Ely-Raphel will outline the extent of the audiences we have been reaching.

Training

We are looking for new opportunities to educate U.S. officials about the problem

so they too can contribute to the fight against trafficking. We have spoken to the

newly-designated U.S. Ambassadors, new classes of foreign service officers, senior

foreign service officers taking courses at the Foreign Service institute, law enforcement officers, and various other officials to educate them about the problem and

look at ways that they—through their particular work—can fight this scourge.

Closing

In sum, we’ve been busy; we have made significant strides. But much remains to

be done.

Mr. Chairman and colleagues, I want to thank you for your leadership on this

issue and the Act, which has provided a solid framework for our efforts, an impetus

for increased coordination, and a model as we reach out to our partner countries.

I look forward to continued partnership on this issue, and to a day when we can

say that we have successfully eradicated trafficking. Until that day, we will continue

to work in close partnership with you, our allies, the NGO community, and those

committed to ending this unacceptable practice.

Thank you for this opportunity. I welcome your comments or questions.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you very much.

10

Mr. Dinh.

STATEMENT OF VIET D. DINH, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF LEGAL POLICY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, DC

Mr. DINH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator. With

your permission, I will also only make a brief statement and submit my full statement for the record.

I am here to assure you that Attorney General Ashcroft—who, as

you know, supported and voted under your leadership—for the

Trafficking Victims Protection Act when he was a Senator—is as

impatient as you are for its full implementation, and he has made

it a high priority for the Department of Justice to implement its

provisions.

I am particularly pleased that you have invited Ms. Hae Jung

Cho of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking. I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Cho, along with the Attorney General, when

we both traveled to Los Angeles in July of last year, when the Attorney General met with a young boy named Phanupong Khaisir,

known as Got, a Thai boy who was used as a prop in an international human trafficking scheme. At that time, after that meeting, the Attorney General personally granted Got humanitarian parole and ordered the INS to accept his application for a T-visa nonimmigrant status. The Attorney General’s personal attention to the

case reflects the high priority that he and the Department place on

implementing the act.

I will refer specifically to the Department’s activities in these two

main areas: first, the prosecution of traffickers, and second, the

protection of trafficking victims. Our efforts to combat human trafficking fall into three main categories: prosecution of traffickers,

outreach, and coordination.

First, to improve the Department’s prosecution effort, the Attorney General issued a guidance to all U.S. attorneys’ offices concerning Federal prosecution under the act. The guidance details the

important new law enforcement tools that you have given us under

the act that remove past barriers to investigation and prosecution

of trafficking or servitude activities. And this is not an empty

promise or an empty guidance. The Criminal Section of the Civil

Rights Division will add 12 new positions to its existing staff to

prosecute human trafficking cases.

This early emphasis has already brought some concrete successes, and with your permission, I will highlight two cases brought

just this past year.

In August of 2001, a Federal grand jury returned a 22-count indictment charging three defendants with violation of numerous

Federal statutes, including involuntary servitude. Two others pled

guilty to conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing. The defendants

here allegedly held nearly 250 Vietnamese and Chinese workers in

involuntary servitude for over 2 years in American Samoa, and

thanks to the effort of you, thanks to the effort of Representative

Chris Smith and others, the case was brought to our attention, and

the prosecution is continuing apace. Approximately 180 of the victims remain in the United States and are helping law enforcement

to prosecute this effort. Trial is scheduled for April of this year.

11

In March of 2001, a Berkeley, California multi-millionaire pled

guilty to using beatings and threats to hold girls captive whom he

had brought here from India to work in his real estate business.

The victims were predominantly from families of lower castes and

were allegedly subjected to sexual servitude while they were here.

The defendant was sentenced to 97 months incarceration and was

ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to four of his victims.

Human trafficking cases are labor-intensive and time-consuming,

often involving many victims and requiring the full-time involvement of multiple attorneys and investigators. Nevertheless, the Department has prosecuted 34 defendants in fiscal year 2001, four

times as many as in the year before.

In addition, the Civil Rights Division has opened investigation

into 64 allegations of trafficking in 2001. As of today, there are 92

investigations pending, which represents a 20 percent increase over

the previous year.

Second, in addition to the Department’s prosecutorial efforts, the

Attorney General has also enhanced the Department’s outreach efforts. He has created a community outreach program to work with

local community groups, victims’ rights organizations, immigrants

rights’ organizations, shelters, and other interested groups. This

outreach effort is staffed full-time and has reached out to hundreds

of organizations in the past year alone.

The Department continues to hold roundtables with non-governmental organizations and representatives of state and local law enforcement to ensure that we all work together to combat trafficking.

To assist this outreach effort, the Department of Justice and the

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and State

have jointly developed two brochures in trafficking in persons. The

first is designed for Federal law enforcement personnel to hand out

to victims whom they encounter during the course of their investigation and their activities. The second, also produced in collaboration with the Departments of Labor, State, and Health and Human

Services, provides information to NGOs about the services available at the governmental level to help them in their important

work. All of these brochures will be distributed widely to ensure

that they reach their intended audiences.

We also have coordinated, both on an intra-agency basis and on

an interagency basis, as Under Secretary Dobriansky has highlighted. All of these efforts require coordinated team work and the

Attorney General has ordered a number of training and coordination programs to ensure that our efforts are effective and humane.

But prosecuting traffickers is only half of the picture. Equally

important are the Department’s efforts to protect and assist the

victims of trafficking. Mr. Chairman, as you noted, earlier this year

the Attorney General issued the final interim T-visa regulations

which went into effect on March 4 of this year. Comments are still

continuing, but because of the significant need for the implementation of this act and for this visa, he issued the regulation on an interim basis so victims can get the T-visa status as of now.

Second, in July of last year, the Departments of Justice and

State together issued regulations to implement section 107(c) of the

act, which gives victims the ability to have continued presence here

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in the United States while we prosecute the cases and while we investigate their complaints.

Third, under section 107(b), victims of severe forms of trafficking

are eligible for many federally funded assistance programs, to the

same extent as aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the

INA, and we are working very closely on a daily basis, as a matter

of fact, with our colleagues in the Office of Refugee Resettlement

at HHS in order to implement this provision.

Finally, last but certainly not least, as you know, the CJS appropriations act for 2002 provides $10 million to the Department of

Justice for a grant program established under the act. The Attorney General may use these funds in order to develop, expand, and

strengthen victim service programs for victims of trafficking

through grant making programs. The Office of Victims of Crime,

which is charged with managing this grant program, is currently

working with an interagency task force to finalize the final proposals for this development.

In conclusion, I would only stress that we are as impatient as

you are to see that the act is fully implemented and to take

proactive steps to end this modern day form of slavery, as the Senator noted. Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Dinh follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF VIET D. DINH, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF

LEGAL POLICY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity

to appear before you today to present testimony concerning the implementation of

the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA). The Department of Justice is grateful to Congress for passing this vital piece of legislation.

The VTVPA creates new tools that enhance the Department’s ability to prosecute

traffickers, and it allows us to assist trafficking victims in ways not possible before

passage of the VTVPA in October 2000.

I am particularly pleased that Hae Jung Cho of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery

& Trafficking (CAST) has been invited to testify as part of the Subcommittee’s third

panel of witnesses. As the Subcommittee is aware, CAST, a Los Angeles-based organization focusing exclusively on victims of trafficking, has received funding from the

Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) since 1999. I was fortunate to meet Ms. Cho when I traveled with Attorney General Ashcroft to Los Angeles in July where he met and granted humanitarian parole to Phanupong Khaisri,

known as Got, a child who had arrived at Los Angeles International Airport as a

prop in an international trafficking scheme.

The Department of Justice continues to fight the battle against trafficking in persons—a form of modern day slavery—that persistently victimizes helpless women

and children. Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better

lives, and then forced to work under brutal and inhuman conditions. While many

trafficking victims are forced to work in the sex industry, trafficking also takes place

in labor settings involving domestic servitude, prison-like factories, and migrant agricultural work. Under the VTVPA, trafficking in persons includes the recruitment

or transportation of persons through force, fraud or coercion. The VTVPA facilitates

efforts on three fronts in the battle against trafficking in persons: providing protection and assistance to victims, prosecuting offenders, and preventing human trafficking by working with authorities in the victims’ home countries. My remarks will

focus on the areas in which the Department of Justice is most directly involved—

the prosecution of traffickers and the protection and assistance of victims in the

United States.

The fight against human trafficking—a top priority of the Justice Department—

was the focus of one of the Attorney General’s first publicly-announced policy initiatives after taking office. In March 2001, the Attorney General set forth new steps

to address trafficking in persons, and in July 2001 and January 2002, he announced

13

publication of two regulations implementing portions of the VTVPA. The Attorney

General noted:

Human trafficking is a serious violation of the law. It is an affront to

human dignity. The Department of Justice is determined not to stand idly

by while the toll in human suffering mounts. Human trafficking victims

often are too young, too frightened, too trapped in their circumstances to

speak for themselves. By setting high standards of conduct for federal officials in meeting the needs of these victims, we hope to be the victims’ voice,

to lessen the suffering, to prosecute those who commit these crimes to the

fullest extent of the law.

The Department has taken a number of important steps to implement the Attorney General’s initiative. The Department continues to work steadily to stem the tide

of this form of modern-day slavery, addressing the needs of victims, and sending a

clear warning to traffickers that this barbaric action will not be tolerated.

ATTORNEY GENERAL’S PROGRAM TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

In March 2001, when the Attorney General declared that combating trafficking

in persons was an important priority for the Department of Justice, he stated that

additional resources would be allocated for prosecution, outreach, and coordination.

Prosecutions of Traffickers

To improve the Department’s prosecution efforts, the Attorney General issued the

first guidance to all U.S. Attorneys’ offices concerning federal prosecution under the

VTVPA. Among other things, the guidance document details the important new law

enforcement tools available under the Act. For example, the guidance points out

that under the VTVPA, those convicted of trafficking offenses may be imprisoned

for up to 20 years and, in some instances, for life. This represents a significant increase over preexisting servitude statutes, which carried a maximum sentence of 10

years’ imprisonment. Moreover, the guidance explains that the new statutes created

by the Act are designed to address the subtle means of coercion that traffickers

often use to bind their victims in servitude. Such means include psychological coercion, trickery, and the seizure of documents. Preexisting servitude statutes and case

law made it difficult to prosecute such conduct, because they require a showing of

physical force, threats of force, or threats of legal coercion. The new statutes permit

federal prosecutors to address a wider range of activities that traffickers use to facilitate their criminal objectives.

The Department is bringing on new prosecutors to assist in anti-trafficking efforts. The Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Act for FY 2002 appropriates

funding for twelve new positions in the Civil Rights Division to prosecute trafficking

in persons cases, seven prosecutors and five support staff. In most trafficking cases,

prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section serve as co-counsel with

the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices across America. The Criminal Section’s attorneys have

prosecuted servitude cases for many years.

The following descriptions are illustrative of some of the cases the Department

has prosecuted during the last year alone:

• In December 2001, a federal jury in Maryland convicted Louisa Satia and Kevin

Waton Nanji, of Silver Spring, Maryland, of holding a teenage Cameroonian girl

in involuntary servitude and of illegally harboring her in their home to use her

as their domestic servant. The defendants were convicted of involuntary servitude, conspiracy to harbor, and harboring the girl for their financial benefit.

In addition, Satia was convicted of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and

conspiracy to commit passport fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for March 27,

2002.

• In August 2001, a federal grand jury returned a 22-count indictment charging

three defendants with violations of numerous federal statutes, including involuntary servitude. Two others pleaded guilty to conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing. We allege that one of the defendants, Kil Soo Lee, held nearly 250 Vietnamese and Chinese workers (mostly young women) in involuntary servitude

for over two years in the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, using them as

forced labor in his garment factory. He reportedly maintained a captive and

cheap labor force through various coercive means, including assaults, beatings,

extreme food deprivation, creation of company store indebtedness, denial of

other work opportunities, threats of deportation with severe economic consequences including bankruptcy, confiscation of passports, and false arrest. Lee

and his subordinates are alleged to have held the victims in a guarded compound containing a factory, living barracks, and a cafeteria. Approximately 180

14

of the victims remain in the United States and are helping law enforcement.

Trial is scheduled for April 2002 (United States v. Kil Soo Lee)

• In August 2001, a federal grand jury in El Paso, Texas returned a six-count indictment charging two defendants with recruiting women from Uzbekistan into

the United States under false pretenses, then forcing them to work in strip

clubs and bars in order to pay back an alleged $300,000 smuggling fee. We allege that the victims’ passports were taken away, that they were required to

work seven days a week, and that they were told that their families in

Uzbekistan would be harmed if they did not comply with the defendants’ demands. (United States v. Gasanov)

• In August, May, and March 2001, three defendants pleaded guilty to rounding

up and enslaving homeless and drug-addicted African-American men in Fort

Pierce, Florida, and forcing them to pick oranges against their will by using

crack-cocaine, threats and violence. The two primary defendants were subsequently sentenced to prison terms of 55 and 48 months. (United States v. Lee)

• In June 2001, three men pleaded guilty in federal district court to bringing two

sixteen-year-old Russian giris to Anchorage, Alaska to dance nude in a strip

club. The two main defendants were sentenced in August and September to 46

and 30 months incarceration. (United States v. Virchenko)

• In March 2001, a Berkeley, California multimillionaire pleaded guilty to using

beatings and threats to hold girls captive whom he had brought into the United

States from India to work in his real estate business. The victims were predominantly from families of ‘‘lower’’ castes and were brought here by way of fraudulent employment offers or sham marriages. The defendant was sentenced to 97

months incarceration and was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to four

of his victims. (United States v. Reddy)

As the facts of these cases suggest, human trafficking cases are labor-intensive

and time-consuming matters, often involving many victims and requiring the fulltime involvement of multiple attorneys and investigators. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice prosecuted 34 defendants in FY 2001, four times as many as in the

year before. In addition, the Civil Rights Division opened investigations in 64 allegations of trafficking in FY 2001. As of today, there were 92 investigations pending,

which represents a 20 percent increase in the number of pending investigations we

had a year earlier and a three-fold increase since establishing our Trafficking in

Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force toIl-free hotline in February 2000.

Since the new statute was only recently passed and its criminal law provisions do

not apply retroactively, only three of the Department’s recent indictments included

charges under the new criminal statutes. Many of our 92 investigations currently

underway include allegations that may lead to indictments under the VTVPA, however.

Outreach

To enhance the Department’s outreach efforts, the Attorney General announced

in March of 2001 that there would be permanent funding of our Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force toll-free hotline (1-888-428-7581). He also

announced the creation of a community outreach program to work with local community groups, victims’ rights organizations, immigrants’ rights organizations, shelters, and other interested groups.

The Department plans to continue or initiate several outreach activities during

2002.

First, various components in the Department will release interagency trafficking

in persons brochures. The Department has developed two brochures on trafficking

in persons: The first brochure is designed for federal law enforcement personnel to

hand out to trafficking victims they encounter during the course of their investigations and prosecutions. The Executive Office for United States Attorneys, the FBI,

and INS will send the brochure to their agents and victim specialists in the field.

Based on research about trafficking victims found in this country, this brochure is

designed to provide information to victims about their rights and available services

and to give them specific contact information for the Department of Justice or Department of State law enforcement agency working with them. We anticipate translating the brochure into Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Russian. These

five languages are among the most common languages spoken by trafficking victims

in the United States.

The second brochure is being published by the Department of Justice in collaboration with the Departments of Labor, State, and Health and Human Services (HHS).

It is designed to provide information about federal activities on human trafficking

for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are likely to encounter trafficking

15

victims. The Civil Rights Division plans to send this brochure to the 1,500 organizations and service providers in its trafficking database; post the brochure on the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force website (other components

within Justice will post it on their websites as well); provide the brochures to the

Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices

grantees (including faith- and community-based organizations), which conduct public education programs for workers, employers, and immigration service providers

about immigration-related job discrimination; and use the brochure in outreach

presentations before appropriate audiences. The Department’s Violence Against

Women Office (VAWO) plans to send the brochure for NGOs to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (which collaborates with 1,800 shelters nationwide), STOP Violence Against Women Formula

Grant Program state administrators, and state and tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions.

Second, the Department will continue to hold roundtables with NGOs and law enforcement groups. In January 2002, the Department held a roundtable meeting with

approximately 35 NGOs to discuss the main features of the T nonimmigrant status

regulation, and to inform them that the T nonimmigrant visa was available for victims of severe forms of trafficking. The Department intends to hold future meetings

with the NGOs, perhaps in smaller groups, to provide an overview of the Department’s efforts to combat and monitor trafficking in persons. The Department is also

planning to meet with national and local law enforcement groups to present the

trafficking brochures, and to discuss collaborations between the Department of Justice and national and local law enforcement groups to combat trafficking.

Third, the Department plans to continue and expand its public presentations on

trafficking with a wide range of audiences, including the annual meetings of law enforcement groups, victim service organizations, immigrant and refugee advocacy

groups, public health professionals, and others. This work frequently involves participating in community-level meetings in places around the country. The Department is also providing information on the Department’s anti-trafficking efforts to

such groups for dissemination to their networks through newsletters and other publications. Two specific areas of Department activity in this area are as follows:

• First, the Department continues to provide training and assistance to VAWO

grantees. The technical assistance providers for each of the VAWO grant programs conduct several ‘‘technical assistance institutes’’ annually; these institutes provide VAWO grantees and subgrantees with an opportunity to receive

training and support. Throughout FY 2002, VAWO plans to use these institutes

as a vehicle to provide information to its grantees about the new federal trafficking law and about resources for victims.

• Second, through the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal

Division (CEOS), the Department will collaborate with police departments and

federal law enforcement to provide training on the trafficking of American

youth for exploitation. For instance, CEOS will offer programs through the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and Police Department’s annual program and

the Children’s National Advocacy Center program in Huntsville, Alabama.

Coordination

The Attorney General stated as a third component in his March 2001 announcement that the Department would increase coordination among its offices in order

to investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases more effectively. He directed

both the FBI and the INS to work with the Civil Rights Division to explore ways

to identify victims of trafficking and to refer these cases to the Division for prosecution. The FBI and INS play critical leadership roles in identifying victims and investigating these crimes.

The Department has begun, and will continue, to implement the Attorney General’s mandate for increased coordination by training federal prosecutors and law

enforcement. The Department’s continuing training activities include: training federal prosecutors and agents at the Justice Department’s National Advocacy Center

(NAC) in South Carolina; training FBI agents and civil rights supervisors at the

FBI facility at Quantico; training federal victim-witness coordinators at the NAC;

and training through the Justice Television Network (JTN), a satellite television

network broadcast to U.S. Attorney’s offices and other components of the Department of Justice. The Department is planning another training course for federal

prosecutors and agents in October 2002.

The Department has also begun, and will continue, training INS personnel regarding trafficking issues. In January 2002, the INS conducted training at its

Vermont Service Center on the adjudication of T nonimmigrant status applications.

The program included substantive education about the dynamics of trafficking, idenVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
16

tifying trafficking, and the statutory and regulatory eligibility for T status. INS has

also produced a training video entitled ‘‘Stopping Traffick,’’ which began airing on

INS TV this week, and which is being distributed for viewing in all INS Districts

and Sectors. INS will also train new Border Patrol agents, district counsels, new

attomeys and advanced attorneys, and asylum officers. INS’s Office of International

Affairs is also creating a training film on ‘‘Trafficking of Women and Children’’ in

coordination with the INS Training Academy. INS through its Internet website

(http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawenfor/interiorenf/antitraf.htm) provides employees and the public with information, forms, and procedural guidance related to

the provisions of the VTVPA.

In addition to these intra-agency efforts, the Department is also actively pursuing

inter-agency coordination on two fronts.

First, the Department of Justice has worked with the Department of State to finalize the creation of an intelligence-sharing center: the Migrant Smuggling and

Trafficking in Persons Coordination Center, which will be in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, will work with the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Coast Guard, the INS, the FBI,

and others to share intelligence information about trafficking in persons and alien

smuggling activity.

Second, the Department of Justice will continue its leadership and participation

in the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force. This interagency

group helps coordinate the investigation, prosecution, and protection of victims of

trafficking and other exploitive work practices. The Task Force is co-chaired by the

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the Solicitor of Labor. Other participating Department of Justice components include the Criminal Division, the FBI,

the INS, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Office of Legal Policy, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Violence Against Women Office. Participating Department of Labor components include the Office of the Solicitor, the Wage and

Hour Division, and the Women’s Bureau. Other federal partners include the U.S.

Departments of State, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services; the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and the National Labor Relations Board. In addition, the Task Force has created fifteen regional task forces, each of which has

points of contacts from local offices of federal agencies. In 2002, the Department will

devote particular attention to strengthening the regional task forces.

PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING

Issuance of the T Nonimmigrant Status Regulation

Section 107(e) of the VTVPA created a new nonimmigrant status (so-called ‘‘T’’

visas) for eligible victims of severe forms of trafficking. The Attorney General has

signed an interim T non-immigrant status regulation, which became effective as of

March 4, 2002. The interim final regulation addresses the essential elements that

must be demonstrated for classification as a T nonimmigrant alien, the procedures

for applicants to follow in applying for nonimmigrant status, and evidentiary guidance to assist in the application process. Five thousand T status classifications will

be available annually to principals. See 67 Fed. Reg. 4783 (January 31, 2002).

