IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 919 

Encouraging States to uphold the rights and dignity of human trafficking 

survivors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 

Mrs. WAGNER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Encouraging States to uphold the rights and dignity of 

human trafficking survivors. 

Whereas all men, women, and children are endowed by their 

Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these 

are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; 

Whereas neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist 

within the United States; 

Whereas every survivor of sex and labor trafficking has the 

right to be truly recognized and treated as a victim and 

should be treated with the same justice, respect, and dignity as other victims of crime; 

Whereas victims of human trafficking in the United States 

can face criminal charges, mandatory detention, and even 

deportation as a result of their exploitation; 


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Whereas survivors of trafficking who are arrested, prosecuted, and convicted of charges resulting from their status as a victim of trafficking face obstacles in reestablishing their lives and obtaining employment, education, 

and housing; 

Whereas victims of human trafficking are difficult to identify 

and are subject to manipulation, force, fraud, coercion, 

and abuse; 

Whereas women in the commercial sex industry have a higher 

homicide victimization rate than any other set of women, 

and are at very high risk for abuse, disease, injury, and 

death; 

Whereas there is no such thing as a child prostitute or child 

sex worker, as children in the commercial sex industry 

are by definition victims of a severe form of trafficking 

in persons; 

Whereas 1 in 5 runaway children are likely sex trafficking 

victims, and studies have shown that adults, often significantly older men, manipulate youth into exchanging sex 

for meals, material goods, or cash; 

Whereas many domestic child sex trafficking victims do not 

self-identify as sex trafficking victims and are not aware 

of their rights; 

Whereas child sex trafficking victims are more likely to be arrested than sex traffickers and sex buyers; 

Whereas, as many as 75 percent of underage victims of sex 

trafficking have been advertised or sold online, where the 

Internet makes exploitation simple, anonymous, and accessible; 


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Whereas victims of labor trafficking are compelled to accept 

jobs through deception, coercion, or force and endure 

horrific, inhumane conditions; 

Whereas many victims of labor trafficking are subject to 

physical abuse, sexual violence, debt bondage, confiscation of identification documents, isolation, inadequate 

food, and no access to health care; 

Whereas a significant portion of labor trafficking victims 

enter the United States on lawful visas but are not identified; 

Whereas jurisdictions across the United States lack safe, effective shelter and housing for victims of human trafficking; 

Whereas restitution for victims of trafficking is mandatory 

under Federal law but is only ordered in approximately 

30 percent of sex trafficking cases, and courts deny restitution requests in more than half of sex trafficking 

cases; 

Whereas reports estimate that less than 5 percent of Federal 

trafficking prosecutions in 2015 were for labor trafficking, significantly limiting the ability of labor trafficking victims to obtain justice and restitution; 

Whereas United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, 

and foreign national victims of human trafficking face 

many distinct obstacles, including, particularly for United 

States citizen and lawful permanent resident victims, access to specialized victim services; and 

Whereas the House of Representatives has committed to a 

victim-centered approach to domestic human trafficking 

through passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking 

Act of 2015: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) encourages States to uphold the basic rights 

3 and dignity of human trafficking survivors and— 

4 (A) truly recognize and identify survivors 

5 of human trafficking as victims of crime and 

6 treat these victims with the same justice, re7 spect, and dignity as other crime victims; 

8 (B) ensure that victims of trafficking are 

9 accorded the support, services, and legal rights 

10 as other victims of crime without being 

11 criminalized or made to feel responsible for the 

12 crimes committed against them; 

13 (C) advance a survivor-centered approach 

14 to addressing human trafficking that ensures 

15 the safety, confidentiality, and physical and 

16 mental well-being of victims, while recognizing 

17 symptoms of trauma and coping mechanisms 

18 that may impact victims’ interactions with law 

19 enforcement, the justice system, and service 

20 providers; 

21 (D) implement screening mechanisms for 

22 all children entering child welfare services and 

23 the juvenile justice system, and for unaccom24 panied children migrating into the country, to 


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1 identify child trafficking victims and connect 

2 them with appropriate services; 

3 (E) ensure that child trafficking victims 

4 are provided with the full range of protections, 

5 including access to child welfare services, trau6 ma-informed programming, and the same legal 