Issuance of the 107(c) Regulation

In July 2001, the Departments of Justice and State issued a regulation implementing section 107(c) of the VTVPA, which provides authority for the INS to arrange for ‘‘continued presence’’ to allow victims of trafficking to remain in the

United States while law enforcement is investigating or prosecuting trafficking

crimes. This regulation also requires Justice and State to identify and appropriately

address the particular needs of victims of severe forms of trafficking and to provide

access to information about their rights and translation services.

Specifically, the 107(c) regulation requires federal law enforcement personnel, immigration officials, and Department of State officials to: (1) identify victims of severe

forms of human trafficking; (2) protect victims in custody; (3) provide victims with

access to information and translation services; (4) establish legal mechanisms for allowing victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons, who are potential witnesses,

continued presence and reasonable protection in the United States; and (5) develop

appropriate training for Department of Justice and State personnel investigating

and prosecuting these cases.

Identifying Victims. Federal officials must identify victims of severe forms of

trafficking in persons. The regulation helps clarify the roles and responsibilities

of federal officials in identifying victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons

as early as possible in the investigation and prosecution process, to ensure efforts are made to see that such victims are accorded the rights described in 42

17

U.S.C. § 10606, and to provide the protections and services required under 42

U.S.C. § 10607 and under the VTVPA.

Protection. Victims of severe forms of trafficking who are in custody must be

protected. The regulation establishes procedures for appropriate federal employees to ensure, to the extent practicable, that victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons are housed in a manner appropriate to their status as crime

victims, afforded proper medical care and other assistance, and protected while

in federal custody.

Access to Information. Trafficking victims must be informed of their rights,

provided information about pro bono and low-cost legal services, and accorded

reasonable access to translation services if they are unable to communicate in

English. In order to help meet these obligations, the Department and other federal agencies have created, and plan to distribute, the brochures that I have

previously described for NGOs and victims.

Continued Presence. The regulation clarifies the procedures for federal law enforcement officials to request that certain victims of severe forms of trafficking

in persons, who are aliens and potential witnesses to such trafficking, be permitted to have continued presence in the United States in order to effectuate

the investigation and prosecution of those responsible. It also establishes procedures to protect victims’ safety, including taking measures to protect victims of

severe forms of trafficking in persons and their family members from intimidation, reprisals, and threats of reprisals by traffickers and their associates. The

INS may use a variety of immigration mechanisms to ensure the alien’s continued presence in the United States. The specific mechanism used will depend on

the alien’s current status under the immigration laws and other relevant facts.

These mechanisms may include parole, voluntary departure, stay of final order,

section 107(c)(3)-based deferred action, or any other authorized form of continued presence, including applicable nonimmigrant visas. In most circumstances,

victims granted continued presence will be eligible for temporary employment

authorization. As of February 28, 2002, the INS had received, processed, and

was tracking 216 requests for continued presence (of which 184 are in connection with the case in American Samoa, mentioned earlier). To date, none of the

requests for continued presence has been denied.

Training. The regulation provides guidance about training of appropriate Justice and State Department personnel in identifying victims of severe forms of

trafficking in persons, in understanding the particular needs common to victims

of severe forms of trafficking in persons, and in providing for the protection of

such victims. In addition to general training of internal federal prosecutors,

agents, and INS personnel, which have already been described, the Department

continues to conduct extensive training activities on various components’ responsibilities under the 107(e) regulation. The Department plans to develop

training modules to highlight the relationship between trafficking in persons

cases and other types of criminal prosecutions, such as organized crime, money

laundering and other topics, as appropriate.

HHS Certification

Victims of severe trafficking in persons may be eligible for a number of benefits

and services, regardless of immigration status. Under Section 107(b) of the VTVPA,

alien victims of severe forms of trafficking are eligible for many federally-funded assistance programs to the same extent as aliens admitted to the United States as

refugees under § 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. To be eligible to receive this assistance, adult victims of severe forms of trafficking must have been certified by HHS after consultation with the Department of Justice. HHS will testify

about the implementation of 107(b) at today’s hearing; however, I can report that

the Department of Justice and HHS have worked very closely together since the enactment of the VTVPA. We remain in frequent communication and coordination

about how best to implement the VTVPA and how to assist victims in trafficking.

Federal Grants

The Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Act for FY 2002 appropriated $10

million to the Department to fund a grant program established by the VTVPA. The

VTVPA provides that the Attorney General may use these funds to make grants to

states, Indian tribes, units of local government, and nonprofit, non-governmental

victims’ service organizations to develop, expand, or strengthen victim service programs for victims of trafficking. The Office for Victims of Crime, which is charged

with managing this program, is currently working with an interagency task force

to finalize its development.

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CONCLUSION

Since passage of the VTVPA, the urgent need for these measures has only become

more apparent. The Department of Justice continues to encounter many human

trafficking victims who need assistance and protection. We commend Congress for

passing this legislation and assure the Subcommittee that we are working—and will

continue to work—diligently to implement the VTVPA and to help bring a measure

of comfort, justice, and dignity to trafficking victims in the United States by combating this modem form of oppression.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to your questions at this time.

Senator WELLSTONE. Let me thank both of you for your excellent

testimony. I think Senator Brownback and I will each try to limit

ourselves to 10 minutes for questions.

Let me start with Under Secretary Dobriansky. How high on the

agenda is trafficking for the Department of State? Let me kind of

operationalize that. In your diplomatic efforts, with whom are you

raising this issue? When President Bush meets with President

Putin for a summit in May, will he raise the issue of trafficking?

Who have you met with specifically to raise this issue?

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. First, I will begin with this important point— the fact that as an Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, as

I indicated, the office reports directly to me. I have personally

raised this issue. In fact, I was abroad just recently in Ukraine, in

South Korea, and in India. I had meetings at, in a couple of cases,

the head of state level and at other levels. This was an issue that,

in fact, was raised and discussed.

Our Deputy Secretary has been very vigorous, very engaged in

these trafficking-in-person issues, very helpful I think in a number

of diplomatic exchanges and also in terms of our interagency coordination.

Then finally, I would say a word about the Presidential level. Recently, the President, as you know, was in Asia. I am not aware

and I cannot say that it was addressed in all of the countries, but

I do know that there was some discussion actually in one of the

countries, but actually for positive reasons because of some positive

movement.

Senator WELLSTONE. I think when some of the countries have

made the improvements, that is certainly part of what we are asking for. It is high profile. That is important. And I would hope that

the President, when it is not so positive, would also challenge governments and make it clear that this is very high on our list of priorities.

What has the State Department done in domestic worker trafficking or abuse cases involving foreign officials of international organizations or diplomats in the United States or, for that matter,

American diplomats abroad? As you know, we have had some

sticky situations, and I am wondering what the State

Department——

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. You are referring to, you said, domestic situations. Is that correct?

Senator WELLSTONE. Yes. You have got a diplomat over here in

Washington who has a young woman working for a family who is

basically in slave labor conditions. What are we doing about that?

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. Well, to my knowledge, first, it goes back to the

question about diplomatic approaches, when there are cases that

19

are here in the United States, we do make representations certainly to the respective embassies and also certainly inform our

posts overseas about the scale or scope of any cases. In addition,

I believe there is also collaboration with the Department of Justice

because it also would have prospective domestic legal implications.

Those are the kinds of things that we have been doing.

Senator WELLSTONE. But do we do anything beyond representations? Any kind of action taken that makes it clear it is unacceptable?

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. Absolutely. I would say it is also addressed in

a broader context. If you look at this issue, we try to take it on

more strategically. When we sit down with other countries—and, if

I may say, using the report as a peg—that does not only mean at

the time the report was issued—but subsequently when we have

bilateral exchanges with countries—specific cases, specific examples are shared.

Senator WELLSTONE. Mr. Dinh, I was talking earlier about the

concern I have just based upon what I have heard or what we have

heard all together with staff around the country. And I am now focusing on sort of the trafficking in our own country. By the way,

this is a question I will ask later of the Office of Trafficking. We

need to collect the data. I have heard so many different reports on

exactly how many women, girls—sometimes I guess men or boys—

we are dealing with. I think we need to have a clear picture of the

magnitude of the problem.

But one of the concerns I have is just in the states law enforcement is not necessarily trained, so they do not really recognize this

when it is before them. Does the Department of Justice have any

plans to ensure a greater amount of coordination among the assistant U.S. attorneys around the country and here with you all in

Washington?

Mr. DINH. Yes, sir, and if I may highlight the coordination and

training efforts about which you are interested and also highlight

some of the things that we are doing in order to further that effort.

In October 2000, immediately after the passage of the act, the

Department of Justice hosted a training program for interagency

personnel, including personnel from the Departments of Labor,

State, and HHS, on the impact of the act on the investigation and

prosecution of these cases and also on the assistance of victims. We

followed up again last year with training of INS and FBI personnel

on identifying victims and processing them in a humane and cooperative way through the process to assist the prosecution.

In March of last year, almost immediately upon taking office, the

Attorney General announced his initiative to combat trafficking. As

part of that initiative, he directed our Intergovernmental Affairs

Office, our U.S. attorneys, our FBI, and INS to work with the Civil

Rights Division in a cooperative manner and also to work with our

state and local partners, the 28,000 state and local police agencies,

who really come in contact at a very first level with these activities.

We will continue these efforts both in training and in identification. We have worked with the Department of State to finalize an

interagency intelligence center, which will be supervised by the

Civil Rights Division, in order to get more intelligence, more information sharing on this matter.

20

One of the things that we have encountered is the fact that these

crimes operate in darkness. The perpetrators hide in the shadows.

The victims suffer in silence and helplessness, so we have to have

a very well-coordinated effort to work together with our state and

local partners and the service agencies and NGOs to identify victims, to put them into the loop so that we can help them.

Senator WELLSTONE. Let me make a quick comment and put the

final two questions in one question to you. That way we can move

it right to Senator Brownback and we will move things along.

I again want to emphasize what I said at the beginning. I appreciate your comment. I am under the very distinct impression—and

I think Senator Brownback had the sort of mood piece of this hearing. I think he hit it the right way, which is to give a lot of credit.

It is only a year and people are moving forward. But I am impatient and I think we can do better, and that is fine. I think we all

agree. I am under the impression we have a fine INS Commissioner, who was our Sergeant at Arms.

I do think there has to be more training because I do think that

you have got some of these women or some of these girls in these

detention centers, and I do not think we are in there interviewing

them and understanding why they are there or what they have

been through. We need to do a better job of that. So, I would just

emphasize that and push very hard, and I think you all could play

a critical role.

Let me put two cases together and just get your response. If the

INS has determined a victim will suffer unusual or severe harm

upon return to the country of origin, but then determines that the

victim has not complied with the requests of law enforcement, will

the victim be deported even though it is certain that she—usually

we are talking about she—will suffer harm? And are there efforts

made to protect these women or girls if they are deported? That is

the first question. I will have a followup real quickly.

Mr. DINH. The requirements of the T-visa are specified under

section 107 of the act and they include both extreme hardship and

reasonable cooperation with law enforcement requests. So, each one

of these is a statutory requirement that we, in implementing the

non-immigrant status, have to comply with.

With respect to your specific question—— Senator WELLSTONE. My question is based on that—— Mr. DINH. Exactly, exactly. With respect to the specific question

on whether extreme hardship is met—your asking what else we

can do to ensure that this person is not returned to a country

where they would suffer hardship—first I would note that the cooperation standard under the T-visa is only one of compliance with

reasonable requests of law agencies. This standard can be met in

a number of ways: by a copy of the complaint, by an endorsement

of the law enforcement agency, by a transcript, by any other evidence. And it is only a preponderance of the evidence standard, so

it is not the very high standard imposed in a normal criminal prosecution. So, I would hope that the INS, in issuing the T-visas—and

indeed, the personnel have been trained in this regard—would be

sympathetic toward the granting of these visas for these victims.

But if there were a case when the extreme hardship requirement

is met and yet one or the other of the statutory requirements are

21

not met, then the person would not be eligible for a T-visa. That

does not mean that he or she is not eligible for continued presence

under 107(c) or for humanitarian parole that the Attorney General

can grant upon his personal discretion such as he granted to

Phanupong Khaisri, or Got.

Senator WELLSTONE. I am not a lawyer, but what you are saying

to me—I mean, we worked with you on the definition of cooperation. I think we reached a good compromise. But what you are saying is even given that definition, you have a situation where she

has not cooperated, that the Attorney General can still provide, if

you will, amnesty or whatever. Right?

Mr. DINH. Yes. Humanitarian parole, yes, sir.

Senator WELLSTONE. If in fact it is clear that if she now is deported back to the country of origin, she could be in harm’s way.

Mr. DINH. Yes. It is a discretionary grant by the Attorney General.

But let me stress that noncooperation can always be remedied by

continued cooperation or future cooperation. That is certainly our

hope, working with the victim hand in glove, because I think victims and investigators here are part of the same team.

Senator WELLSTONE. I am going to hand it to Senator

Brownback. I am going to have a written question on the Samoa

case that you talked about. OK?

Mr. DINH. That is a case near and dear to my heart.

Senator WELLSTONE. Yes, I have a number of other written questions too.

Senator Brownback.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

Congratulations on the work that you are doing. I am glad to

hear about all of this.

Dr. Dobriansky, on the advocacy work that you are doing—and

thank you for raising this in so many various places, and the countries you cited are certainly some key ones to raise these issues.

I have been to a couple of those myself and raised the issue, and

each time that is raised, I think it drives further home, OK, the

United States is serious about this. My experience on human rights

issues and issues like this is unless the U.S. raises it, it just does

not get raised. So, I really appreciate your doing that.

One group that I talked with was in Thailand and some of the

regional countries there talking about a regional conference and

working together to combat. Are you working with them, and what

is your sense of that one? Or are there other regions that are working together to try to combat the issue of sex trafficking?

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. The regional approach is one which is very

much welcome because, as you well know, this is a transborder

issue. It does not affect just one country or a group of countries.

It is a global problem. Certainly in a number of regions, it is very

much interwoven and interconnected.

The regional approach in this case, also in Africa, has been invaluable. In fact, let me share some developments with you. In December of last year, our Ambassador in Nigeria initiated a conference, which included a number of the countries surrounding Nigeria and which have been affected by trafficking flows. They

worked toward the goal of trying to think about how they could colVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
22

laborate regionally through preventive action and prosecutions because of trafficking flows going from one location to another. The

sharing of information in that regard, and then also the protection

of victims was featured. This, I think, has significant potential and

is really a kind of strategy that we should be pursuing more vigorously and not just in only this region mentioned.

Senator BROWNBACK. Good, because it seems to me the most likelihood of us being able to have a basis of success where you get,

as I understand, the information, both the sending and the recipient countries working together and each doing what they can to try

to stop this flow of people moving back and forth.

Mr. Dinh, we will hear a witness on the third panel about international sex tourism. There are some laws on the books already

about this, but it involves, as I understand, you have to establish

an intention in the person’s mind once they buy the ticket before

they leave the country to do this. And that makes those cases pretty difficult to prosecute. Have you had any review of cases like this

or any dealings with cases like that?

Mr. DINH. Yes, sir. When this problem was brought to our attention, I asked the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to explain the problem to me in light of the prosecution of these cases

and difficulties they encounter. And the problem is exactly as you

stated. That is, a person has to have formed the intent to engage

in sex with a minor abroad before he leaves the country in order

to qualify for prosecution under current law. And, indeed, even if

a person has formed such an intent, you can imagine the prosecutorial and investigative problems we encounter in establishing the

formation of such intent prior to getting on the plane and leaving

this country. Having sex with a minor while abroad alone is not

enough under current law. One has to have formed the intent prior

to one leaving the country, and that is the evidentiary problem that

we have under current law.

Senator BROWNBACK. Well, we want to work with you to make

changes in the current law so that those cases can be prosecuted

because one of the things that the Thai officials raised with me was

saying, we are getting people traveling in here from out of country

and conducting and doing really awful activities. We want to stop

the trafficking, but we want to stop this person from coming in and

doing these sorts of activities. And I thought, well, that is a legitimate request on their part toward us.

Have you had any conversations like that with other officials? Or

maybe I should ask Dr. Dobriansky as well if you have.

Mr. DINH. I certainly have asked our folks to suggest ways that

we can think about, with your leadership, as you suggested, curing

this problem. One way to think about the problem is to make the

simple act of sex with a minor abroad without the prior intent sufficient to prosecute under the Federal law. That would require a

legislative fix. Likewise, those who facilitate such actions by the operating of tours for those purposes should be held liable so that we

can get at the root cause of these, the operators of these tours. But

we would welcome your leadership on the issue, and I look forward

to working with you for the legislative fixes we need.

Senator BROWNBACK. Have you had this raised with you?

23

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. I would just say that our discussions have varied. There have been some countries that have been more forthcoming on information and there have been others that have not.

It depends upon who you are speaking to and the context. But I

have to say that on several occasions this issue has been raised.

Senator BROWNBACK. Good. Thank you both. Really, please express our appreciation to your Departments for really grabbing a

hold of this aggressively, early, quickly and pressing it. We want

to work with you to get more done fast. When you look in the eyes

of the children that you are helping, it is a very gratifying thing,

what you are doing. It is an awful thing that is happening to them,

and for us to get what, I think the chairman has once referred to,

as this part of the dark side of the globalizing economy, getting at

that is an important thing for us and humanity to be dealing with.

So, thanks for what you are doing.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you, both of you. We appreciate your

leadership.

Mr. DINH. Thank you.

Ms. DOBRIANSKY. Thank you.

Senator WELLSTONE. We are just going to try to move right

along. The second panel will be Ambassador Ely-Raphel. Ambassador Ely-Raphel is the new Senior Advisor to the Secretary on

trafficking issues and the Director of what I will call the Office of

Trafficking. And Dr. Van Hanh is the new Director of the Office of

Refugee Resettlement.

Ambassador Ely-Raphel.

STATEMENT OF AMB. NANCY H. ELY-RAPHEL, SENIOR ADVISOR, OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN

PERSONS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With your permission, I would like to present my full testimony for the record and

thus abbreviate my statement.

Senator WELLSTONE. It will be in the record.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Thank you.

It is an honor for me to appear before the Senate for the first

time in my capacity as the head of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Trafficking in persons is a criminal commerce in human lives in

which individuals are nothing more than commodities to be exploited for profit. It is a contemporary form of enslavement through

physical, economic, or psychological bondage by those who dishonor

and corrupt every value and ideal American society represents. It

is a problem that cries out for redress.

The 2001 Trafficking in Persons report has proven to be an invaluable tool in raising the profile of trafficking throughout the

world and spurring governments to take action. The stigma attached and the threat of sanctions is a strong motivator.

The annual trafficking report is a work in progress. Over the last

several months, we have solicited feedback from NGOs, congressional officials and staff, and relevant government agencies. Based

on this response, we launched an e-mail address to enable NGOs

and international organizations to send trafficking information diVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
24

rectly to the office. This change, we believe, will allow more direct

engagement by the NGOs, as well as enhance transparency.

In addition, our embassies and consulates are providing more detailed information. We have added data-specific questions on the

number of arrests, indictments, plea bargains, fines, and convictions of traffickers.

During fiscal year 2001, the State Department supported and implemented over 100 trafficking-related programs and initiatives in

approximately 40 countries. This year we will focus on assisting eligible countries in tiers 2 and 3. We will continue to expand our assistance to local NGOs and international organizations. In addition,

we will seek to expand our government-to-government programs for

those governments that are committed to address trafficking. These

types of programs included legislative assistance, training programs for government officials to investigate and prosecute traffickers, and startup equipment for anti-trafficking task forces or

police units. We are encouraging our embassies to solicit financial

or in-kind support from the host governments for programs implemented by NGOs. We hope this approach will help to ensure sustainability of the NGO programs, as well as facilitate governmentNGO cooperation.

Next week my office will meet with relevant State Department

bureaus, AID, and the Department of Labor to begin reviewing the

many good proposals we received for possible funding.

As Under Secretary Dobriansky noted, we have raised trafficking

at every opportunity with foreign governments, domestic audiences,

and within our own government. Last week I attended the Regional

Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crimes in Indonesia. I was struck

by the high level of commitment in that region to combat trafficking in persons and organized crime. There was much candid

discussion about the need to improve their efforts to address trafficking in persons.

Over the last year, members of our new office have traveled to

Japan, West Africa, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Jamaica to speak on trafficking panels at international conferences

and to share information with various foreign government officials

and non-governmental representatives. They also traveled to different states, ranging from Alaska to Vermont, to enhance domestic

public awareness of the trafficking issues or participate in training

courses and conferences for U.S. Government officials.

The U.S. Government and Congress’ enactment of the Victims of

Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 put the spotlight on

this violation of fundamental human rights. As a result of our leadership, in many cases governments are taking action, and we will

work very, very hard to ensure success in our program.

I thank you very much for the opportunity to share our efforts

and progress and look forward to continued collaboration with you.

[The prepared statement of Ambassador Ely-Raphel follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF AMB. NANCY H. ELY-RAPHEL, SENIOR ADVISOR, OFFICE TO

MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

It is an honor for me to appear before the Senate for the first time in my capacity

as the head of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S.

Department of State. We are all here today to talk about trafficking in persons,

25

which is the modern-day form of slavery that plagues our societies in the new millennium.