7 rights, afforded to other children who experi8 ence sexual abuse, rape, or incest; this includes 

9 ensuring that criminals who exploit child sex 

10 trafficking victims are not given lesser sen11 tences and penalties than criminals who exploit 

12 children through sexual abuse, rape, or incest; 

13 and ensuring that child trafficking victims are 

14 never referred to as ‘‘child prostitutes’’ or ‘‘un15 derage sex workers’’ in law or official docu16 ments and proceedings; and 

17 (F) develop a 24-hour emergency response 

18 plan to provide victims of labor and sex traf19 ficking with immediate protection and support 

20 when they are first identified; such a plan may 

21 include physically moving victims of trafficking 

22 to a place of safety, attending to the immediate 

23 medical and emotional needs of survivors, as24 sessing whether survivors are under risk for 

25 harm, retaliation, or intimidation, and directly 


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1 connecting survivors with victim advocates, 

2 housing, and service providers; 

3 (2) strongly urges States to adopt rights and 

4 protections for victims of human trafficking that in5 clude the right— 

6 (A) to be treated as a victim of crime and 

7 afforded justice, respect, and dignity; 

8 (B) to protection if the victim’s safety is at 

9 risk or if there is danger of harm, retaliation, 

10 or recapture by the trafficker; 

11 (C) to comprehensive trauma-informed, 

12 long-term, culturally competent care and heal13 ing services oriented toward emotional, physical, 

14 psychological, and family healing without time 

15 limit restrictions; 

16 (D) to evidence-based screening and as17 sessment tools, treatment plans, and therapy to 

18 address traumatic stress and associated mental 

19 health symptoms; 

20 (E) to safe and effective emergency and 

21 long-term housing; education, vocational, and 

22 job assistance and training; mentoring pro23 grams; language assistance; drug and substance 

24 abuse services; and legal services; 


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1 (F) for child sex trafficking victims to be 

2 treated as children in need of child protective 

3 services and to be served through the child wel4 fare system, where appropriate, in place of the 

5 juvenile justice system; and 

6 (G) for all victims of trafficking who are 

7 United States citizens, lawful permanent resi8 dents, and foreign nationals to be eligible for 

9 services; 

10 (3) strongly urges States to adopt the following 

11 legal rights and protections for victims of human 

12 trafficking, including the— 

13 (A) right to have convictions and adjudica14 tions related to prostitution and nonviolent of15 fenses vacated and such records cleared if of16 fenses were committed as a result of the victim 

17 being trafficked; 

18 (B) right to legal protection and immunity 

19 for child trafficking victims for offenses related 

20 to prostitution and nonviolent offenses if of21 fenses were committed as a result of being traf22 ficked, and the right to have charges dismissed 

23 as part of a specialized diversion program; im24 munity should be granted in combination with 

25 service provision aimed at eliminating detention 


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1 while giving victims the necessary resources to 

2 heal and reintegrate in their communities; 

3 (C) right to not be held in mandatory de4 tention, receive a mandatory residential place5 ment in a punitive setting, or be detained in fa6 cilities inappropriate to one’s status as a victim 

7 of crime; 

8 (D) right to the same type of court proce9 dures and legal protections accessible to victims 

10 of sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, or 

11 incest, including the right to not be treated as 

12 a criminal; 

13 (E) right to testify without being forced to 

14 make face-to-face contact with one’s trafficker, 

15 for instance, via one-way closed-circuit tele16 vision; 

17 (F) right for foreign national victims to be 

18 granted a temporary visa without being re19 quired to cooperate with a law enforcement in20 vestigation; 

21 (G) right to be informed and notified in 

22 writing of the survivor’s legal rights, including 

23 the availability of victim compensation, manda24 tory restitution, and a civil cause of action; the 

25 availability of protective orders and policies reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Sep 29, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR919.IH HR919

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1 lated to their enforcement; and the rights and 

2 services available to the victim under 18 U.S.C. 

3 3771 and 42 U.S.C. 10607(c); and 

4 (H) retention of all rights regardless of 

5 whether the crime has been reported to law en6 forcement; and 

7 (4) recognizes and applauds the State legisla8 tive bodies that have taken tremendous steps to 

9 adopt protections and services for victims of traf10 ficking. 

Æ 


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