As Under Secretary Dobriansky indicated in the previous panel, the Department

of State is actively implementing the provisions of the Victims of Trafficking and

Violence Protection Act of 2000. I would like to take this opportunity to provide details about what the Trafficking Office is doing at the working level with respect

to the Trafficking in Persons Report, international programs and outreach.

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

The 2001 Trafficking in Persons Report has proven to be an invaluable tool in

raising the profile of trafficking throughout the world and spurring countries to take

action. The stigma attached—and the threat of sanctions—is a strong motivator.

Government representatives from Tier 3 countries such as South Korea, Israel and

Romania, met with us on several occasions for guidance on actions they could take

to improve their record.

The Annual Trafficking in Persons Report is a work in progress. Over the last

several months, we solicited feedback from non-governmental organizations, congressional officials and their staff, and relevant U.S. government agencies on how

we can improve this Report.

Based on this feedback we launched an e-mail address to allow non-governmental

and international organizations to send trafficking information directly to the Office.

This change we believe will allow more direct engagement by the non-governmental

organizations as well as enhance transparency. The response has been very positive.

Already, we are getting information from various NGOs around the world.

In addition, our embassies and consulates around the world are providing more

detailed information for the 2002 Report regarding corruption and the political will

of governments to combat trafficking. We also added data-specific questions on the

number of arrests, indictments, plea bargains, fines, and convictions of traffickers.

This is in direct response to a concern raised by many of our colleagues in the nongovernmental arena, who noted that a country’s commitment can certainly be measured through their commitment to stamping out corruption. As of this week, over

half of our embassies have submitted their information for the second annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

I will use this report as a mechanism to expand our bilateral dialogues with other

countries. It is only through this dialogue that we can educate countries, identify

their shortcomings, and assist them in strengthening their efforts.

Finally, I would also like to note that the Annual Country Reports on Human

Rights Practices, which the Department issued this past Monday, contained detailed

information about the problem of trafficking, which was compiled by the Bureau of

Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and our many embassies overseas. Members

of my office worked collaboratively with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,

and Labor on these reports, which contain detailed information on a variety of subjects related to trafficking, including conditions for victims and efforts by Governments and non-governmental organizations to combat trafficking.

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

During fiscal year 2001, the State Department supported and implemented over

100 trafficking-related programs and initiatives in approximately 40 countries. The

estimated value of the State Department programs is $11.5 million. The types of

programs funded included information campaigns, international visitor programs,

law enforcement training programs, equipment for new anti-trafficking police units,

equipment for forensic interview rooms for child victims, equipment for new crisis

centers, and repatriation and reintegration programs.

This year we will focus on assisting eligible countries in Tiers 2 and 3 to address

trafficking in persons. We will continue to expand our assistance to local non-governmental and international organizations for services to victims and for trafficking

prevention. In addition, we will seek to expand our government-to-government programs for those governments that are committed to address trafficking. These types

of programs include legislative assistance, training programs for government officials to investigate and prosecute traffickers, and start-up equipment for anti-trafficking taskforces or police units. We are encouraging our embassies to solicit financial or in-kind support from the host governments for programs implemented by

nongovernmental organizations. We hope this approach will help to ensure sustainability of the NGO programs as well as facilitate government-NGO cooperation, and

ultimately end our engagement so we can invest our funds in other countries that

present new opportunities for beginning or strengthening the battle against trafficking.

26

Next week, my Office will meet with relevant State Department bureaus, USAID,

and Department of Labor to begin reviewing the many good proposals we received

for possible funding. We will collectively identify the proposals which merit further

consideration, then each bureau or agency will proceed with its own internal approval and administrative process to get these proposals funded. We have a tracking

system in place to begin monitoring the amount of funds obligated for international

anti-trafficking programs. This will help us better allocate our limited resources and

promote transparency and coordination within the U.S. government.

OUTREACH

A key role of my Office is to promote awareness about the trafficking issue and

the U.S. government’s antitrafficking efforts with foreign governments, our own government, non-governmental organizations and the general public.

As Under Secretary Dobriansky noted, we have raised trafficking at every opportunity with foreign countries, domestic audiences, and within our own government.

Last week I attended the ‘‘Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling,

Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes’’ in Indonesia. I was

struck by the high-level commitment in the region to combat trafficking in persons

and organized crime. There was much candid discussion about the need to improve

their efforts to address trafficking in persons.

While the Trafficking in Persons Report has helped illuminate the importance of

the issue, we need to continue to educate governments on the importance of safeguarding the rights of victims, providing them with protection and prosecuting the

traffickers. We also need to educate governments on the differences between migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons.

Over the last year, members of our new office traveled to Japan, West Africa, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Jamaica to speak on trafficking panels at international conferences and share information with various foreign government officials and non-governmental representatives. They also traveled to different states,

ranging from Alaska to Vermont to South Carolina, to enhance domestic public

awareness of the trafficking issue and/or participate in training courses and conferences for U.S. government officials.

We are working to institutionalize anti-trafficking training for our foreign and

civil service officers, ambassadors, and other U.S. government officials. For example,

we recently did a presentation on the scope and magnitude of trafficking in Vermont

as part of a program for INS personnel who will be adjudicating T Visa applications.

CLOSING

The United States Government, and Congress’ enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, put the spotlight on this human rights

and criminal problem. As a result of our leadership, in many cases governments are

taking action to eradicate this crime and to help its victims. The success of our efforts will be determined by the extent to which the fight against trafficking and assistance to its victims becomes institutionalized in civil society and governments all

over the world.

I thank you for the opportunity to share our efforts and progress, and look forward to our continued collaboration.

Thank you.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you very much. You made the yellow

light, broke a record for all of us.

Dr. Hanh.

STATEMENT OF NGUYEN VAN HANH, PH.D., DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, WASHINGTON, DC

Dr. HANH. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the progress of

the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], in implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. With your

permission, my full testimony has been submitted for the record.

Senator WELLSTONE. It will be included in the record.

Dr. HANH. The following is my brief statement.

27

As evidenced by this panel, HHS is only one of the many Federal

agencies playing a role in efforts to combat human trafficking.

Given the complexity of participating in such a multi-agency endeavor, I am pleased at the progress that has been made and I am

committed to continuing our efforts to implement the law in conjunction with the other key Federal agencies.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act makes adult victims of severe forms of trafficking, who have been certified HHS, eligible for

certain benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. Victims of severe forms of trafficking who are under 18 years of age

also are eligible for these benefits to the same extent as refugees,

but do not need to be certified. Rather, these young victims receive

letters of eligibility for services.

HHS has developed a systematic approach to the certification of

trafficking victims and the facilitation of their access to benefits

and services. We consult frequently with the U.S. Department of

Justice, the agency that investigates and prosecutes trafficking

cases and refers appropriate cases to my office for certification. We

also coordinate with the U.S. attorneys’ offices around the country

on trafficking cases, as well as other Federal law enforcement officials from the Department of Labor and Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS].

Once we receive a referral, in order for us to issue a letter of certification, we must ensure that the victim has met all of the criteria required by the act. Adult victims must either have been

granted continued presence or have received a bona fide T-visa application determination by INS. In addition, adult trafficking victims must be willing to assist in every reasonable way in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. Finally, individuals must be

determined to be victims of a severe form of trafficking.

If the appropriate criteria are met, then we will provide a certification letter to adult victims safely and without breaches of confidentiality. In addition, we contact local refugee service providers

and other benefit-granting agencies to identify the most appropriate local programs to help the victims.

We also work with the INS to coordinate access to employment

authorization documents, or EAD’s. If a victim has an EAD, he or

she may be eligible to enroll in programs which emphasize employment. One of these programs, the matching grant program, is designed to help refugees and now trafficking victims to obtain selfsufficiency within 4 months.

No group of individuals is more fragile and susceptible than victims who are under the age of 18, especially when the minors are

unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. We are developing procedures to provide the best options for these victims, who not only

need to begin their recovery from their traumatic experiences but

also require resolution of their custody.

In fiscal year 2001, we issued 194 certification letters to adults

and 4 eligibility letters to minors under the age of 18. Since the beginning of fiscal year 2002, 17 more certification letters for adults

have been sent and 5 additional minors have received letters of eligibility.

If you will allow me a couple of minutes, I would like to clarify

a couple points here.

28

In addition to certification and assistance activities, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act calls for HHS, in collaboration with

other designated Federal agencies, to establish and carry out programs to increase public awareness about trafficking in persons. To

that end, we have been actively involved with outreach efforts

aimed at immigrant and refugee communities, non-governmental

organizations, voluntary agencies, state and local social service providers, and other Federal and state officials.

Clearly, the trafficking program requires a close working relationship among many departments. HHS Deputy Secretary Claude

Allen recently participated in the inaugural meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force on Trafficking, chaired by Secretary

of State Colin Powell, reinforcing our commitment to work together

on this critical effort.

In fiscal year 2001, we awarded more than $1.25 million in discretionary grants to aid organizations throughout the United

States. The grants provide groups the means to assist certified and/

or eligible victims of trafficking in order to enhance their transition

from victimization to self-sufficiency. In addition, these trafficking

grant funds may also be used to fund other services needed during

the time between the date of HHS certification/eligibility letters

and the receipt of public benefits and support services.

I want to thank the committee for offering me the opportunity

to outline HHS’ response to the problem of human trafficking.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Hanh follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF NGUYEN VAN HANH, PH.D., DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT, ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, DEPARTMENT

OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the

opportunity to testify on the progress of the Department of Health and Human

Services (HHS) in implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. As

the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the Administration

for Children and Families, I am responsible for implementation of several provisions

in the Trafficking program which I will discuss today. I want to assure you that the

Department of Health and Human Services is fully committed to implementing this

important legislation to protect and assist trafficking victims as part of the fight

against the atrocity of human trafficking.

Since enactment of the law, HHS has acted quickly to implement our responsibilities under the Act, keeping in mind that behind our paper processes are vulnerable

human beings who have been subjected to severe physical and emotional cruelty.

These trafficking victims are frequently in desperate need of assistance, and HHS

has worked diligently to see that once someone is determined to be a victim, no time

is wasted in linking them up with necessary benefits and services.

HHS is determined to see that victims are given the opportunity to regain their

dignity—by emphasizing benefit programs geared toward building self-sufficiency,

rather than dependency. It has been our experience to date that this approach is

what most trafficking victims prefer. When victims are empowered to gain back control of their own lives, everyone wins.

HHS is only one of many federal agencies playing a role in efforts to combat

human trafficking. Given the complexity of participating in such a multi-agency endeavor, I am pleased at the progress that has been made and will commit to continuing our efforts to implement the law in conjunction with the other key federal

agencies. Before speaking to our progress, however, I would like to provide a brief

overview of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and our Department’s role in its

implementation.

29

I. BACKGROUND

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 makes adult victims of severe

forms of trafficking, who have been certified by HHS after consultation with the Attorney General, eligible for certain benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. Victims of severe forms of trafficking who are under 18 years of age also are

eligible for these benefits to the same extent as refugees but do not need to be certified. ‘‘Severe forms of trafficking in persons’’ is defined under the Act to mean: 1) sex

trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or

in which the person induced to perform such act is under 18 years of age; or 2) the

recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor

or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection

to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

I would like to turn now to our efforts to implement the certification requirements

under the trafficking program.

II. CERTIFICATION AND VICTIM ASSISTANCE

HHS has been actively involved in developing policies and procedures related to

certifying individuals who are determined to be victims of a severe form of trafficking, and making victims eligible to access federal and certain state benefits and

services to the same extent as refugees.

HHS has developed a systematic approach to the certification of trafficking victims and the facilitation of their access to benefits and services. We consult on a

daily basis with staff at the U.S. Department of Justice, the agency that investigates and prosecutes trafficking cases and refers appropriate cases to my office for

certification. We also coordinate with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country on

trafficking cases as well as other federal law enforcement officials from the Department of Labor and Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Once a referral is received, we must ensure that the victim has met all the criteria required by the Act in order to be certified. Adult victims must either have

been granted continued presence or have received a bonafide T-visa application determination by INS. In addition, adult trafficking victims must be willing to assist

in every reasonable way in the investigation and prosecution of severe forms of trafficking in persons. Finally, individuals must be determined to be victims of a severe

form of trafficking. Individuals under the age of 18 only need to be determined to

be victims of a severe form of trafficking in order to be eligible to access federal and

certain state benefits and services to the same extent as refugees.

If the appropriate criteria are met, then a certification letter will be provided to

victims safely and without breaches of confidentiality. In addition, we contact local

refugee service providers and other benefit-granting agencies to inquire about appropriate local programs to help the victims. Many victims are in need of psychological

counseling, medical assistance and legal referrals.

Further, we work with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to coordinate access to Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). I am very pleased

that INS recently decided that EADs for victims whose continued presence is necessary to effectuate the prosecution of traffickers will be processed and issued centrally. This decision means that every victim will receive continued presence and

his/her EAD at the same time. The EAD is a critical document because it permits

eligible victims to work, which, in turn, leads towards self-sufficiency and improved

self-esteem. If a victim has an EAD, she/he may be eligible to enroll in programs,

such as ORR’s Voluntary Agency Match Grant Program, which emphasize employment. The increased stability that employment provides better prepares victims to

assist in the prosecution of the traffickers.

I am also heartened by the recent issuance of the T-visa regulations by the Department of Justice. Victims whose application for a T-visa is determined by INS

to be bonafide, and who are willing to cooperate with prosecution efforts, are eligible

for HHS certification. Creating a process by which victims may work towards normalizing their immigration status while simultaneously making them eligible for

benefits, encourages victims to develop stability in their lives and gain trust in the

American justice system.

No group of individuals is more fragile and susceptible than victims who are

under the age of 18, especially when the minors are unaccompanied by a parent or

guardian. We are developing procedures to provide the best options for these victims, who not only need to begin their recovery from their traumatic experiences

but also require resolution of their custody. Our goal is to ensure that all minors

who are victims of a severe form of trafficking come forward and receive the protection and assistance they need.

30

Through regular contact with refugee service providers and other agencies assisting trafficking victims, we continue to learn a great deal about the certified trafficking population in the United States today. In FY 2001, ORR issued 194 certification letters to adults and 4 eligibility letters to minors under the age of 18. Since

the beginning of fiscal year 2002, 17 more certification letters for adults have been

sent, and five additional minors have received letters of eligibility.

The majority of victims, 82 percent, are female, while 39 victims, 18 percent, are

men. Although the 220 victims have come from a variety of countries, a disproportionate number are from Vietnam. The Vietnamese victims were all involved in a

single case in which garment workers, who believed they were coming to work in

a U.S. factory, were held in slavery-like conditions with their freedom of movement

restricted and, in some instances, suffered physical abuse.

Victims have also come from Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Micronesia, Russia and Sri Lanka. Some of the victims were forced

into a form of involuntary domestic servitude, forced to stay in the trafficker’s house, suffering physical abuse and receiving no compensation for their work. Other

victims were forced to work in the sex industry. In many of these cases, traffickers

took the victims’ immigration documents, restricted victims’ freedom of movement,

physically abused them and did not provide payment for work.

Victims are located throughout the United States. In all, certification/eligibility

letters have been sent to benefit-issuing offices in 19 states plus the District of Columbia. Despite the hardships that these victims have suffered, many have been

able to successfully participate in the refugee assistance program called the Voluntary Agency Match Grant Program. This program is designed to help refugees,

and now trafficking victims, attain self-sufficiency within four months. The program

emphasizes employment, English language training and cultural orientation.

During FY2001, 34 percent of the victims applied for food stamps, while 21 percent applied for Refugee Cash Assistance and 35 percent applied for Refugee Medical Assistance. Less than one percent of victims applied for Temporary Assistance

for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The low application rates for TANF and SSI benefits are reflective of the fact that the overwhelming majority of certified/eligible victims are relatively young, employable single adults with no children.

III. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

In addition to certification and assistance activities, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act calls for HHS, in collaboration with other designated federal agencies,

to establish and carry out programs to increase public awareness about trafficking

in persons. To that end, we have been actively involved in outreach efforts aimed

at immigrant and refugee communities, non-governmental organizations, voluntary

agencies, state and local social service providers, state and local law enforcement,

the general public, and other federal and state government officials.

HHS is developing plans to conduct a public awareness campaign designed to

raise awareness about trafficking in persons and to encourage victims to step forward and seek help. HHS will continue to work with our federal counterparts to ensure trafficking victims receive all the benefits they are eligible for through the certification process. To further that end, we have facilitated training and given presentations in a variety of organized forums, reaching out to more than 1,400 individuals and organizations. These sessions focused on the problem of trafficking, background of the legislation, the roles and responsibilities of HHS within the law, the

role of benefit-issuing offices within the HHS certification process, and the benefits

and services available to certified/eligible trafficking victims.

Clearly, the trafficking program requires a close working relationship among

many cabinet departments. HHS Deputy Secretary Claude Allen recently participated in the inaugural meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force on Trafficking, chaired by Secretary of State Colin Powell, reinforcing our commitment to

work together on this critical effort. In addition, we have participated in an interagency working group that drafted a ‘‘trafficking in persons’’ brochure designed for

wide dissemination to nongovernmental organizations. The brochure focuses on the

needs of trafficking victims and what non-governmental organizations can do to assist them.

IV. DISCRETIONARY GRANTS

The last implementation activity I would like to address is ORR discretionary

grants. In FY 2001, we awarded more than $1.25 million in 17-month discretionary

grants to eight organizations throughout the United States. The grants provide

these non-governmental groups the means to assist certified and/or eligible victims

31

of trafficking in order to enhance their transition from victimization to self-sufficiency. Grant funds may be used for a wide range of services, including case management, temporary housing, special mental health needs (such as trauma counseling), legal assistance referrals, and cultural orientation. These grant funds also

may be used to fund other services needed during the time between the date of HHS

certification/eligibility letters and the receipt of public benefits and support services.

We are pleased with the efforts of our grantees to date in finding ways to address

the needs of trafficking victims, reaching out to community groups, and developing

a growing network of service providers and law enforcement agencies who are committed to providing assistance to trafficking victims. Because of our successful experience so far working with these grantees, we plan to issue another grant announcement in the current fiscal year to provide additional opportunities and expand efforts to reach out to increasing numbers of trafficking victims.

V. CONCLUSION

As important as are the steps we have taken so far, we know that there are still

a large number of victims trafficked annually into the United States. Our experience

so far has made it clear how important it is to provide the right type of assistance

to victims. We need to help victims understand that coming forward will result not

in further victimization, but in their being made safe and provided with help.

We are committed to continuing our close relationships working with our fellow

federal agencies and ensuring that we increase the communication to trafficking victims that we will protect them and will provide them with supportive services. If

successful, our model will be important not only for victims in the United States

but also for trafficking victims throughout the world.

I want to thank the committee for offering me the opportunity to outline HHS’

response to the problem of human trafficking. At this time I’d be glad to address

any questions you may have.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you very much, Dr. Hanh, and to

you too, Ambassador Ely-Raphel.

Let me start with Ambassador Ely-Raphel because of the remarks that I made in my opening statement. One of the concerns

that I have, as you know, in the spirit of ‘‘we can do better,’’ is the

importance of your office really bringing the agencies together and

having a clear focus, clear benchmarks. It appears to me that a lot

of your effort has been toward combating trafficking internationally, which is, of course, important. I am interested, in my questioning, in what efforts are underway to fight the trafficking domestically. How many meetings have you had with staff from DOJ

and HHS and Labor? Do you have a coordinated strategy so the

programs do not duplicate each other? Have you established some

benchmarks whereby we can evaluate the programs?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Mr. Chairman, I could say I am in almost constant communication with the Department of Justice, with the Department of Labor and the Department of HHS. We have had innumerable meetings, not only the task force meetings, but any number of meetings. The Justice Department co-chairs meetings with

the Solicitor of Labor on victim exploitation and trafficking in persons. We have participated in all the meetings that they have held.

Senator WELLSTONE. Maybe I am just misinformed. My impression is that the actual bringing together all of the different agencies for an interagency meeting, that you have had just one of these

meetings. Am I wrong?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. We had one large meeting just before——

Senator WELLSTONE. When was that?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. But we have had innumerable meetings with

all the agencies.

32

Senator WELLSTONE. No, I understand you talk with different

people, but I am talking about bringing people together, doing the

coordination, doing the focus. You are key to that.

When have you brought everybody together from all the agencies

where you had an interagency meeting, you chair, you coordinate?

Was that this past week?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. We had one this week. We had one the week

before that that the Secretary chaired, and we had one about 2

weeks before that and we have had a number of meetings in between. So, I think we are doing a lot of coordinating and a lot of

meeting. You talked with my colleagues from the other departments. I think they may be getting tired of seeing me and hearing

my voice.

Senator WELLSTONE. I do not want to say that is good.

Have you met regularly with the NGOs and some of the trafficking victims?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. We have. We had all the NGOs—I met with all

of them when I first began this job in acquiring information as to

what they thought we should do to improve the report before we

send out our cable to all our embassies asking for information on

the reports. I met with them subsequently. In fact, yesterday I

spoke to a whole group of NGOs on trafficking.

Senator WELLSTONE. Ambassador Ely-Raphel, so if I met with

the NGOs—our office is close to them—and I say do you feel like

this Office of Trafficking is reaching out, meeting with you in regular consultation, their answer will be yes?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. I hope so, and if not, we will be very happy to

meet with them more often. My door is always open to all the

NGOs.

Senator WELLSTONE. That is very responsive and I thank you.

Do you plan to release an interim report on the progress made?

I think you know some of these questions that are coming. It is just

good to get your answer on the record. Tier 1, 2, and 3, and in particular with the 3 countries, I am interested in whether or not any

of those countries have now made some positive steps and are now

more cooperative in light of the report.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Well, I think the country that drew the most

attention of all probably was South Korea that was on tier 3. We

have met with the South Korean Government from the highest levels. They presented us with a great deal of information. They took

their place in the report very, very seriously and, indeed, are a role

model for the way states should react to the situation. As I indicated to their Minister whom I met with when I was in Indonesia,

I would give them a tremendous amount of credit as would any

other members of the administration, the State Department, for

what they were doing, but we were very close to issuing the next

report, which will come out in June, and I have been complimenting the South Koreans on the role that they have taken in

doing this.

Senator WELLSTONE. The next report will be out in June?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. And the next report will be out in June. So, the

information is coming in now.

Senator WELLSTONE. As to progress made by tier 1, 2, and 3?

33

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. And similarly, there have been other countries

as well that were on tier 3 that have come in and made major efforts.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you. I will just keep moving along.

I said this earlier and I was wondering about your response. I

was saying we have got the CIA with an estimate of 50,000 victims

that are trafficked in the United States per year. The administration has identified fewer than 250 victims. Do you have any data

that you can present to us as to what we are dealing with here,

the magnitude of the problem in our own country? In other words,

I am for the global part, but then when we hear a report of women

from Ukraine forced into prostitution 2 miles from here in Bethesda, I think we better make sure we get it right here too. Do

you have any data as to the magnitude of the problem we are dealing with here in our own country?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. I know the figures that we use for the United

States. I am not confident that we have the right figures. In many

respects, when I go around talking to people, I feel like it is the

tip of the iceberg, that it is much more serious than the figures

that we have. I have been in communication with all the intelligence agencies, and they have assured us that they are working

on this and will provide us with better information.

Senator WELLSTONE. Any help I think you could give us in presenting your best estimate. I am not trying to be snide between

50,000 and 250,000. So, any help you can give us, given your key

position, giving us some sense of what the magnitude of the problem is would be much appreciated.

Finally, Dr. Hanh, because I will run out of time, I think you referred to the $10 million that you received for trafficking victim

services. What are your plans for funding organizations that provide these victim services and also to train those organizations? I

think you referred to it but I was rushing you along.

Dr. HANH. Certainly out of the $10 million authorized we have spent $1.25 million for eight grants nationwide to help with providing services, assistance to the victims. We also use the money

for staffing and other services. We intend to engage in grants to

the communities in anticipation of the expanded needs of services

to the victims. We also, in particular, are planning for increasing

awareness or a campaign for public awareness, if you wish, just to

be sure not only nonprofit organizations and community-based organizations are aware of the issues, but also to encourage victims

and others to come forward so that we have a better handle on the

magnitude of the problems and how to help the victims.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you.

Senator Brownback.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and thank you

both for being here to testify in front of us.

Ambassador, you being the first person to head this office, you

kind of set the template for it, and so we wish you well and Godspeed on really setting an aggressive agenda.

The first report that came out was excellent. It really lit a fire

under a number of places. I thought it was quite valuable.

There has been some internal discussion going on about is the

office just about issuing a report or is it about advocacy and other

34

issues. My clear preference is for it to be a very aggressive advocacy office for elimination of international trafficking, this modern

form of slavery. As you look at what your role is at the head of this

office, how would you put it in a couple of words?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Absolutely. I think it is advocacy. I think the

report gives us a wonderful tool to use, but in my conversations— and I met with many government officials, particularly at the

meeting in Indonesia. They had 31 Ministers there. They are all interested in trafficking and they all seemed to be interested in doing

something about it. So, I think we are getting their attention, but

I think we just have to go back and work out country action plans

that will address the problems and try to go some way to resolve

them.

Senator BROWNBACK. I would hope you would be on the road a

lot, not that I want to hurt your family life or anything like that.

But it seems like right now would be a very important time to be

on the road, particularly with the second and third tier countries

and going there and saying, here is what we are looking for and

we would like to get you off of being in the third tier. We are happy

to work with you on this. I hope you would be out there a great

deal.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. That is exactly what I intend to do and that

is exactly what we are hoping we can work out with these countries to encourage them to work with us, because if they are not

interested, we cannot do anything for them. But if they are interested in dealing with the problem, it is such a great opportunity

for us.

Senator BROWNBACK. I want to ask you about an aspect of this

that I think is pretty tough to deal with, and I wonder how you

are responding to it. You are a former Ambassador and have

worked overseas a great deal. You know the sensitivity of what

happens to families in that country. For instance, if you are a girl

who has been trafficked from the Ukraine, that organized crime

may have been a part of this, and that your family that remains

in the Ukraine is under a threat. We have heard about these sort

of situations. We had some women who have been trafficked and

reported that their families had been intimidated in their home

country and that they could not speak out because of that intimidation toward their own families. How do we address that issue for

them? How do you think we go about making it safe for people to

come forward and speak out about what has happened to them

back in their own countries?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Well, if they are a victim here in the United

States and they are agreeing to cooperate with law enforcement,

they would be eligible for a T-visa which would enable a woman

to bring her husband and family here, or if it is a child, to bring

the parents here.

Senator BROWNBACK. What about the rest of the extended family?

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. It depends on what country we are dealing

with. You mentioned Ukraine. We do have a regional legal officer,

a LEGATT, in the Ukraine. And the Justice Department, if they

were issuing the visa, would be in communication with our

LEGATT in the capital.

35

I know so much of it depends upon how good the law enforcement situation is in the country. It would be easy, for example, for

me in Slovenia because I know that when I would contact the police, they would be responsive immediately, but in other countries

of the world, it really depends on the law enforcement situation

and the relationship that we have with them. But I know in southeastern Europe and central Europe, we do have legal attaches in

many of those posts, so we have contacts that we can work with.

Senator BROWNBACK. I think this is going to be a tough aspect

of this problem, and the answers that you develop may have to be

broader-based answers than direct to a child or a husband. It could

be some extended family members that are being threatened a

great deal. And we are going to need to work with them. I think

initially, as we get into this area, we are going to have to make

it safe for people to come out of the dark, to be able to testify

against organizations. I think particularly if it is a significant organization that is doing trafficking and we really want to get at

them, we are probably going to have to work pretty broadly to get

people to testify and provide some security for several members

within that family to work with them.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. We have had training programs, and in fact, I

think they had one in the Ukraine on what witness protection is

all about. But I do not think they have the facilities to implement

it, but I think those kinds of training programs will be useful.

We also have the FBI Academy which is in Budapest that trains

a lot of the law enforcement people in that part of the world. We

have some elsewhere. So that may be also an avenue because so

much of it is cooperation.

Senator BROWNBACK. It is going to be a lot of cooperation.

Thank you very much for your initial efforts in this. We want

you to be very aggressive on this because I think it is the right moment. Make hay while the sun is out, and I think really we have

got the sun shining in some of this area and it is time for us to

really aggressively move forward. Thanks.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Thank you, Senator.

Senator WELLSTONE. Before you all leave—and I thank both of

you, and we will move right on to the next panel—I did want to

say to Ambassador Ely-Raphel—first of all, thanks to both of you.

Senator Brownback was asking about advocacy, and I wanted to

mention to you that this conference that is being set up on trafficking, I know $1 million is going to this conference. It is a lot of

money and I hope that there will be a very strong focus on advocacy at the conference. Frankly, that is my first point.

My second point is I can see a whole lot we need to do other than

getting ready for a conference, and I will just express that to make

that part of the record. I think you hear me.

Let me thank both of you very much for coming today. Your work

is much appreciated. Thank you.

Ms. ELY-RAPHEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator WELLSTONE. We will move on to the third panel. We are

going to go in this order because Senator Brownback is going to

have to excuse himself a little bit before we are done. Carol

Smolenski, who is coordinator of the U.S. branch of End Child

Prostitution and Trafficking, followed by Mrs. Ann Jordan who is

36

director of the Initiative Against Trafficking at the International

Human Rights Law Group, and then Ms. Hae Jung Cho, who is

project director of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking.

I wanted to point out for the record that we have a wide variety

of perspectives in panelists here. I am not sure the panelists all

agree with each others’ positions on every issue. I am not sure I

agree with the panelists’ positions on every issue. I know I do not

agree with him on hardly any issues.

Senator BROWNBACK. You are getting better.

Senator WELLSTONE. You are getting better.

We thank all of you.

Carol.

STATEMENT OF CAROL SMOLENSKI, COORDINATOR, END

CHILD PROSTITUTION AND TRAFFICKING-USA, NEW YORK, NY

Ms. SMOLENSKI. Thank you Mr. Chairman. My name is Carol

Smolenski. I am the coordinator of ECPAT-USA. ECPAT-USA is

the U.S. branch of ECPAT-International based in Bangkok. ECPAT

stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes.

I am here to tell you something about the problem of child sex

tourism, how it intersects with the larger crime of trafficking in

persons and what can be done to stop it. It is the demand side of

the trafficking problem that still needs to be addressed.

ECPAT got its start in Asia in 1991 when some churches and

children’s rights activists heard the results of a study about the

sale and trafficking of children within Asia. What they learned was

shocking and yet virtually unrecognized by the rest of the world,

that uncounted numbers of children were being forced into the sex

industry in Asia partly to meet the demand of foreign sex tourists

from all over the world.

Initially focused on Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, now ECPAT is a global organization focusing on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in all its forms, not just in

Asia, but around the world, including in the United States. We define children as people under 18 years old, using the definition of

the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is generally accepted that there are at least 2 million sexually exploited children

in the world, including both boys and girls.

One reason, among the many, that people travel abroad is to experience something of the local cultures, to experience the exotic,

to live, if ever so briefly, outside the confines of their everyday life.

On vacation you can imagine yourself in a life unlike life at home,

an idea the legitimate tourism industry promotes in its advertisements.

Some of the people who have these fantasies are called sex tourists. They are people who go on vacation in order to have repeated

sexual contact with the local population. In the same way that

some people go on skiing holidays or on vacation to experience the

local culture through visits to museums or theaters, sex tourists

travel to have sex. They go to a place where they are unknown and

can behave in a way that friends and neighbors back home would

find unacceptable. Child sex tourists seek out sex with children.

37

Child sex tourists are not just pedophiles, though pedophiles do

abuse a lot of children. Research on pedophiles calls them adults

with a diagnosable disorder that prevents them from being able to

experience and enjoy sexual intimacy with other adults. Their sexual interest is exclusively focused on young children. Pedophiles

share information among themselves about where to find vulnerable children around the world. The first sex tourist prosecuted in

the United States for traveling abroad to Honduras, in his case to

sexually exploit children, had information on his computer about

how to find children in Nepal as well as other countries.

But there are other sex tourists who are not pedophiles. These

are people—I should say men, because men are by far the majority

of child sex abusers. These are men who wish to experiment by

having children as sexual partners when they are in a situation

where they believe this is acceptable behavior, for example, in a

foreign country with a racial group different from their own. Or

they have sex with children because they simply do not care whether their sex partner is 12, 18, or 25 as long as the partner meets

certain physical requirements that the man considers attractive.

We call them situational child sex abusers.

Since so many societies and cultures consider an attractive ‘‘woman’’ to be one who is slender, fit, youthful, and young looking,

it is very likely that a man will seek out a young girl for a sex partner. Child sex tourists sexually abuse children because they are

prostitute-users and/or strip and sex show customers and/or consumers of pornography in a world which, on the one hand, places

sexual value on youth and, on the other, forces large numbers of

children, either through direct coercion or economic necessity, into

working in the sex industry. Many prostitutes enter the sex market

before their 18th birthdays, often well before they turn 18, so anyone having sex with a prostituted person may well be a child sex

abuser, whether he acknowledges it or not.

Sex tourists have a vast array of sex tours to choose from. A few

years ago, Business Week magazine turned up 25 sex tour companies in the United States. The Internet is filled with advertisements for sex tours to a variety of destinations. Last week I type

the words ‘‘sex tours’’ into the Google.com search engine. I got a list

of 14,600 entries. Not every one of those, of course, was a site for

a sex tour company. Many were pornography sites, and some were

analyses of sex tourism.

But a review of sex tour sites and sites where men share information about sex tourism shows that people are trafficked to sex

tour destinations to meet the demand; that mass marketing to

moderate income sex tourists is part of the appeal; and that men

are often indiscriminate about the age of the prostitutes they seek,

although youthfulness and willingness to do whatever they are

asked to do seem to be some of the most attractive attributes a

prostituted person can offer.

Here are some excerpts from the sites I looked at. There is a 7-

year-old in the room so I will not go too far into detail here.

‘‘Costa Rica Sex Sizzles,’’ is the name of one of them. ‘‘Costa Rica

sex is the magnet that pulls men to this tropical land where prostitutes and prostitution are legal at age 18.’’ This is a quote from

the site. ‘‘Sensuous senoritas and escorts from Colombia, Cuba, and

38

other Latin lands come here too. Why go all the way to Thailand

on Asian tours when Latin America is so close and so hot?’’ On Best of Asia.com, there are tours advertised but also a number of pornography links including some entitled ‘‘Barely Legal

Asian,’’ ‘‘Hot Young Teens.’’ This is one of the characteristics of sex

tour sites. They might put a disclaimer on the site—oh, my time

is up and I was going to go on and on.

Well, I guess I will leave it at that for now.

Senator BROWNBACK. Do you mind, Mr. Chairman?

Senator WELLSTONE. Go ahead for a few more minutes.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. Thank you.

They put a disclaimer on the site stating that they do not provide

child sex tours or provide girls under 18, but sex tourists know and

are given to believe on the Websites that young girls are available

when they get to the destination.

I will skip the horrific quotes from the sex tourists about why

they go to these destinations. They do it because they believe that

girls like it there.

The advertised sex tours feed into these stereotypes by advertising the passivity and youth of the children and women who the

men will meet on these tours.

The sex tour is the nexus between the supply of children’s bodies

and the demand by men—again, it is mostly men—with enough

disposable income and equipped with the rationale that it is culturally acceptable and even legal to exploit the vulnerable children

they come across in poor countries. They even convince themselves

that they are helping the children because they give them money.

Any country with a growing tourism industry confronts the growth

of the demand for prostituted children in that country.

For example, as Cambodia looks to tourism for economic development, the potential danger of sex tourism looms for poor children.

And then I have a quote here from a sex tourist who is sharing information about what he got and how much it cost in Phnom Penh.

‘‘The poor (literally),’’ he wrote, ‘‘little girls some of them do try,

they get a few cents only from papasan and own little more than

a dress or two.’’ Cambodia’s Tourism Ministry is trying to do something about this, and they have a program for that.

Senator WELLSTONE. We can have the full statement included in

the record.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. I know. It is on the record. I am just going to

read the last few things that tell you what you can do about it.

Senator WELLSTONE. We would be very interested in that.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. Deterrence. Advertise the laws against child sex

tourism. This can be done in a number of ways. The European

travel industry has been very involved in fighting child sex tourism. Unfortunately, the U.S. industry has declined to become involved. For example, nine European airlines show or have shown

in-flight videos advertising the laws against child sex tourism as a

deterrent to the situational child sex abuser. Every single U.S. airline, even though requested by the Federal Department of Transportation, the president of Air France, and ECPAT-USA, has refused to get involved.

It should be made easier to prosecute American sex tourists by

training law enforcement in other countries about how to gather

39

evidence for use in U.S. courts and putting more resources into

making cases against American sex tourists and also changing the

law in the way that you had said, Senator Brownback, about doing

away with the intention provision.

There are some regulatory ways that it can be treated. I can give

you a much longer list than is actually in here.

As we speak—let me just finish—children are being forced into

the sex business and American men are eagerly joining the ranks

of those who seek out their bodies. The United States must stop

the contribution that American men make to this abhorrent practice. The U.S. trafficking bill successfully focuses on the supply

side. This is a market, though. It is time to stop the demand.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Smolenski follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CAROL SMOLENSKI, COORDINATOR, ECPAT-USA

My name is Carol Smolenski. I am the Coordinator of ECPAT-USA. ECPAT-USA

is the U.S. branch of ECPAT-International based in Bangkok. ECPAT stands for

End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual

Purposes.

I’m here to tell you something about the problem of child sex tourism, how it

intersects with the larger crime of trafficking in persons, and what can be done to

stop it. It is the demand side of the trafficking problem that stills needs to be addressed.

ECPAT got its start in Asia in 1991, when some churches and children’s rights

activists heard the results of a study about the sale and trafficking of children within Asia. What they learned was shocking and yet virtually unrecognized by the rest

of the world: that uncounted numbers of children were being forced into the sex industry in Asia, partly to meet the demand of foreign sex tourists from all over the

world.

Initially focused on Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, now ECPAT

is a global organization focusing on the commercial sexual exploitation of children

in all its forms, not just in Asia, but around the world, including in the United

States. We define children as people under 18 years old, using the definition of the

U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is generally accepted that there are

at least two million sexually exploited children in the world, including both boys and

girls.

One reason among the many that people travel abroad is to experience something

of the local cultures, to experience the exotic, to live, if ever so briefly, outside the

confines of their every day life. On vacation you can imagine yourself in a life unlike

life at home, an idea the legitimate tourism industry promotes in its advertisements.

Some of the people who have these fantasies are called sex tourists. They are people who go on vacation in order to have repeated sexual contact with the local population. In the same way that some people go on skiing holidays, or go on vacation

to experience the local culture through visits to museums or theaters sex tourists

travel to have sex. They go to a place where they are unknown and can behave in

a way that friends and neighbors back home would find unacceptable. Child sex

tourists seek out sex with children.

Child sex tourists are not just pedophiles, though pedophiles do abuse a lot of children. Research on pedophiles calls them adults with a diagnosable disorder that

prevents them from being able to experience and enjoy sexual intimacy with other

adults. Their sexual interest is exclusively focused on young children. Pedophiles

share information among themselves about where to find vulnerable children

around the world. The first sex tourist prosecuted in the United States for traveling

abroad (to Honduras in his case) to sexually exploit children had information on his

computer about how to find children in Nepal as well as other countries.

But there are other sex tourists who are not pedophiles. These are people, I

should say men, because men are by far the majority of child sex abusers, these are

men who wish to experiment by having children as sexual partners when they are

in a situation where they believe this is acceptable behavior, for example, in a foreign country, with a racial group different from their own. Or, they have sex with

children because they simply do not care whether their sex partner is 12, 18 or 25

as long as that partner meets certain physical requirements that the man considers

attractive. We call them situational child sex abusers.

40

Since so many societies and cultures consider an attractive ‘‘woman’’ to be one

who is slender, fit, youthful and young looking, it is very likely that a man will seek

out a young girl for a sex partner. Child sex tourists ‘‘sexually abuse children because they are prostitute-users (and/or strip and sex-show customers, and/or consumers of pornography) in a world which, on the one hand places sexual value on

youth, and on the other forces large numbers of children (either through direct coercion or economic necessity) into working in the sex industry.’’ (Julia O’Connell Davidson and Julia Sanchez Taylor, 1996, ‘‘The Sex Exploiter’’). Many prostitutes enter

the sex market before their 18th birthdays, often well before they turn 18, so anyone

having sex with a prostituted person may well be a child sex abuser, whether he

acknowledges it or not.

Sex tourists have a vast array of sex tours to choose from. A few years ago, Business Week magazine turned up 25 sex tour companies in the United States. The

internet is filled with advertisements for sex tours to a variety of destinations. Last

week I typed the words ‘‘sex tours’’ into the Google.com search engine. I got a list

of 14,600 entries. Not every one of those was a site for a sex tour company. Many

were pornography sites. Some were analyses of sex tourism by academics or organizations like mine.

But a review of sex tour sites and sites where men share information about sex

tourism shows that people are trafficked to sex tour destinations to meet the demand, that mass marketing to moderate income sex tourists is part of the appeal,

and that men are often indiscriminate about the age of the prostitutes they seek

out, although youthfulness and willingness to do whatever they are asked to do

seem to be some of the most attractive attributes a prostituted person can offer.

Here are excerpts from some of the sites I looked at:

Costa Rica Sex Sizzles. Cost Rica sex is the magnet that pulls men to this

tropical land where prostitutes and prostitution are legal at age 18. Sensuous senoritas and escorts from Colombia, Cuba and other Latin lands

come here too. Why go all the way to Thailand on Asian tours when Latin

America is so close and so hot?

On Best of Asia.com there are tours advertised but also a number of pornography

links including some entitled ‘‘Barely Legal Asian, Hot Young Teens’’. This is one

of the characteristics of sex tour sites. They might put a disclaimer on the site stating that they do not provide child sex tours or provide girls under 18, but sex tourists know, and are given to believe on the websites, that young girls are available

when they get to the destination.

On Dexterhorn.com where trips to Asia and Germany are advertised it reads ‘‘we

know all the places to go to have sex with women, 24 hours a day. . . . Beer bars

overflowing with young girls begging you to take them back to your hotel. . . . Massage parlors where you can get massaged, - - - - - - and - - - - - - by one or more Thai

girls for the price of filling up your gas tank.’’

The infamous online company Love Tours advertises ‘‘every girl in every club is

available. Every girl in every club is affordable’’.

Men who travel with sex tours say they believe that it is culturally acceptable and

legal to have sex with children in other countries. Another man, interviewed sitting

in a bar with two girls, 12 and 13 years old by his side, said ‘‘American girls, in

America and places like that you see, they’re not so free about sex and their bodies.

. . . They let you do things here an American girl’d never dream of doing. I can’t

even say to you what they let you do.’’ (Quoted in Julia O’Connell Davidson and Jacqueline Sanchez Taylor, 1996, ‘‘Child Prostitution and Sex Tourism: The Dominican

Republic.’’)

The advertised sex tours feed into these stereotypes by advertising the passivity

and youth of the children or women who the men will meet on these tours.

The sex tour is the nexus between the supply of children’s bodies and the demand

by men, again, it is mostly men, with enough disposable income and equipped with

the rationale that it is culturally acceptable and even legal to exploit the vulnerable

children they come across in poor countries. They even convince themselves that

they are helping the children because they give them money. Any country with a

growing tourism industry confronts the growth of the demand for prostituted children in that country.

For example, as Cambodia looks to tourism for economic development, the potential danger of sex tourism looms for poor children and women who will come in contact with well-off foreign tourists for the first time. Here is an excerpt from a

website used by sex tourists to share information about Phnom Penh,: ‘‘Price of

girls: short time $3-$5; all-nite $15-20 . . . I got two girls for $7 once. Don’t pay

in advance and don’t be bashful about sending her back if she doesn’t do as advertised. . . . Be sure to tip the chick privately for good service. The poor (literally)

41

little girls some of them do try, they get a few cents only from papasan and own

little more than a dress or two.’’ At least in Cambodia’s case, officials are aware of

the problem and would like to mitigate it. In Autumn 2000 Cambodia’s Tourism

Ministry announced plans to start a campaign against child sex tourism by posting

signs in hotels, guest houses and nightclubs warning against sex with children.

As sex tour destinations are opened up and advertised, for a variety of income

groups, the increase in demand increases the need to traffick more bodies to the

brothel areas in the sex tour destinations. Of course it is not just sex tours that lead

to increased trafficking. For example, we know from our colleagues around the

world about increasing numbers of people being trafficked from Eastern Europe and

Latin America to meet the demand from U.S. military personnel in the brothel

areas near the U.S. military bases in South Korea. The presence of military personnel from any country in any country is associated with a growth of prostitution.

But we also know that women and children are trafficked into the sex tour destinations of Bangkok and Costa Rica. The sex tour focuses the demand in certain

areas facilitating the transaction by concentrating the business in one place.

ECPAT-USA and our partners around the world call on you to take a number of

steps to stop the demand for trafficking victims.

Deterrence: Advertise the laws against child sex tourism. This can be done in a

number of ways. The European travel industry has been very involved in fighting

child sex tourism. Unfortunately, the U.S. industry has declined to become involved.

For example, nine European airlines show or have shown inflight videos advertising

the laws against child sex tourism as a deterrent to the situational child sex abuser.

Every single U.S. airline, even though requested by the federal Department of

Transportation, the president of Air France and ECPAT-USA, has refused to get involved.

Law enforcement: Make it easier to prosecute American sex tourists by training

law enforcement in other countries about gathering evidence for use in U.S. courts,

or policies to encourage other countries to prosecute and incarcerate American sex

tourists. Put more resources toward making cases against American sex tourists and

change the U.S. extraterritoriality law to make it easier to prosecute American sex

tourists.

Regulation: Require sex tour companies to keep records of the people going on sex

tours such as name, address, social security number and passport number and similar information about the names of the children or women to whom they are introduced in the foreign country.

As we speak, children are being forced into the sex business and American men

are eagerly joining the ranks of those who seek out their bodies. The U.S. must stop

the contribution that American men make to this abhorrent practice. The U.S. trafficking bill successfully focuses on the supply side. This is a market in children bodies. It is time to stop the demand.

Senator WELLSTONE. Thank you.

Senator BROWNBACK. Mr. Chairman, because I am going to have

to leave, can I make a comment quickly? This is the point that I

raised in my opening statement and it is what I have seen as I

have traveled too. And you put it very well. We have been focusing

on the supply side, and we need to get at the demand side. When

I was in Thailand up on the border, they showed me a notebook

that was full of pictures, and this was at a hotel. Somebody would

go into the hotel that was on some sort of sex tour and was interested in that and they could get at this notebook that just showed

pictures of young girls for them to point out and say, well, OK, I

like this one and this one. And then a courier goes and gets this

young girl who could be very young.

This is, unfortunately, a regular organized business. We are trying to get at the supply side, but the Thai Government was frustrated. Why are these people coming here from Europe, from the

United States? You need to get at it on that end of it. it is just an

awful, sick thing that is going on.

So, I am hopeful that we can put forward some legislation in a

bipartisan way to address this and that the Congress will act on

it to get at this intent issue because that is just so tough to prove,

42

that yes, I got on the plane to do this, not that I did it, but I got

on the plane meaning to do it, so that we could prosecute. If that

person actually did conduct that activity, base it on that.

Senator WELLSTONE. Well, I would just thank you too. I said to

Sam this has the makings of another counterintuitive BrownbackWellstone alliance. I think we will definitely work together. This

will not be the end of this. We are really going to work on it.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. Thank you. I would welcome that so much.

Senator WELLSTONE. Ms. Jordan. Thank you for coming, Ms. Jordan.

STATEMENT OF ANN JORDAN, DIRECTOR, INITIATIVE

AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, INTERNATIONAL

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW GROUP, WASHINGTON, DC

Ms. JORDAN. Thank you. I would like to present my full testimony for the record and provide some comments.

Senator WELLSTONE. It will be included in the record.

Ms. JORDAN. I wish to begin by thanking Senators Wellstone and

Brownback, as well as Representative Chris Smith and former Representative Gejdenson, for ensuring that the United States has one

of the strongest pieces of trafficking legislation in the world. I

would also like to thank the subcommittee members for providing

me with this opportunity to speak.

The International Human Rights Law Group’s trafficking initiative has organized a freedom network for service providers and advocates. It has worked with its Cambodia legal aid program to create a Center Against Trafficking to provide legal services to trafficked persons and is working with its offices in Bosnia and

Herzegovina and Nigeria to create a network of service providers

and lawyers. It was also actively involved in the development of

this wonderful new law and the U.N. Trafficking Protocol.

It is encouraging to note, as we have heard today, in a little over

a year since the trafficking law was enacted, tremendous progress

has been made. I am sure that even greater progress can be expected over the next year, given the administration’s commitment

to combating trafficking.

The next speaker, Hae Jung Cho, will talk about many of the

gaps in the legislation, and I will just address three that have been

noted by members of our network.

The first is that it appears that investigations and prosecutions

are slowing down. It is unclear whether this is due to the shift in

focus to terrorism or to the threefold increase in the number of

cases being investigated, or both. We hope that the Justice Department has the resources to be able to investigate these cases more

rapidly.

Second, the INS has yet to designate an office or a person responsible for coordinating INS activities and liaising with service

providers. The INS started this week to process T-visa applications,

and so the advocacy community’s need for a point person or an office is immediate.

Third, the Office for Victims of Crime in the Department of Justice, which has $10 million to provide services for NGOs, has yet

to develop a comprehensive plan for funding those services. The

43

need for trained and funded service providers is increasing rapidly,

so that we hope that the Office for Victims of Crime will be able

to start issuing requests for proposals quickly so that the organizations will be ready to take on the clients that come to them with

all of these increased investigations.

I will now turn to trafficking abroad. The U.S. commitment to

supporting and contributing to peacekeeping and civilian police

forces is essential to the development of stability and democracy

around the world. At the same time, well-documented reports concerning the relationship between such international forces and trafficking into forced prostitution cannot be ignored. For example, a

recent Washington Post article reported on problems in investigating numerous allegations of International Police Task Force

involvement in trafficking in Bosnia.

In my recent trip to Bosnia, I heard heartbreaking stories of

women and girls who are being brought into the country under

false pretexts. In Bosnia and in many other countries around the

world, women and girls are held by traffickers who sell the right

to have sex with them or, more accurately, to rape them. While

some women do sell sex voluntarily in Bosnia in brothels and clubs,

local groups have told me that they believe that the overwhelming

majority, perhaps 70 to 90 percent, of the women are being held

against their will or under psychological coercion.

Governments contributing forces should investigate and prosecute police and military personnel who commit crimes while on

peacekeeping missions and should waive diplomatic immunity

which blocks such prosecutions. While the U.S. Military

Extraterroritorial Jurisdiction Act provides that our Government

has the authority over U.S. military personnel who commit crimes

abroad, no similar law exists for the international police personnel

who consequently have immunity from prosecution in the United

States. This should be changed.

Additionally, arm’s length relationships between the U.S. Government and private contractors who hire and recruit and employ

staff within peacekeeping missions is a problem. In Bosnia, the

U.S. police contingent is hired by a private company called

DynCorp. This system of contractual relationships is said to limit

the accountability of the United States and to make it more difficult to address any unprofessional, corrupt, or criminal behavior

by U.S. International Police Task Force personnel.

Immunity is also a problem with respect to trafficking and abuse

by foreign diplomats and officials of international organizations in

the United States. Despite growing evidence of such abuse, I am

not aware of any case in which a diplomat or international organization official has suffered the consequence of being sent home or

denied the right to bring in additional domestic workers.

Additionally, I have been contacted by NGO partners abroad who

have asked for information about any U.S. law that would permit

domestic workers in their countries who are employed by U.S. diplomats to sue their U.S. employers. I am unaware of any such law

or any such case that has ever been allowed to be brought against

a U.S. diplomat to address this harm.

I wish to thank you again for offering me this opportunity to

speak, and I want to assure you that my organization and memVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
44

bers of the network are looking forward to working with the relevant departments and agencies and with Members of Congress to

ensure that traffickers are punished and that the rights of victims

are protected. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Jordan follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANN JORDAN, DIRECTOR, INITIATIVE AGAINST TRAFFICKING

IN PERSONS AT THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW GROUP

I wish to begin by thanking Senators Wellstone and Brownback (as well as Representative Chris Smith and former Representative Gejdenson) for ensuring that the

United States has one of the strongest pieces of anti-trafficking legislation in the

world. I would also like to thank the Subcommittee members for providing me with

this opportunity to present some views from the service provider and advocacy community.

The Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons at the International Human Rights

Law Group works towards development of a human rights framework in state responses to trafficking in persons worldwide. It has organized U.S. service providers

and advocates into the Freedom Network (USA), has worked with its Cambodia

legal aid program to create a Center Against Trafficking to provide legal representation for trafficked persons and is working with its offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina

and Nigeria to create a network of service providers and lawyers. It was also actively involved in the development of the new U.S. trafficking law and the UN Trafficking Protocol.

It is encouraging to note that, in the little over a year since the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act was enacted, tremendous progress has been

made. The State Department and USAID are moving forward in creating development and assistance programs abroad as part of a prevention strategy. The State

Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking has opened. The Department of Justice has tripled its number of investigations and the INS has issued regulations for the new T visa. This is indeed tremendous progress and even greater

progress can be expected by this time next year given the Administration’s commitment to combatting trafficking.

I would like to share with the Committee some thoughts on a range of issues that

could be, or should be, addressed over the coming year:

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING AND VIOLENCE PROTECTION ACT

I will first share with you some of the concerns of members of the Freedom Network (USA) to Empower Trafficked and Enslaved Persons. The Freedom Network

(USA) is composed of direct service and advocacy organizations that have been involved in some of the most important trafficking cases to date in this country. More

information is available about the Freedom Network at

www.freedomnetworkusa.org and in the handout distributed today.

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, a Freedom Network member, has

already described some of the gaps in implementation and I will address some additional areas of concern:

1. Investigations and prosecutions appear to have slowed down. It is unclear

whether this is due to the shift of focus to terrorism or to the threefold increase

in the number of cases being investigated, or both. We hope the Justice Department has the resources to be able to investigate cases more rapidly.

2. Processing time for continued presence or other status and work authorizations for trafficking victims is often extremely slow. Some requests to the INS

take months, which then delays the issuance of work authorizations and benefits. We appreciate the difficulties in setting up a new program, but we hope

the INS will solve this problem quickly.

3. The INS has yet to designate an office or a person responsible for coordinating INS activities and liaising with the service providers. The INS started

this week to process applications for T visas, and so the advocacy community’s

need for a point person or office is immediate.

4. Training for INS and FBI agents and Assistant U.S. Attorneys should proceed more rapidly. Many agents and attorneys are unaware of the law or the

difference between trafficking and smuggling. Furthermore, they may not immediately contact the Civil Rights Division trafficking team for assistance,

which can result in cases being labeled incorrectly as smuggling or other offenses.

45

5. The Office for Victims of Crime in the Department of Justice has yet to

develop a comprehensive plan for funding service providers and trainers. The

OVC has received $10 million for these purposes. Very few service providers are

funded to provide services even though more trained and funded service providers will be necessary soon to handle the increased number of cases resulting

from the increased number of investigations now underway. We hope OVC will

be able to start issuing RFPs quickly.

INTERNATIONAL POLICE, MILITARY FORCES AND TRAFFICKING

I will now turn to trafficking abroad. The U.S. commitment to supporting and contributing to peacekeeping and civilian police forces is essential to the development

of stability and democracy around the world. At the same time, well-documented reports concerning the relationship between such international forces and trafficking

into forced prostitution cannot be ignored. For example, a recent Washington Post

article reported on problems in investigating numerous allegations of international

police task force involvement in trafficking in Bosnia.

In focusing on the relationship between international forces and trafficking into

forced prostitution, however, we should not forget that the international customers

are not the main problem. For example, a UN representative in Bosnia estimates

that about 30% of brothel customers are internationals; the majority of the men

then are locals. Yet, it is essential that the international community set a higher

standard of conduct and that the apparently symbiotic relationship between the

international forces and trafficking be addressed.

In working with the Law Group’s staff and local organizations in Bosnia, I have

heard heartbreaking stories of women and girls who are being brought into the

country under false pretexts. In Bosnia, and in many other countries around the

world, women and girls are held by traffickers who sell the right to have sex with

them, or more accurately, to rape them. While some women sell sex voluntarily in

Bosnian brothels and clubs, local groups believe that the overwhelming majority

(maybe 70-90%) of the women are being held against their will or under psychological coercion.

The groups in Bosnia are also convinced that the reaction by the international

community is inadequate. Few traffickers are ever prosecuted and even fewer ever

spend any time in prison. The international community could provide support to the

judiciary in Bosnia and elsewhere to improve the chances of successful prosecutions.

It could also provide more training for, and more accountability by, the international

community, particularly the military and international police in order to set a high

standard of conduct in their missions.

In particular, governments contributing forces should commit themselves to investigating and prosecuting police and military personnel who commit crimes while on

peacekeeping missions and to waiving diplomatic immunity, which blocks such prosecutions. While the U.S. Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act provides our government with authority over U.S. military personnel who commit crimes abroad, no

similar law exists for the international police personnel who, consequently, have immunity from prosecution in the U.S. This should be changed.

A further problem raised by UN officials and organizations in my recent trip to

Bosnia is the arms-length relationship that is created when the U.S. hires private

companies to recruit and employ staff within peacekeeping missions. In Bosnia, the

U.S. IPTF contingent is hired by a private contractor, DynCorp, and not by the U.S.

government. This situation is said to limit accountability of the U.S. and to make

it more difficult to address any unprofessional, corrupt or criminal behavior by U.S.

IPTF personnel.

The presence of international military and police forces is essential for countries

recovering from international conflicts and internal strife. However, the international community needs to address the problem created by the presence of so

many unaccompanied men in impoverished countries. It should set an example by

taking strong measures to prosecute all traffickers at home and assisting other

countries to strengthen their law enforcement responses. Ideally, the U.S. could play

a leadership role in raising this issue internationally by developing the necessary

legal and policy framework in the U.S.

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Immunity is also a problem with respect to trafficking and abuse by foreign diplomats and officials of international organizations in the United States. Despite

growing evidence of abuse of domestic workers that, in many instances, amounts to

trafficking for forced labor, as far as I am aware, not one abusive or trafficking dipVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
46

lomat or international organization official has suffered the consequence of being

sent home or denied the right to bring in additional domestic workers.

Similarly, I have been contacted by NGO partners abroad who have asked for information about any U.S. law that would permit workers to sue their U.S. diplomat

employers. I am unaware of any case in which an U.S. diplomat has been prosecuted in the U.S. for such abuse.

In closing, I want to ensure you that my organization and other members of the

Freedom Network (USA) look forward to working with the relevant departments

and agencies and members of Congress in order to ensure that traffickers are punished and the rights of trafficked persons are protected.

Thank you again for offering me this opportunity to speak. I would be glad to address any questions you might have.

Senator WELLSTONE. I tell you, your testimony—the collective ‘‘you’’—is riveting, and I want to come back with some questions.

Hae Jung Cho is project director of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, and since you are last, I want to give just a little

bit more of an introduction because CAST is based in Los Angeles

and you have been a real pioneer when it comes to helping trafficking victims. The organization that Hae Jung Cho represents is

the first and only organization in the United States exclusively

dedicated to serving victims of trafficking in a domestic context,

and we thank you for your work.

STATEMENT OF HAE JUNG CHO, PROJECT DIRECTOR, COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY & TRAFFICKING, LOS ANGELES,

CA

Ms. CHO. Thank you, Senator. I would like to thank both Senators Wellstone and Brownback, also Representative Chris Smith

and former Representative Gejdenson, for their leadership in championing the rights of trafficking victims, for seeking the input of

non-governmental organizations, and for understanding that this is

a global problem that also must be fought here at home.

As the first and only organization exclusively dedicated to assisting victims of trafficking in the domestic context, the Coalition to

Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, CAST, has served over 100 victims

since 1998. Through CAST’s program victims receive access to food

and shelter, health and mental health services, ESL, job readiness,

legal and immigration assistance, life skills training, and human

rights education.

Although the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act

is a great leap forward, there are many victims who remain in desperate situations. I hope that the following real stories of victims

will illustrate the challenges ahead.

One of our clients is a Bangladeshi woman who finally managed

to escape from her traffickers after more than 5 years of continuous

physical assaults. Her unwavering desire for justice made possible

the conviction of her traffickers. However, before the trial, the traffickers tried to intimidate her by sending thugs to beat her brother,

burn down their house, and threaten her family. Her family members continue to be harassed today.

If a victim is asked to help convict these criminals here in the

United States, is she not owed some assurance that her family

back home will be safe from reprisals? In this case, the other convicted trafficker will be released from prison soon and deported.

What will prevent deported traffickers from searching out the victim’s family members and taking revenge? How can our governVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
47

ment work with other governments to ensure the safety of victims’ families? If their safety cannot be ensured, could a provision be

made to reunite them with the victims here in the United States?

Another one of our victims is an Indonesian woman who had

been enslaved as a domestic worker for over half of her life. With

a strong desire for justice, she reported her story to the authorities.

She was interviewed several times and was even asked to help

gather more evidence. However, 6 months have passed and she is

still waiting for the FBI to call her again. Opportunities to gather

critical evidence are disappearing.

The next story is about an Indian woman whose case never went

to trial. Although from the beginning this woman wanted to return

home, the agents and prosecutors insisted on keeping her here to

assist in the investigation. After more than 1 year of living in

homeless shelters where no one spoke her language, the victim was

anguished to find out that no one was to be indicted. She never received any of the wages owed to her, and she returned to India

with essentially nothing. There was no government provision to assist even in her repatriation.

The problems in these cases stem from, one, a lack of training

for agents and Assistant U.S. attorneys; two, a lack of sensitivity

to victim issues and an emphasis on a law enforcement goal rather

than a prioritization of the victim’s welfare; and three, a lack of

interagency coordination. For example, why was the Department of

Labor not called in to obtain back wages for these victims? What

is needed is more manpower, training that emphasizes responsiveness to victims’ needs, and a willingness on the part of investigators, prosecutors and their supervisors to conduct cases in a timely

manner.

Even in a successful case where restitution for victims is ordered,

it is unclear whether victims will ever receive any money because

restitution is not paid until after the traffickers get out of prison.

As sentences increase under the new law, it becomes even less likely that they will ever see any of their back wages. This is another

area where coordination between the Department of Justice and

the Department of Labor could ensure meaningful outcomes for victims.

Many of the victims CAST has been assisting have had to wait

for months to receive a status or work authorization from the INS

even after they have testified in a successful involuntary servitude

case. Victims are usually not notified of their status, not given any

documents, and not told where they are in the process. Even INS

agents themselves tell us they do not know why one victim was

able to receive a work permit while another waits in limbo. In the

new certification process, victims should be given an explanation

about the entire process and what their status is when they receive

it. Communication about their legal situation is an important way

for victims to feel a sense of participation and control over their

lives.

This lack of consistency is especially extreme for victims in socalled retroactive cases, those cases that came to light before the

law was passed. Several of CAST’s clients, who had previously been

given work authorization, are now in limbo again because their

case was successfully prosecuted but their work authorization exVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
48

pired before the T-visa regulations were released. In one case, a

victim lost her job when this happened and she is now again in crisis. For a formerly enslaved person, lack of certification and work

authorization means a return to the vulnerable state of only being

able to work in exploitative and underground employment. Victims

are often just as vulnerable to exploitation after they escape from

slavery as before.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Cho follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HAE JUNG CHO, COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY &

TRAFFICKING (CAST)

First I would like to thank Senators Wellstone and Brownback (and Representative Chris Smith and former Representative Gejdenson) for their leadership in

championing the rights of victims of trafficking, for seeking the input of nongovernmental organizations and for understanding that this is a global problem that also

must be fought here at home. I am also heartened that the new Administration, especially Attorney General Ashcroft, has also shown an interest in moving forward

on this important human rights issue.

As the first and only organization exclusively dedicated to serving victims of trafficking in the domestic context, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking

(CAST) has served over 100 victims since 1998 through intensive and comprehensive case management, information and assistance and information and referral.

Through CAST’s program, victims receive access to food and shelter, health and

mental health services, ESL and job training and referral, legal and immigration

assistance, life skills training, human rights education and individual advocacy as

they participate as a witness in a federal criminal investigation. It is this direct experience, working to assist trafficked persons on a daily basis with their struggle

to gain independence and freedom that informs my testimony today.

Although the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act is a great leap

forward for victim protections, there are many victims who remain in desperate situations. I hope that the following real stories of victims will illustrate the challenges

ahead as we seek to evaluate our progress in implementing the Act.

PROTECTION FOR THE FAMILIES OF VICTIMS

The first young woman I will speak of is from Bangladesh, who finally managed

to escape from her employers after more than five years of continuous physical assaults and abuse. Her courageous and unwavering desire for justice made possible

the conviction of her traffickers, one with an eleven-year sentence. Before the trial,

the traffickers tried to intimidate her by sending thugs to beat her brother, burn

down their house and threaten her family. The house was saved, but family members continue to be harassed to this day and live in fear of the associates of the

traffickers. The victim has been ostracized from the Bangladeshi community here

in the U.S. and has been maligned by the traffickers in the press of her home country and in the ethnic press here.

If a victim in the United States is asked to help convict criminal traffickers in

the name of justice, isn’t she owed some assurance that her family back in her home

country will be safe from reprisals? In this case, the other convicted trafficker will

be released from prison soon and then deported. What will prevent deported traffickers from searching out the victim’s family members and exacting revenge, especially in places where the traffickers have influence and power and the victims likely none? How can our government work with other governments to ensure the safety

of victim’s families? And if their safety cannot be ensured in their home country,

could a provision be made to reunite them with the victims here in the United

States?

NEED FOR RESOURCES, MANPOWER AND TRAINING FOR INVESTIGATORS AND

PROSECUTORS

The next stories I will tell point to the lack of resources, manpower and training

to move forward the investigation and prosecution of these cases. One of our clients

is a woman from Indonesia who had been enslaved for over half of her life and was

never paid for her labor. She also came to CAST with a strong desire for justice.

We helped her to report her story to the authorities. At first, the FBI interviewed

the victim thoroughly and asked her to help them gather more evidence. However,

49

six months have passed, and she is still waiting for the FBI to call her to set up

the consensual monitoring. Opportunities to gather evidence continue to disappear.

This victim had also reported that this family had another domestic worker in another house. We do not know whether that woman is still in that situation.

The next story is about a woman from India whose case never went to trial. Although, from the beginning, this woman wanted to return home to her daughter and

grandchildren, the agents and prosecutors insisted on keeping her here to assist in

the investigation. They were even opposed to moving her to a shelter in another city

where the staff spoke her language and shared her culture because it might have

interfered with the investigation. This victim was initially interviewed several

times. Then there were no developments for many months. After more than one

year, a year of living in homeless shelters where no one spoke her language, the

prosecutors decided that they would not pursue a prosecution. No one was ever indicted, even on harboring or smuggling charges. She never received any of the

wages owed to her, and she returned to India with essentially nothing. There was

no government provision to assist in her repatriation.

The problems in this case stem from (1) a lack of training for agents and assistant

U.S. attorneys on how to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases, (2) a lack of

sensitivity to victim issues and an emphasis on the law enforcement goal rather

than a prioritization of the victim’s welfare and (3) a lack of interagency coordination. For example, why wasn’t the Department of Labor called in to at least file a

wage claim for the victim? What is needed is more manpower, training that emphasizes responsiveness to victim’s needs, a willingness on the part of investigators and

prosecutors to prioritize these cases so that they will be conducted in a timely manner and, finally, institutionalization of expertise. We have too many times seen good

agents and prosecutors promoted or moved just as they were becoming experts in

this highly specialized area. Their replacements come with no training, background

or experience and must learn by doing.

LACK OF CONSISTENCY IN IMPLEMENTING VICTIM BENEFITS

Many of the victims CAST has been assisting have had to wait for months to receive a status or a work permit from the INS, even after they have testified in a

successful involuntary servitude case. Victims are usually not notified of their status, not given documents and not told where they are in the process. There is no

transparency and no accountability. Even INS agents themselves tell us they don’t

know why one victim was able to receive a work permit while another waits in

limbo. In the new ‘‘certification’’ process created by the Victims of Trafficking and

Violence Protection Act, there should be a formal notification process so that victims

can understand what the process is, when they move from one stage to another and

what their exact status is when they receive it. Communication about their legal

situation is an important way for victims to feel a sense of participation and control

over their lives.

This lack of consistency is especially extreme for victims in so-called ‘‘retroactive’’

cases—those cases that came to light before the law was passed in October 2000.

Several of CAST’s clients, who had previously been given work authorization, are

now in limbo again because their case was successfully prosecuted but their work

permits expired before the T visa regulations were released. In one case, a victim

lost her job when this happened, and she is now again in crisis. These victims are

falling through the cracks because the new ‘‘continued presence’’ process does not

apply to those whose cases have already been prosecuted, and it seems that they

must wait several months while their T visa applications get prepared, filed and

processed. For a victim of slavery with no savings, the lack of valid work authorization means a return to the vulnerable state of only being able to work in exploitative and underground employment.

One final note about victim benefits. The Office for Refugee Resettlement must

be commended for its organizational will to provide services to a completely new

population. However, refugee programs are limited in the ways that they can help

trafficking victims because they were created for a different population. Refugees

have cut ties to their homeland and arrive in the U.S. eager to start new lives. They

often join relatives or a larger community. Trafficking victims, just released from

the isolation of a slavery-like situation, are bewildered and face an uncertain

present and future. Victims need time to adjust to their new situation and time to

participate in an ongoing investigation and prosecution. Usually their housing situation is unstable as they move from Good Samaritan to emergency shelter to transitional shelter to perhaps other housing situations. The ORR matching grant program that aims to place victims in a job within four months will not be successful

for the majority of trafficking victims who lack basic English and other competitive

50

job skills. Victims will often fall into jobs that are again in informal industries that

do not pay minimum wage.

The most disturbing case in point is the situation of the victims from the American Samoa garment factory or Daewoosa case. Although the roughly 200 victims

were certified and mostly did receive the refugee cash assistance, food stamps and

medi-care coverage they were entitled to, there have been reports that many of

these victims are in a precarious state. Some victims have been handing over their

food stamps and cash assistance as payment for room and board. In addition, some

have accepted below minimum wage garment factory jobs in order to make money

to pay back their sponsors for the plane fare from American Samoa. This scenario

is much too reminiscent of their situation at the Daewoosa factory. This is the unfortunate result when victims are forced to fend for themselves before they have

been given the resources to be able to build an independent life.

Victims are often just as vulnerable to exploitation after they escape from slavery

as before.

Senator WELLSTONE. Well, I want to thank all of you.

I want to also point out that Ambassador Ely-Raphel stayed to

listen to your testimony, and I want to thank Ambassador ElyRaphel for doing so. I think sometimes people come in, testify pro

forma, and leave, and I would like to thank you for that, Ambassador Ely-Raphel.

Let me not do this in any particular order. Hae Jung Cho, let me

ask you this. The examples that you were giving—you know, I was

talking about agency coordination, but I was talking about like in

Washington bringing everyone together. It sounds like what you

are saying is that on the ground where this is happening, that is

where you are not getting the agency coordination. At least from

the examples you gave, clearly INS, Labor, Justice just are not in

sync. Is that correct?

Ms. CHO. We would have to say that on the ground, the agents

that we are working with are usually very dedicated. Sometimes

they have a lack of training. At the bottom and also, of course, here

at the top, there is an emphasis on coordination, but somewhere in

the middle it seems to have gotten lost, the supervisors of the

ground-level agents, the district directors—— Senator WELLSTONE. This is an important distinction that you

are making. You have got people who are so dedicated that you are

working with, but then when it comes to actually the agencies

being able to follow through with what needs to be done to make

sure a woman is not without work, somehow in the middle it does

not happen. Is that what you are saying?

Ms. CHO. Yes. We have had cases where INS agents made reauthorization requests for trafficking victims for work permits and

those requests were not approved.

Senator WELLSTONE. I can also in my own way talk to Commissioner Ziegler about this.

Your testimony just proves again the importance of the NGOs,

and the work that you all do is, I think, so critical to informing all

of us.

I do not know if you mentioned this or not. Are the incidents of

trafficking in the Los Angeles area increasing or decreasing, or do

you have any sense of that? And why to however you answer it.

Ms. CHO. We feel that trafficking is a huge problem in the Los

Angeles area. We have no way to know whether the overall incidence is increasing or decreasing. What I can say that in 2001, we

seemed to, in the spring of the year, see an increase in cases that

51

were referred to us and then, as Ann Jordan mentioned, there was

a decrease in referrals from law enforcement agencies. Recently we

have started to see an increase of referrals once again, but actually

through the local community. I think our outreach efforts have resulted in Good Samaritans and other community organizations

bringing victims to us after they have escaped.

Senator WELLSTONE. And then with the law and with justice, it

may be a question of the whole question of homeland defense and

war on terrorism.

Ms. CHO. Yes.

Senator WELLSTONE. See, that is one of the questions we also

want to get to. I think ultimately I would want to know, and I

think Senator Brownback would too, from everyone whether or

not—if ultimately we need to look at more resources and more

women and manpower to do the job, then we ought to step forward

with that request and push it as hard as we can. That may be part

of what we are talking about. Unfortunately, this is no small issue.

No small issue at all.

Ms. Jordan, can I ask you? On the whole issue of private contractors and involved in trafficking or what you described as rape, I

think is the way you put it, what is the record of DynCorp?

Ms. JORDAN. I know that there has been a lot of criticism of

DynCorp, and I will just say as for peacekeeping, I have a binder

here full of cases on problems with peacekeeping. And DynCorp is

involved in Bosnia with hiring the Americans who serve there on

the International Police Task Force. I met the head of the U.N.

mission there, Jacque Klein, and I met also with the head of the

IPTF, the commissioner, and the woman who runs the stop team.

This is a team that goes out and raids the clubs. They have told

me that DynCorp for them is a real problem, or this whole system

is a real problem for them because they give the example of the

French. They will send their national gendarmerie over there, and

they are in a command position. They are controlled. They are

under a military structure and they suffer consequences if they

misbehave or get involved in anything criminal.

Whereas, DynCorp has no such system. These men are hired.

Many of them are retired. They go over there. They get paid

$100,000 a year. Jacque Klein told me they only give them 3 days’

training when they get there. All he tells them is that we know

that you think you are going to have fun over here, but if you get

caught going to clubs, you are going to get sent home. But that is

the only consequence that is paid. At that point, they send a report

back to the U.N. The U.N.—for the United States—then would

send it back to the State Department and the State Department

would decide whether to send it to Justice. So, basically they just

get sent home. And I could not find out from him of anyone who

had ever been prosecuted in any country for this kind of problem,

but it is much worse when you have a company like DynCorp because there is no control.

Senator WELLSTONE. I think we have heard some of the reports

from Colombia as well. It might be worth taking some time for me

and others to meet directly with DynCorp and ask them, in light

of this, what they do intend to do.

52

Ms. Smolenski, we really in a way already focused in on a lot of

what you said. We had a hearing this morning where we were talking about two protocols, one on child soldiers and the other was on

the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography,

which certainly ties into what this hearing has been about. I think

that the Senate has not yet ratified the protocols. I think we are

going to. It looks very good. I thought it was a good day because

I think we are all in agreement and I think it is coming out of the

Foreign Relations Committee. Do you think the protocol will be at

all helpful?

Ms. SMOLENSKI. Yes, it will definitely be helpful, and especially

since it calls attention to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the

Child in general, which is a very powerful human rights convention. But the optional protocol does go much further than the original convention on detailing how children can be protected, and we

absolutely support ratification of it.

Senator, may I followup on something that Ann Jordan said

about DynCorp?

Senator WELLSTONE. If I say no, what would you then do?

Ms. SMOLENSKI. I will obediently close my mouth.

Senator WELLSTONE. I do not believe that for a moment.

I would never say no.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. I am not kidding, but I would come up to you

afterwards.

Senator WELLSTONE. If I did say no, I would hope you would ignore that. Yes.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. I just wanted to say that ECPAT-USA has

formed a coalition of groups to try to deal with the U.S. military

problem of child prostitution because it is known that wherever

there is a U.S. military facility and it is not just U.S. military, but

since we are at ECPAT-USA, we work on U.S. military facilities.

There is an increase in child prostitution in that area. There are

lots of things that the U.S. Defense Department could do, and we

met with them and said they could do these things. Basically, they

said, well, we are not going to do those and that was that. So, I

just wanted to call your attention to the problem and that we have

suggestions for what they could do, and I am wondering if you

might help us move them to another level.

Senator WELLSTONE. You are just suggesting another easy issue

for us to get involved with.

Ms. SMOLENSKI. It should not cost that much money, though.

Senator WELLSTONE. I would be very interested in your giving us

your best ideas.

I probably should not say this in a formal hearing, but especially

some of what you were saying, Ms. Smolenski, I was thinking—no

self-righteousness intended. I was trying to figure out what the

problem is with men. I should not say this as part of the hearing.

I am very serious about this. I just cannot quite understand this.

I do not think we are going to have a hearing about the state of

men.

Some of you traveled a long way, and I think we are going to

stay in very close touch. I am hoping sometime to come to Los Angeles and maybe do some work with you there. I think we made

a good start a year ago, and I think everybody who testified today,

53

across the board, is committed to really doing our level best. I

think my job is to be pushy and to really keep pushing hard, and

I think Senator Brownback feels the same way. I think this was

a very, very important hearing. I would like to thank everyone for

coming. Thank you for your interest. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your work.

And the subcommittee is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 4:49 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THERESA LOAR, PRESIDENT, VITAL VOICES GLOBAL

PARTNERSHIP

I want to thank the Senators for the opportunity to provide testimony about the

implementation of the legislation to combat trafficking and protect trafficking victims that would not have been possible without your strong leadership. I wish to

acknowledge Senators Wellstone’s and Brownback’s continued commitment to ensure that this issue does not get lost among the many important issues facing our

country at this time.

We have moved into a new and critical time for the United States anti-trafficking

work. It is a time of expectations heightened by the promise of the world’s most

comprehensive and potentially powerful law against trafficking. In the previous period—the one leading up to the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act

of 2000—I had the honor of being the Director of the President’s Interagency Council on Women, the office that for many years led the coordination of the Executive

Branch’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons. We worked closely with Congress,

with the Departments of State, Justice, Labor, and Health and Human Services,

with nongovernmental and international organizations in the U.S. and in many regions of the world. I am proud of our shared accomplishments during that period

to get trafficking on the U.S. and world agenda.

Due to the leadership of Senators Brownback and Wellstone, and Representative

Chris Smith in the House, the United States has a law to protect trafficking victims

and to prosecute trafficking. This now presents both opportunity and responsibility.

Our responsibility will be met by prosecuting traffickers in numbers significant

enough not only to punish but to deter, finding and assisting enslaved victims in

numbers that are defensible compared to the estimated thousands of new trafficking

victims in the U.S. each year, and preventing mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers,

daughters and sons around the world from being trafficked in the first instance.

After almost a year and a half, some aspects of legislative implementation are

progressing. Secretary Colin Powell recently convened the first meeting of the Cabinet-level Task Force. We look forward to working closely with the Secretary and

Ambassador Nancy Ely-Raphel, the head of the Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking, to make real progress in the fight against this tragic human rights abuse,

growing health threat, and global criminal activity.

In several cities, such as Chicago and New York, service providers are beginning

to assess what local capacity exists to provide services to victims of trafficking. However, we are aware of no Department of Justice funding to service providers resulting from the legislation as contemplated by section 107(B)(2). This does not portend

well for the prospects of trafficking victims in our country (as well as the prospects

of identifying witnesses for prosecution). This also is hard to understand given the

real commitment to this issue exhibited so far by the Attorney General.

I am hopeful that the T-visa will become a cornerstone permitting the humane

treatment of trafficking victims and increasing the likelihood that victims will help

prosecute their traffickers. I am concerned however that the new regulations may

be unworkable in the real world context. Does the process make sense for a teenager, for example, who has endured years of treatment tantamount to torture and

recently escaped enslavement by her captors. Did the Senators intend that such a

victim endure a complex application process and be charged application fees (which

purport to be waivable). Is it possible that the process has been made sufficiently

difficult for these victims of crime that they will not reach out for help?

We are confident that if provided adequate resources the Trafficking in Persons

and Worker Exploitation Task Force, co-chaired by the Departments of Justice and

Labor, will continue to lead the United States’ commitment to prosecuting cases

while not further victimizing those who have escaped the traffickers. There is great

54

motivation and commitment among the prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division to

expand their skilled prosecution of traffickers. But more prosecutors dedicated to

trafficking cases are needed.

On their face, these may appear to be domestic elements of the global fight

against trafficking. However with trafficking the domestic and international are

intertwined. For example, when U.S. officials go to a country of origin to participate

in anti-trafficking training or to speak at a conference, one of the first questions

that arise concerns whether we have prosecuted any traffickers in the U.S. from

that country. As long as this is answered in the negative, we have less chance of

convincing other countries of our seriousness in confronting this problem.

Let me propose a straightforward, but I believe critical, way to gauge meaningful

progress of implementation of the legislation. Congressional hearings in the future

on this subject should ask for the status of the following: 1) how many traffickers

have been prosecuted and jailed for terms commensurate with the heinousness of

the crime; 2) how many victims have been identified, rescued and assisted; and 3)

what are the measurable results of prevention projects in countries of origin. These

are the core questions that must frame the discussion in the future.

We have rough baselines to start from today. The Department of Justice, for example, knows the number of investigations underway and prosecutions of traffickers

undertaken. It knows how many victims it is working with and the Department of

Health and Human Services knows how many victims have been certified. NGOs

around the country should be encouraged to tabulate the victims and document

their stories that they assist (even if those victims for whatever reasons choose not

to seek help from the justice system).

The effectiveness of the international programs sponsored by the U.S. government

should be measured in much the same way. Taking account of the specific circumstances we find in each country we engage, we should ask how specifically do

our trainings, cooperative arrangements, conferences, and meetings result in advancing these objectives in measurable ways. Nearly every country of the world has

in one way or another, by signing the U.N. Protocol or through other means, expressed an official position that trafficking is an intolerable human rights violation

and crime. The projects that our government undertakes must now assist these

countries achieve the practical results that reflect that view.

We have a long way to go. We know this because there is another baseline that

these numbers should be compared against: Up to 50,000 new victims are enslaved

in the United States by trafficking every year; more than one million around the

world. We must not lose the momentum in the fight against this heinous crime. We

are making progress, but it is too early to tell whether our commitment to practical

results that prosecute traffickers and assist victims will match the promise of the

powerful tools contained in this legislation.

Vital Voices is working to fulfill the promise of this new law in two important

ways, by raising awareness of the issue in the United States and around the world

and by training and empowering women in countries stricken by trafficking to fight

this human rights abuse in their own country.

To raise awareness, we are launching public service announcements developed by

the Office of United Nations Drug Control and Crime Prevention for use in the U.S.

Vital Voices is currently working to tag these award-winning public service announcements with a call to action to abolish this modern-day slavery here in the

U.S. and globally. Additionally, we are publishing a regular newsletter via e-mail

and on line to over 2000 representatives of governments, nongovernmental organizations and international institutions. Our goal is to promote effective partnerships

between government officials and NGOs across the nation and around the world to

fight trafficking in persons.

In collaboration with Georgetown University, the Vital Voices Global Leadership

Institute is training emerging women leaders to fight trafficking on the ground in

source, destination and transit countries in the areas of prevention, protection and

prosecution.

PREPARED STATMENT OF EUGENE SCALIA, SOLICITOR OF LABOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

LABOR

I am submitting this statement on behalf of the Department of Labor in connection with the Subcommittee’s March 7 hearing on the Trafficking Victims Protection

Act of 2000 (TVPA).

The Department of Labor has a strong commitment to the objectives of the Act,

and I am pleased to describe the measures we have taken, and plan to take, to comVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
55

bat trafficking in persons. Secretary Chao considers effective implementation of the

TVPA to be an important departmental objective.

It should be stated at the outset that Congress is to be applauded for passing this

groundbreaking legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2000. This is

the first comprehensive law in the United States designed to stop trafficking in persons. Congress adopted a three-prong approach—prevention; protection and assistance; and prosecution—because it recognized that trafficking is a multi-dimensional

problem. We will not be fully effective if we increase our prosecution effort here in

the United States without attempting to stop trafficking where it originates—often

overseas—and without endeavoring to protect and assist the victims.

As Congress recognized in its findings, trafficking in persons is not limited to

prostitution. Rather, ‘‘[t]his growing transnational crime also includes forced labor

and involves significant violations of labor, public health, and human rights standards worldwide.’’ Thus, from the Department of Labor’s perspective, trafficking is

not only a moral and human rights problem, it is also a serious workplace issue.

Far too many trafficking victims are working in the fields and factories of this country, suffering under exploitative labor practices. Too often, these victims are forced

to work against their will through violence, threats of violence, and other forms of

coercion. Typically, they work very long hours without receiving lawful pay, and

often work, live and are transported in unsafe conditions. These practices not only

harm the victimized workers, but also permit the abusive employers to gain an unfair competitive advantage over the vast majority of law-abiding employers. Regardless how simple or how sophisticated trafficking enterprises may be, they all deny

the essential humanity of their victims.

Department of Labor agencies have important roles to play in implementing each

of the three prongs of the TVPA’s anti-trafficking strategy. The agencies receive direction, and support, from the highest levels of the Department. Just three weeks

ago Secretary Chao met with the Secretary of State, Attorney General, National Security Advisor, and other senior administrators to discuss implementation of the

Act. Two days ago, I attended a meeting of a senior interagency policy group that

has been charged with developing a comprehensive plan to address trafficking in

persons. We intend to use the authority and resources that we have at the Labor

Department to deter domestic and international trafficking and bring its perpetrators to justice, while also providing available departmental services to the victims

so that they may work productively, and with dignity, in the future.

With regard to the prevention prong of the Act, the Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has initiated a number of projects to combat trafficking in persons in the countries of origin, and in transit. These projects enhance

international compliance, help countries avoid sanctions under the TWA, and are intended not only to help trafficking victims, but more importantly, to prevent women

and children from being trafficked in the first place. In short, through ILAB’s efforts

overseas, we aim to help stop this problem at its source.

ILAB has negotiated a $1.2 million cooperative agreement with the International

Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), a non-governmental organization, to conduct a two-year anti-trafficking project in Eastern Europe. Started in November

2001, this program aims to prevent the trafficking of women by creating viable economic alternatives for at-risk women in seven major cities. IREX will develop training and empowerment centers with existing women’s organizations to train 13,500

women and provide support services to 5,800 women annually. Specifically, this program’s activities will include providing marketable job skills to at-risk women and

girls, providing job placement services to those who have been trained, conducting

outreach activities to raise awareness among women and girls, identifying legal aid

and psychological support services, and promoting entrepreneurship.

ILAB also supports projects to combat trafficking in children for exploitative labor

through the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC). ILAB has supported projects to address child

trafficking in 17 countries in West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia

and South America. These projects rescue children from trafficking and exploitative

work situations, and provide them with rehabilitation services and educational opportunities, as well as undertaking efforts to prevent children from being trafficked

in the first place. ILAB currently is supporting programs through IPEC to combat

trafficking of children in South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka), and in

West and Central Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Cote

d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria and Togo). In addition, ILAB is supporting comprehensive,

national ‘‘Timebound Programs,’’ through IPEC, to eliminate the worst forms of

child labor in Nepal, Tanzania and El Salvador. ILO Convention 182 identifies trafficking of children as one of the worst forms of child labor, and as such, children

56

who are victims of trafficking will receive priority attention in each of these three

countries.

While the Department is extensively involved in preventing trafficking overseas,

we recognize that we have a special obligation to help trafficking victims within our

own borders. Thus, with regard to the protection and assistance prong of the TVPA,

the Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) takes very seriously its obligation when providing services to treat victims of severe forms of trafficking as refugees, without regard to their immigration status. We expect the services provided at One-Stop Career Centers, such as job search assistance, career

counseling and occupational skills training, to benefit trafficked individuals. The Job

Corps program also may provide useful job training opportunities for victims.

We also intend to work alongside other federal agencies to make victims aware

of the services available to them. To this end, the Department’s Women’s Bureau

prepared a publication entitled ‘‘Trafficking in Persons: A Guide for Nongovernmental Organizations,’’ in collaboration with the Department’s Wage and Hour Division, the Employment and Training Administration, and components of the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and State. The publication is intended to provide NGOs with information about federal laws that prohibit trafficking in persons and the services and benefits that victims may receive.

Finally, to carry out the prosecution prong of the TVPA, we have redoubled our

efforts to root out abusive labor practices in this country. The Department’s Wage

and Hour Division, supported by the Solicitor’s Office, has increased its emphasis

on compliance with labor standards laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act

(FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA),

in low-wage industries such as garment manufacturing and agriculture. These industries often include a substantial concentration of undocumented, and sometimes

trafficked, workers.

Wage and Hour investigators are in workplaces everyday, and often are the first

government authorities to witness exploitative conditions and talk to victims.

Through the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force, which I

co-chair with Assistant Attorney General Boyd, and under the TVPA, Wage and

Hour closely coordinates investigations of egregious workplace conditions with the

Department of Justice. Most relevant for today’s hearing, Wage and Hour and the

Solicitor’s Office have assisted the Department of Justice’s ongoing prosecution of

the owner of a garment sweatshop in American Samoa, the first criminal prosecution under the TVPA. At the Department, our Office of the Inspector General has

participated in several investigations with the Task Force, and we also have taken

recent steps to enlist OSHA inspectors in identifying workplace exploitation of trafficking victims.

As the Solicitor of Labor, I intend to build on our notable successes in prosecuting

trafficking and worker abuse cases. The following are examples of recent cases in

which the Labor Department played a significant role, balancing the special needs

of trafficking victims with swift punishment for traffickers:

• In 1999, three defendants were convicted of slavery and immigration violations

arising from their use of threats of force to enslave Mexican farm workers in

the agricultural fields of southern Florida. The lead defendant received a threeyear prison term. The victims received legal status and are working in Florida,

where they participate in a farm worker advocacy group.

• In 2000, the federal government obtained convictions against four garment shop

owners in Manhattan’s Chinatown for lying to Wage and Hour investigators.

The Department’s Inspector General’s Office also played an important role in

this matter. The garment manufacturers, who engaged in widespread wage violations and kept several sets of records to deceive investigators, were assessed

criminal fines, ordered to pay back wages as restitution, and given probation.

• In 2000, two garment companies based in the Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands were ordered to each pay a fine of $100,000 and to serve five

years probation after pleading guilty to criminal contempt charges for violating

a consent judgment that ordered them to pay legally-required wages to their

employees. A Wage and Hour investigation had discovered that the companies

had underpaid 336 workers by almost $1 million, after previously underpaying

their workers by $560,000.

• In the last several years, four notorious farm labor contractors in the Southeastern United States who exploited farm workers were convicted under various

criminal provisions. Most recently, in 2001, a Florida farm labor contractor was

sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he used

insurmountable debts for cocaine, beer and cigarettes, as well as threats and

violence, to enslave field workers.

57

In conclusion, we at the Department of Labor thank the Members of Congress for

providing us the tools we need to combat the scourge of trafficking in persons, and

commit the Labor Department to working with our sister agencies to eradicate this

problem.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF EQUALITY NOW, NEW YORK, NY

Equality Now is an international human rights organization based in New York

dedicated to the protection of the rights of girls and women. It currently has over

20,000 members in its Women’s Action Network from more than 100 countries.

Equality Now would like to express its thanks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the opportunity to present a statement on sex tourism to this hearing.

Among issues of concern to Equality Now are the trafficking of girls and women

and the practice of sex tourism. Of particular interest to us is the connection between these two activities, which are responsible for the death, disease and deprivation of tens of thousands of girls and women every year. Sex tourism from the

United States is a thriving business. Big Apple Oriental Tours of Bellerose, New

York, for example transports men to the Philippines and Thailand and once there

guides them to bars and brothels where sex can be purchased from local girls and

women. Although Big Apple and other sex tour operators officially deny that they

arrange for sex between their customers and underage girls, interviews by their

operatives with various journalists have revealed a different story. In a 1993 broadcast report, the television news program Inside Edition recorded Big Apple tour

guide Louis Schonberger promising an undercover reporter that sex with 15 and 16

year-old girls could be arranged for Big Apple customers. In a March 1998 interview

with the Associated Press, Norman Barabash, an owner of Big Apple Oriental Tours,

responded to a question concerning the age of the girls that his company arranged

for his customers by stating ‘‘There is no way of knowing for certain. Short of giving

them lie detector tests who can tell?’’

Despite more than five years of campaigning for the prosecution of Big Apple Oriental Tours by Equality Now and other human rights organizations in the United

States and abroad, that company still brazenly conducts its tours without fear of

criminal sanction. Equality Now’s efforts in seeking the prosecution of Big Apple

Oriental Tours and other sex tour companies have met with the same response from

numerous federal, state and local prosecutors. While agreeing that sex tourism is

abhorrent, the prosecutors felt generally that current legislation is inadequate to

pursue a successful prosecution. Although Equality Now believes that certain state

legislation could be used to prosecute sex tourism, strong unequivocal federal legislation criminalizing sex tourism would both send a hard-hitting message to sex tour

operators that sex tourism from the United States is unacceptable, and would also

provide an invaluable tool against those who persist in promoting the practice. We

urge you therefore to amend the current statutes to provide prosecutors with the

laws that they need to stop the activities of sex tour operators.

Comprehensive legislation will need to consider the following facts about sex tourism: A large number of the women who work in the bars and brothels in sex tour

destinations are actually 14, 15 or 16 years of age. However these girls are able to

obtain necessary identifications indicating that they are of legal age through the

connivance of corrupt local officials, politicians, pimps, police officers and traffickers.

These false identifications enable Big Apple Oriental Tours and other sex tour operators to plausibly deny that their customers have sex with underage girls. Tackling

corruption in the hugely profitable trafficking industry overnight is a mammoth

task. One simple way of protecting underage girls from abuse and exploitation irrespective of any identity cards they might hold would be to amend the laws in the

United States, to make liable to prosecution any individual who commits an act that

would constitute a sex crime in the United States. Only in this manner can those

individuals having sex with underage girls with false identifications be sure of falling within the prohibition of the legislation.

It must also be taken into account that sex tour operators attempt to hide their

illicit activities behind otherwise legitimate activities. The brochure and web site of

Big Apple Oriental Tours promises its customers access to a range of activities including military history tours, golf, barbecues and even museums. Sex tour operators also hide behind the same excuse offered by escort services and pimps everywhere: that they only make introductions and that anything that follows is not their

responsibility. Thus, they are able to deny actual ‘‘knowledge’’ of precisely what

their customers do. To avoid the difficulty in proving actual knowledge by sex tour

operators of what their customers do, statutes should be amended to provide a more

reasonable standard. We recommend and urge that any statutory amendment diVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
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rected to the practice of sex tourism only require that sex tour operators ‘‘knew or

should have known’’ of the conduct of their customers. For example, Big Apple Oriental Tours engages in a range of activities that could be used to establish that they

should have known what their customers were doing. These activities include reports made to them by previous customers of use of prostitutes, introduction by Big

Apple tour guides to bars that permit the purchase of sex from the girls working

there, and actual negotiation of the price and nature of the sex act by Big Apple’s

tour guide with the girl’s mamasan (the woman who acts as a pimp for the girls).

We strongly encourage you to make any new or amended legislation very broad

in scope. Practices that would be untenable in this country are woefully unregulated

by the United States when perpetrated by its citizens abroad. Done mostly via the

internet, hundreds of companies offer to take men to a variety of countries for the

purpose of introducing them to prospective wives. These companies are not required

to compile or maintain any information about their customers or the prospective

brides. Therefore, introductions can be made to individuals with criminal records,

histories of violence or any type of sexually transmittable disease and such information would be unavailable to the other party to the introduction. A 1999 investigation by Equality Now contacted more than 70 companies offering introductions for

the purpose of marriage on the internet. Our investigator, posing as a potential customer, claimed to have a history of domestic violence and large child support and

alimony payments and asked if these facts would disqualify him from using the

companies’ services. Only three of the responding companies said that it would. One

respondent described the lack of regulation of this industry by stating ‘‘The (United

States) government doesn’t care if you’re Jack the Ripper.’’

Sex tour operators officially deny that they are such. By requiring all business entities (whether incorporated or not) or other associations that enable the introduction of United States citizens or residents to foreign nationals, in the foreign national’s home country, to keep adequate records of the people using the services offered

(which would be open to legitimate inspection by the appropriate regulating authorities), properly targeted United States legislation would discourage all but genuine

introduction agencies as well as going some way to afford protection to those using

the service. An added benefit to such a record-keeping requirement would be to provide a degree of needed regulation to the quickly growing ‘‘mail order bride’’ business.

We urge your immediate attention to these inadequacies in current U.S. law. The

conduct of sex tourists serves to diminish the respect and affection of foreigners for

the United States. Sex tourism presents the worst of the United States. The conduct

of relatively wealthy Americans engaging in conduct they would not dare do at

home creates an image of Americans as predatory and parasitic. In Costa Rica alone

for example, according to ECPAT, Americans account for 80% of arrests involving

child sex tourism. The passage of effective laws to address such conduct would not

only serve to protect thousands of girls and women who are victimized by sex tour

operators and their customers, it would also demonstrate the best of the United

States: the protection of the weak and vulnerable and ensuring that they will receive the protection and justice that they deserve. Thank you.

RESPONSES TO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

RESPONSES OF HON. PAULA DOBRIANSKY, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR GLOBAL

AFFAIRS, TO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY SENATOR

WELLSTONE

Question 1. When do you plan to submit to the Senate for ratification the Trafficking Protocol to the UN Crime Convention against Transnational Organized

Crime that the U.S. signed in December 2000?

Answer. The Administration is in the final stage of preparing the transmittal

package to request the Senate’s advice and consent to ratification of the

Transnational Organized Crime Convention and its supplementary protocols on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

We will update you as the process moves forward.

Question 2. What role do you play in facilitating with other governments the repatriation of trafficking victims to their countries of origin and in providing funding

to send victims home? How do you ensure victims who are repatriated receive adequate attention?

Answer. Encouraging other countries to strengthen their capacity to receive and

reintegrate victims is a cornerstone of our bilateral engagement. We are working

59

closely with the Departments of Justice and HHS to strengthen our ties between

our efforts to identify and assist victims in the U.S. and our international engagement to ensure safe return. We recently provided to the Department of Justice a

list of NGO service providers in various countries that have received U.S. Government antitrafficking assistance and that may be able to assist these victims who are

returned from the United States. We provide assistance to a number of groups that

assist with repatriation in various countries, so that they can provide victims with

assistance in returning home, as well as any medical or psychological care that they

may need.

Question 3. What have you done to address HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in relation to trafficking? Does the Department of State plan to request more funding than the current 2003 budget proposal of $200 million for the

Global Fund?

Answer. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons recently cochaired an intra-Departmental meeting with the State Department’s Office of International Health Affairs. Representatives of the Office of the Under Secretary of

Global Affairs, the Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Population, Refugees and Migration also participated. The group is working to identify

possible areas of collaboration to address the linkage between HIV/AIDS and other

infectious diseases and trafficking. In addition to providing greater emphasis on

trafficking and HIV/AIDS issues in programming, the Department also intends to

expand successful efforts with other USG agencies, NGOs, and international organizations to promote action on HIV/AIDS and trafficking.

The President’s budget proposal of $200 million in FY 2003 for the Global Fund

to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria brings the total U.S. pledge to the Fund

to $500 million. In his March 14, 2002, remarks on global development at the InterAmerican Development Bank, the President stated that as the Global Fund finalizes

its organization, develops a strategy, and shows success, he would work with Congress to increase the U.S. commitment to the Fund. The United States remains the

global leader in the fight against

Question 4. In regard to the list of countries not reaching the minimum standards

for the elimination of trafficking—the 3rd Tier countries—in the Trafficking in Persons Report, which countries have contacted you since the release of the report in

July 2001? How many have asked for assistance to help fight trafficking?

Answer. The Trafficking in Persons Report has prompted increased awareness— and, in some cases, action—by a large number of foreign governments on the issue

of trafficking in persons. Several countries on the Tier 3 list of the 2001 Trafficking

in Persons Report have taken steps towards recognizing or addressing this problem

since the report was issued. These countries include Albania, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Gabon, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Romania, Russia, South

Korea, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.

South Korea, for example, has undertaken an intensive effort to remedy the concerns cited in the TIP report. The South Korean government submitted an extensive

report (‘‘Current Status of Efforts to Eliminate Trafficking in Persons’’) in early October detailing various anti-trafficking initiatives in the areas of prosecution, protection, and prevention initiatives. Since October, key Republic of Korea Foreign Ministry officials have met several times with high-level Department principals to seek

USG views and to convey their government’s determination to improve its record

on this issue.

The Romanian Foreign Minister met with U.S. officials in April 2002 to review

the Romanian anti-trafficking progress report submitted earlier to the Department

of State. Romania has been active in trying to overcome shortcomings noted in the

2001 TIP Report, adopting a law to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, and

establishing a National Action Plan against Trafficking. The Romanians also reported that the U.S. trafficking statute served as a source of inspiration for their

new law. They also have taken a number of additional steps, including contacting

the Romanian Orthodox Church to ask for its help in destigmatizing victims.

Several countries in southeastern Europe have increased or started to take measures aimed at the problem, despite significant resource constraints in some cases.

• The Government of Albania, for example, in close coordination with our embassy, created and passed on December 7, a comprehensive National Action

Plan, which charts their course for combating trafficking.

• Bosnia and Herzegovina is forming a strike force to improve coordination and

successful prosecution of those who organize and direct human trafficking.HIV/

AIDS, dedicating approximately one-third of all international spending against

the disease. The President’s FY 2003 budget request of $1.1 billion for the fight

against HIV/AIDS is a 53.9% increase over FY 2001.

60

• In Yugoslavia, the government staffs working groups that specifically address

prevention, protection, and prosecution.

• Greece established an Inter-Ministerial Committee to address trafficking in

women. In May and June 2001 the Government passed new immigration and

organized crime laws that increased protection for women who press charges

against their traffickers by allowing them to remain in the country legally and

setting aside any previous convictions. Specific anti-trafficking legislation has

been drafted. Meanwhile, police and border guards are being trained on detection of trafficked women.

Russia has also cooperated with the U.S. on an Alaska trafficking case involving

Russian women. Additionally, the MVD has formed an internal taskforce to determine how best to integrate the trafficking and migration issues into its portfolio.

Indonesia co-sponsored, with Australia, the Regional Ministerial Conference on

People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime in Bali

in February, at which the United States participated as an observer.

Israel has significantly increased investigations of traffickers and also has improved protection for victims. Israel recently signed the UN Protocol to Prevent,

Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Senior representatives from the Israeli embassy and the government met with State Department officials on several occasions to discuss their anti-trafficking efforts and

ways to improve their record.

In August 2001, the Turkish National Police sent a circular to provincial police

chiefs strongly urging them to use a tough 1999 organized crime law to investigate

cases of trafficking. Last month, the Minister of Justice presented a bill to the Council of Ministers making trafficking a crime, with heavier penalties for organized

criminal involvement. Previous laws had targeted prostitutes.

In August 2001, the Gabonese Council of Ministers proposed legislation to establish penalties for the trafficking of persons.

Malaysia has increased efforts to stop the flow of mala fide travelers including

trafficking victims across its borders since the TIP report was issued. Three interagency groups have been formed to address organized crime, illegal migration and

border control, all of which address trafficking in persons. The Malaysian government has consulted with U.S. officials in Washington and Kuala Lumpur about efforts to improve its performance in this area.

Question 5. How often will the President’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Trafficking

meet? Have you developed a comprehensive strategy for fighting trafficking? Have

you set benchmarks?

Answer. We expect that the President’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Trafficking

in Persons will meet approximately twice a year. The Senior Policy Advisory Group,

which I chair, will meet on a regular basis to provide policy oversight of the USG

efforts on trafficking in persons, including the implementation of the Act. We are

in the process of developing a three-year plan with goals and objectives for the TIP

office, as well as an operational plan, timeline, and benchmarks for progress. In

terms of a comprehensive strategy at the diplomatic level, we are raising the trafficking issue at senior levels with foreign governments, especially those in Tier 3

of the 2001 Trafficking in Persons Report. At the programmatic level, we are in the

process of developing a strategy for targeted countries that have a significant problem of trafficking, have the political will and are eligible for U.S. foreign assistance.

Question 6. What is the State Department doing to investigate allegations that

some international military and police force personnel have been involved in trafficking and forced prostitution, either as customers, facilitators or principals? Has

the State Department ever recommended the prosecution of any military or International Police Task Force members for such involvement? If so, has the Department of Justice prosecuted any of the cases?

Answer. We cooperate and work closely with the Department of Defense on alleged incidences of criminal wrongdoing. We refer you to the Department of Defense

for specific information on their policies. The Department of State has referred the

alleged wrongdoing by U.S. civilian police force personnel to the Department of Justice Criminal Division for review. The Department of Justice should be contacted

for information on the status of these cases.

Question 7. What is being done to provide training and establish accountability

for any U.S. military or police who are implicated in trafficking or forced prostitution?

Answer. The State Department gives all U.S. civilian police (CIVPOL) officers a

detailed pre-deployment briefing on trafficking. The briefing stresses that the State

Department has a ‘‘no tolerance policy’’ with respect to involvement in trafficking

61

and/or prostitution. Specifically, an officer will be removed from his/her position if

any allegations of such activity are substantiated, as will any U.S. officers who

knew of the involvement of others and failed to report it. They also will be ineligible

for employment in future missions, must pay their own airfare home, forfeit their

mission completion bonus, and may be subject to prosecution, either in the mission

area or in the United States. All officers sign a letter of agreement before deployment acknowledging that they have been briefed on the issue of trafficking of persons, understand our policy, and are aware of the ramifications for failing to adhere

by it.

The State Department has, in a small number of cases in which such problems

have arisen, taken action consistent with our policy, including making a referral to

the Department of Justice Criminal Division for possible prosecution. We have also

repeatedly stressed to the UN in New York and to individual CIVPOL field missions

our expectation that the UN will investigate fully even the most minor infractions

by any CIVPOL officer and take appropriate disciplinary action.

Question 8. Has the State Department conducted any investigations into the alleged involvement in trafficking of the U.S. contingent of international police forces

which have been recruited and hired by private contractors rather than the U.S.

government directly? If so, what are the results of the investigation?

Answer. The State Department has informed the United Nations—both headquarters and field missions—that we want full and complete investigations done on

any and all U.S. CIVPOL personnel alleged to have been involved in trafficking and/

or prostitution. We obtain a copy of the UN internal affairs investigative report on

these activities and provide this report, any independent findings we have, and a

description of the disciplinary action we have taken to the Department of State Office of the Inspector General Office (OIG) for review, and to the Department of Justice Criminal Division for possible prosecution.

The OIG has reviewed several cases in which U.S. officers were dismissed from

duty, but only to determine whether the U.S. response was appropriate and to assess whether additional action was called for.

The OIG also conducted an audit related to U.S. support to the UN International

Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia. The audit was conducted at the request of the

Chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and

International Relations, Committee on Government reform, based on a May 2001

Washington Post article on reported misconduct and corruption by U.S. police in the

program. The audit deals with the adequacy of suitability standards used to screen

and select task force officers sent to Bosnia, the number of task force officers sent

home for cause or misconduct, and the procurement process used to select a contractor (DynCorp) to provide the police officers. The final report has not been released.

The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking leads an interagency working group

on this issue to develop and implement our policy on international multinational

forces and trafficking in persons.

Question 9. Are there presently any plans for the U.S. government to assume responsibility for hiring, training and supervising the U.S. international police contingents?

Answer. The are no plans at this time for such functions to be carried out directly

by the U.S. government. For practical reasons, the Department of State retains a

contractor to provide these services and functions, which are carried out with guidance from, and direct oversight of, the State Department (Bureau for International

Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs). The Department is considering the possibility of hiring an internal affairs expert to conduct independent investigations of

U.S. CIVPOL misconduct.

The State Department determines U.S. CIVPOL hiring standards and requirements for pre-mission training/preparation, as well as standards for conduct. Each

U.S. CIVPOL contingent has a State Department-approved command structure,

which along with State Department personnel in the field, monitors the activities

of U.S. CIVPOL while deployed in missions. U.S. contingent disciplinary decisions

are made based on guidance from the State Department. As personnel are seconded

to the UN, the UN also retains operational supervisory authority over all CIVPOL

officers deployed in a mission, and may independently discipline officers within the

mission for breach of its codes of conduct.

The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking has designated a key officer to

track and oversee this issue.

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RESPONSES OF VIET D. DINH, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF LEGAL POL- ICY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, TO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD SUB- MITTED BY SENATOR WELLSTONE

Question 1. Which office in the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of Victims

of Crime (OVC) or the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO), is responsible for

moving the money to help trafficking victims in 2002?

Answer. OVC is responsible for administering the $10 million grant program for

victims of trafficking established by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA). OVC has convened an interagency trafficking task force

to develop the program, and VAWO has dedicated three staff members to serve on

the three subcommittees that make up this task force. The subcommittees address

victim needs, training needs, and the coordination of training, resources and research/evaluation.

Question 2. What is the time frame for non-governmental organizations seeking

bids on projects to fund direct services to trafficking victims?

Answer. OVC anticipates publication of its solicitation for grant applications to assist victims of trafficking within 90 days.

Question 3. Do you have any plans to coordinate a funding strategy with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which has also received an appropriation to

fund direct services, so that programs are not duplicative?

Answer. OVC is actively coordinating with the key federal agencies involved in

human trafficking issues. The most tangible, but by no means the sole, manifestation of such coordination is the establishment of the Interagency Trafficking Task

Force on Program Development. The Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) are included in the Task

Force. Additionally, specific subcommittees have been created that focus on (1) Victim Needs; (2) Training Needs; and (3) Coordination of Resources and Research and

Evaluation. From these discussions, OVC hears first-hand of the other proposed or

actual efforts and programs directed at victims of trafficking.

Question 4. What plans does the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)

have for meeting the statutory requirement to provide facilities that are appropriate

and safe for trafficked persons in cases in wbich no private shelter is available so

that victims are not held in INS detention centers or other inappropriate facilities?

Answer. As a matter of general policy, INS does not detain trafficking victims unless individual circumstances or the law require detention. The need to continue

custody in order to protect the victim and the victim’s desire to remain in custody

for protection purposes are taken into consideration when making custody determinations. However, in general, victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons are

not required to remain in custody for the sole purpose of protection.

Meeting the housing needs of trafficking victims is one of the greatest challenges

faced by the government agencies involved in investigating trafficking cases and

providing services to trafficking victims. INS is partnering with other government

agencies, such as HHS, and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in an effort to meet this need. INS uses a combination of mechanisms to ensure that victims

of a severe form of trafficking are not detained in facilities inappropriate to their

status as crime victims. Those mechanisms include placement with an NGO, placement through the HHS ORR, and housing victims in private hotels for a short period of time. The decision as to which mechanism is appropiate in any given case

depends on the circumstances of the case and the resources available.

In working with other government agencies and NGOs to make housing arrangements for trafficking victims, it has become apparent that there is a critical need

for developing resources for immediate non-custodial emergency housing. As a case

is developing, it is often unclear whether trafficking is involved, and even after an

individual has been identified as a trafficking victim there is a short period of time

between identification and HHS certification. It is during that time that INS resources face the greatest challenges. INS would welcome the opportunity to work

with Congress to identify emergency housing resources.

Question 5. Are there plans to expand the Worker Exploitation and Trafficking

hotline to 24-hours, 7-days a week instead of just during business hours? What

plans does DOJ have to investigate and prosecute in a timely matter the enormous

increase in cases that have come as a result of the hotline?

Answer. The Department believes that the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force complaint line is an important tool in our efforts to combat

this problem. The Department notes however, that while complaint line activity has

increased in recent months, we believe current coverage is adequate. We will conVerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:35 Jul 26, 2002 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 80844 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1
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tinue to monitor the use of the complaint line and review the hours if there is an

demonstrated need to do so. In the meantime, the Department is directing its current resources to ensure adequate attorney staffing in the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section to handle the increasing caseload.

The Department has seen a significant increase in cases arising not only from

calls received through the complaint line but also from other outreach and training

efforts. All available resources are being used to investigate and prosecute the new

matters expeditiously. The Civil Rights Division is in the process of hiring new attorneys with the FY02 appropriation in order to help handle the growing number

of trafficking cases. We will pursue these cases as vigorously as our resources permit.

Question 6. What is the INS doing to ensure uniform and consistent implementation of the new T-visa regulations around the country?

INS has centralized processing of all T-visa applications by sending them to the

Vermont Service Center (VSC) for adjudication. INS conducted training on the

VTVPA, with a special focus on the T nonimmigrant visa, at the VSC in January

2002. This training included presenters from various offices within INS and other

key agencies such as the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the State

Department. This training was provided to all INS adjudicators, who will be processing those applications received by INS, as well as to key management at the VSC

and essential contract employees.

As part of the training, individuals from the government agencies presented a

very comprehensive overview of human trafficking. The training covered all elements that comprise the legislation involving human trafficking, most notably INA

107(c) and 8 C.F.R. §214.11. The training also included non-governmental involvement with presenters from the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST),

the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a noted psychologist with experience in

treating symptoms and disorders associated with human trafficking, and a noted sociology professor with expertise in explaining culthral dynamics.

The INS has also produced a training video for all INS officer corps employees.

The video explains the VTVPA, instructs employees how to identify potential victims, and outlines benefits available to victims. This video aired on INS TV during

March 2002, and copies have also been provided to all INS offices. Additionally, an

interactive computer-based training program is being developed by INS, with an

overview course for all INS employees and specific modules tailored for individual

officers and activities. This training is also being incorporated into the basic and advanced courses conducted at INS officer training academies. All of these training

initiatives will eventually be available for INS employees in a variety of media formats and delivery methods, and all will allow for tracking and verification that employees have attended the training.

Question 7. What is the DOJ strategy to improve resources to investigate trafficking cases at the local level? Do you plan to fund INS victims coordinators at the

local level so that agents do not have to coordinate victims services as a collateral

duty on top of their investigative work?

Answer. The Department is focusing existing resources to improve coordination

among federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as among victim service and

advocacy groups. Training and outreach are important aspects of this effort and

complement our work with our federal partners in the field. This work is modeled

on the national Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force, chaired

by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Labor Department’s Solicitor’s Office. This coordinated approach has provided a forum for interagency information sharing in potential cases and coordination of efforts in outreach, training, and public awareness raising. Nascent efforts to promote similar interagency

collaboration and information sharing at the local level are already taking root

through regional task forces.

The Department is dedicated to providing increased training for prosecutors and

agents on trafficking in persons. The Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division

has made presentations at several training sessions held at Quantico for FBI

agents, and at a training of INS staff at the VSC, where T visa applications will

be adjudicated. Division personnel have planned, coordinated, and presented training sessions for federal prosecutors, agents, and victim-witness coordinators from

around the country at the Department’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia S.C.

Another such training is planned for October, 2002 and will consist of two two-day

sessions primarily for federal prosecutors, but also for FBI and INS agents. We have

provided training to local law enforcement at the FBI’s National Academy, and are

writing an article to be placed in the magazine of the International Association of

Chiefs of Police (IACP), which reaches local police chiefs across the country. We

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hope to participate in the annual IACP conference this fall in order to focus more

attention on the problem of trafficking, the new law, the Department’s work in investigating and prosecuting cases, and the resources available to victims.

With respect to INS victim-witness coordinators, INS employs such coordinators

in all districts and sectors; however, their victim-witness duties are collateral to

their primary responsibilities as investigators and deportation officers. These coordinators are also responsible for victim notification and sex offender registrations in

their districts and sectors, and they have only recently seen an increase in trafficking cases requiring the provision of direct services to victims. With an increasing

number of trafficking cases, the victim-witness coordinators are being called upon

with more frequency to provide direct services, which are very time and resource

intensive. While funding full-time victim coordinators in some of the larger INS offices makes sense, the workload does not yet justify full-time coordinators in all INS

field offices. In addition, there are good reasons for having agents involved in providing victim services to victims of trafficking.

Question 8. What role do you play in facilitating with other U.S. agencies and foreign governments the repatriation of trafficked victims to their countries of origin

and for providing funding to send victims bome? Are you working with the State

Department to ensure these victims get adequate protection once they get home?

Answer. Some trafficking victims prefer to return home rather than seek the protections of Section 107 of the VTVPA. Financial assistance to pay the transportation

costs of victim repatriation has been an obstacle. We are not aware of any federal

funds currently available to assist victims to return to their home countries. In one

instance in which the victim wished to be repatriated, the home country provided

the airfare; in another, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) paid the

travel expenses. In addition to funding, the Department has encountered delays in

facilitating a victim’s repatriation because the home country government needed to

reissue identity and travel documents to replace those confiscated by the traffickers.

In one such case, the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section worked both with the

community-based organization providing services to the victim and with officials

from the embassy of the victim’s home country to facilitate the issuance of travel

documents. In these cases, the victims felt that their safety and well-being would

be best assured by returning home. While the Department has not yet worked with

the State Department on repatriation issues in specific cases, the State Department

has provided us with a list of NGOs in various countries that have received funding

from the State Department and the Agency for International Development to assist

trafficking victims, thus enabling us to inform victims about programs that may be

able to offer them assistance upon their return.

Question 9. Are you doing follow-up on the American Samoa case in which DOJ

uncovered a large-scale slavery operation involving more than 200 Vietnamese victims? What are you doing to remedy the situation where victims, having been freed

from slavery and debt bondage, are in a position of indebtedness and of having to

take terrible sweatshop-like jobs in order to pay off this debt and become independent?

Answer. The Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section is currently prosecuting this

case, United States v. Kil Soo Lee. Two defendants have already pled guilty to felony

charges, and trial is set for the remaining defendants for October 22, 2002. Experienced slavery prosecutors are leading the prosecution team. They recently successfully defended the VTVPA’s victim protection provisions from a constitutional challenge in which the defendant alleged that Section 107 of the Act created a due process violation by making the victims too dependent on government services.

Victim-witness coordinators from the Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii, the FBI, and the INS have worked with the victims

consistent with the VTVPA and the relevant Department policy guidance on victims

and witnesses. The United States does not have jurisdiction over debts that the victims may have incurred in Vietnam or China, or in the United States. The victims’

continued presence is being ensured under Section 107(c) of the Act so that they

will be available for trial if subpoenaed by the government or the defense. The Act

provides them with employment authorization, which allows them to work while

they are in the United States. HHS has certified the victims pursuant to Section

107(b) of the Act, which allows them to apply for assistance programs, including job

training. The sponsors and hosts who are housing or employing the former

Daewoosa workers were not provided by the Government, but were obtained

through relatives, church groups, and other volunteer organizations. Daewoosa

workers are represented by private counsel who can provide legal advice on a variety of matters beyond the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. A number of

social service providers have been working with the attorneys in this case. Since

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raising concerns about re-victimization, the service provider CAST has again been

in contact with those attorneys so that they can assist in the ongoing efforts to ensure that the workers are safe and gainfully employed.

Question 10. Is there a problem prosecuting under the new criminal statutes established by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act given that of the 89 investigations pending related to trafficking, only one of the current prosecutions involves

one of the criminal statutes? Can you explain in detail why a prosecutor would

choose to prosecute under the old involuntary servitude statute as opposed to the

new forced labor one? Do we need to amend the bill to deal with this issue?

Answer. The 103 open matters are ongoing investigations. It is premature to know

with certainty how many will ripen into prosecutions and what specific charges

would be brought.

As for cases indicted since the passage of the new statute, VTVPA crimes have

been charged in several cases, often in conjunction with the pre-existing servitude

and Mann Act statutes: United States v. Kil Soo Lee (Samoa, Vietnamese sweatshop:

18 U.S.C §§241, 1584 and 1594); United States v. Virchenko (Alaska, Russian nude

dancing: 18 U.S.C. §§2421 and 1589); United States v. Ng (New York, Indonesian

prostitution: 18 U.S.C. §§371/1584, 1589, 1584, 1591, and 2422); United States v. Jimenez (New Jersey, Mexican child prostitution: 18 U.S.C. §1591); and the first conviction was recently obtained under the VTVPA in United States v. Gasanov (El

Paso, Uzbek nude dancing: 18 U.S.C. §§371, 1592, 1546).

The majority of our current active cases predate the enactment of the VTVPA and

therefore we cannot constitutionally bring charges under the new Act in those cases;

however, victims in those cases can and are being helped through the victim protection provisions of the Act. The number of post-VTVPA investigations, however, is

increasing, particularly in response to focused outreach efforts by the Civil Rights

Division’s Criminal Section. While we cannot comment on the details of cases under

investigation, we are, as always, considering the full range of charges available to

us as we proceed in these matters. It is typical practice in the federal system to

charge several federal criminal statutes as appropriate to capture the various facets

of the defendant’s scheme. The exact scope of the new forced labor statute and the

other criminal provisions of Section 112 of the Act will be defined in case law as

cases are litigated. The well-established involuntary servitude statutes, which have

consistently been held to be constitutional and have well-developed bodies of interpretive case law, can be effective in prosecuting trafficking situations involving force

and threats of force, especially when augmented with the victim protection provisions of the VTVPA. Their continued use in appropriate situations should not be interpreted in any way as a comment on the efficacy of the new statutory tools provided by the Act.

RESPONSES OF AMB. NANCY H. ELY-RAPHEL, SENIOR ADVISOR, OFFICE TO MONITOR

AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, TO ADDITIONAL

QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY SENATOR WELLSTONE

Question 1. What are you doing to assist the President’s Inter-Agency Task Force

on Trafficking in regard to facilitating cooperation among countries of origin, transit

and destination (and not just between the United States and those countries), and

to strengthen their local and regional capacities to fight trafficking?

Answer. Regional cooperation and transnational cooperation is imperative to combating trafficking.

During meetings with foreign government officials we encourage destination countries to work more collaboratively with source and transit countries. As we begin

preparations for a world summit on trafficking, we will be looking at models of bilateral, regional and international collaboration.

The West Africa Trafficking in Persons Regional Conference in Nigeria last December developed an action plan, still in draft, for our posts to aid West African

states build regional and bilateral cooperation. We are supporting regional cooperation in East Asia and the Pacific with the development of a website for governments

and NGQs to use as a reference for cooperation on human anti-trafficking issues,

including the sharing of best practices. We are in the process of issuing a request

for proposals for a trafficking conference for Asia-Pacific nations to prepare for the

World Summit on Trafficking in Persons. In addition, we intend to raise with regional organizations the importance of developing their capacity to track and fight

this issue within their respective regions in order to strengthen regional efforts.

We are pleased that the OSCE has decided to make trafficking in persons, weapons and drugs the focus of the 2003 Economic Forum. This will present an ideal

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opportunity to raise with many Western European destination states the importance

of coordination and cooperation with partners in Eastern Europe and beyond. We

are looking at ways to encourage and strengthen other regional organizations’ efforts against trafficking.

No national anti-trafficking effort will be effective without transnational cooperation.

Question 2. What are you doing to assist the Task Force in examining the role

of the ‘‘sex tourism’’ industry in trafficking?

Answer. A senior official from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in

Persons (TIP Office) was part of the official U.S. delegation to the recent Second

World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, which had as

a primary goal the elimination of sex tourism. The World Congress works with the

tourism and travel industry, NGOs, international organizations, and government officials in a variety of capacities to address sex tourism. We will continue to work

closely with other governments and within the USG to follow-up on the initiatives

of the World Congress.

The TIP Office also co-hosted, with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity division

of the U.S. Department of Justice, a follow-up briefing on trafficking, commercial

sexual exploitation of children, and sex tourism. Over 35 U.S. Government agencies

and bureaus attended. Further activities and programs are planned, including an

internal State Department briefing on sex tourism and trafficking later this month.

The goal of the meetings and briefings is to incorporate a plan of action for sex tourism into our comprehensive strategy on trafficking. We will also include this issue

in our bilateral discussions with countries linked to this phenomenon.

RESPONSES OF NGUYEN VAN HANH, PH.D., DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESET- TLEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, TO ADDITIONAL QUES- TIONS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY SENATOR WELLSTONE

Question 1. How much money will Health and Human Services (HHS) grant to

non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for victim servies and how much of this

money will come out of the $10 million appropriated for this year? If HHS does not

plan to use any of the $10 million appropriation for funding victim services, please

explain the rationale for this decision.

Answer. HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is currently developing an

expansion of our grant program to increase outreach and services to victims and solicit expertise for a national outreach campaign designed to educate people about

the existence of trafficking and the protections and benefits available for victims.

We intend to issue a significant number of grants and contracts for a total of approximately $6 million. ORR plans to fund all of the awarded trafficking grants and

contracts out of the HHS authorization.

Question 2. Does HHS plan to tailor its programs to fit the special needs of trafficking victims, since although trafficking victims have similar needs of refugees,

their needs are not identical?

Answer. Our experience to date confirms that the needs of trafficking victims and

refugees may differ significantly. Where appropriate, we are encouraging benefit

and service providers to address the needs of trafficking victims through programmatic adjustments and to increase their capacity to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate assistance to trafficking victims within both existing programs and newly evolving programs. We are working to educate refugee service organizations, non-profit groups, law enforcement agencies, and others as to trafficking victims’ needs, how they are manifested among victim populations, and how

cooperation among service providers will ensure that the benefits and services are

effectively provided to victims.

Question 3. Does HHS plan to use funding to establish shelters for trafficked persons in the future? What can HHS do to help trafficking victims access existing

shelter services until there is more funding or new types of shelter available?

Answer. Providing appropriate shelter for trafficking victims is an area of high

interest for HHS, however we are statutorily prohibited from establishing or constructing shelters vis-a-vis bricks-and-mortar buildings. There is a severe lack of

shelter services, in great part due to a lack of funding in both the private and public

sectors, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of trafficking victims. With

our state and local partners, non-governmental organizations, and other federal

agencies we are continuing to search for ways to provide resources and encourage

shelter programs to increase their capacity to accommodate trafficking victims without sacrificing services to other populations being currently served.

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