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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 600

To combat the crime of international trafficking and to protect the rights

of victims.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 11, 1999

Mr. WELLSTONE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To combat the crime of international trafficking and to

protect the rights of victims.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Traffick5 ing of Women and Children Victim Protection Act of

6 1999’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 Congress makes the following findings:

9 (1) The worldwide trafficking of persons has a

10 disproportionate impact on women and girls and has
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1 been and continues to be condemned by the inter2 national community as a violation of fundamental

3 human rights.

4 (2) The fastest growing international traffick5 ing business is the trade in women, whereby women

6 and girls seeking a better life, a good marriage, or

7 a lucrative job abroad, unexpectedly find themselves

8 in situations of forced prostitution, sweatshop labor,

9 exploitative domestic servitude, or battering and ex10 treme cruelty.

11 (3) Trafficked women and children, girls and

12 boys, are often subjected to rape and other forms of

13 sexual abuse by their traffickers and often held as

14 virtual prisoners by their exploiters, made to work in

15 slavery-like conditions, in debt bondage without pay

16 and against their will.

17 (4) The President, the First Lady, the Sec18 retary of State, the President’s Interagency Council

19 on Women, and the Agency for International Devel20 opment have all identified trafficking in women as a

21 significant problem.

22 (5) The Fourth World Conference on Women

23 (Beijing Conference) called on all governments to

24 take measures, including legislative measures, to

25 provide better protection of the rights of women and
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1 girls in trafficking, to address the root factors that

2 put women and girls at risk to traffickers, and to

3 take measures to dismantle the national, regional,

4 and international networks on trafficking.

5 (6) The United Nations General Assembly, not6 ing its concern about the increasing number of

7 women and girls who are being victimized by traf8 fickers, passed a resolution in 1998 calling upon all

9 governments to criminalize trafficking in women and

10 girls in all its forms and to penalize all those offend11 ers involved, while ensuring that the victims of these

12 practices are not penalized.

13 (7) Numerous treaties to which the United

14 States is a party address government obligations to

15 combat trafficking, including such treaties as the

16 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of

17 Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Prac18 tices Similar to Slavery, which calls for the complete

19 abolition of debt bondage and servile forms of mar20 riage, and the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labor Con21 vention, which undertakes to suppress and requires

22 signatories not to make use of any forced or compul23 sory labor.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

2 The purposes of this Act are to condemn and combat

3 the international crime of trafficking in women and chil4 dren and to assist the victims of this crime by—

5 (1) setting a standard by which governments

6 are evaluated for their response to trafficking and

7 their treatment of victims;

8 (2) authorizing and funding an interagency task

9 force to carry out such evaluations and to issue an

10 annual report of its findings to include the identi11 fication of foreign governments that tolerate or par12 ticipate in trafficking and fail to cooperate with

13 international efforts to prosecute perpetrators;

14 (3) assisting trafficking victims in the United

15 States by providing humanitarian assistance and by

16 providing them temporary nonimmigrant status in

17 the United States;

18 (4) assisting trafficking victims abroad by pro19 viding humanitarian assistance; and

20 (5) denying certain forms of United States for21 eign assistance to those governments which tolerate

22 or participate in trafficking, abuse victims, and fail

23 to cooperate with international efforts to prosecute

24 perpetrators.

25 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

26 In this Act:
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1 (1) POLICE ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘police

2 assistance’’—

3 (A) means—

4 (i) assistance of any kind, whether in

5 the form of grant, loan, training, or other6 wise, provided to or for foreign law en7 forcement officials, foreign customs offi8 cials, or foreign immigration officials;

9 (ii) government-to-government sales of

10 any item to or for foreign law enforcement

11 officials, foreign customs officials, or for12 eign immigration officials; and

13 (iii) any license for the export of an

14 item sold under contract to or for the offi15 cials described in clause (i); and

16 (B) does not include assistance furnished

17 under section 534 of the Foreign Assistance

18 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346c; relating to the

19 administration of justice) or any other assist20 ance under that Act to promote respect for

21 internationally recognized human rights.

22 (2) TRAFFICKING.—The term ‘‘trafficking’’

23 means the use of deception, coercion, debt bondage,

24 the threat of force, or the abuse of authority to re25 cruit, transport within or across borders, purchase,
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1 sell, transfer, receive, or harbor a person for the

2 purpose of placing or holding such person, whether

3 for pay or not, in involuntary servitude, or slavery

4 or slavery-like conditions, or in forced, bonded, or

5 coerced labor.

6 (3) VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING.—The term ‘‘vic7 tim of trafficking’’ means any person subjected to

8 the treatment described in paragraph (2).

9 SEC. 5. INTER-AGENCY TASK FORCE TO MONITOR AND

10 COMBAT TRAFFICKING.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within

13 the Department of State in the Office of the Sec14 retary of State an Inter-Agency Task Force to Mon15 itor and Combat Trafficking (in this section referred

16 to as the ‘‘Task Force’’). The Task Force shall be

17 co-chaired by the Assistant Secretary of State for

18 Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs and

19 the Senior Coordinator on International Women’s

20 Issues, President’s Interagency Council on Women.

21 (2) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—The mem22 bers of the Task Force shall be appointed by the

23 Secretary of State. The Task Force shall consist of

24 no more than twelve members.
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1 (3) COMPOSITION.—The Task Force shall in2 clude representatives from the—

3 (A) Violence Against Women Office, Office

4 of Justice Programs, Department of Justice;

5 (B) Office of Women in Development,

6 United States Agency for International Devel7 opment; and

8 (C) Bureau of International Narcotics and

9 Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State.

10 (4) STAFF.—The Task Force shall be author11 ized to retain up to five staff members within the

12 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

13 Affairs, and the President’s Interagency Council on

14 Women to prepare the annual report described in

15 subsection (b) and to carry out additional tasks

16 which the Task Force may require. The Task Force

17 shall regularly hold meetings on its activities with

18 nongovernmental organizations.

19 (b) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than

20 March 1 of each year, the Secretary of State, with the

21 assistance of the Task Force, shall submit a report to Con22 gress describing the status of international trafficking,

23 including—

24 (1) a list of foreign states where trafficking

25 originates, passes through, or is a destination; and
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1 (2) an assessment of the efforts by the govern2 ments described in paragraph (1) to combat traffick3 ing. Such an assessment shall address—

4 (A) whether any governmental authorities

5 tolerate or are involved in trafficking activities;

6 (B) which governmental authorities are in7 volved in anti-trafficking activities;

8 (C) what steps the government has taken

9 toward ending the participation of its officials

10 in trafficking;

11 (D) what steps the government has taken

12 to prosecute and investigate those officials

13 found to be involved in trafficking;

14 (E) what steps the government has taken

15 to prohibit other individuals from participating

16 in trafficking, including the investigation, pros17 ecution, and conviction of individuals involved

18 in trafficking, the criminal and civil penalties

19 for trafficking, and the efficacy of those pen20 alties on reducing or ending trafficking;

21 (F) what steps the government has taken

22 to assist trafficking victims, including efforts to

23 prevent victims from being further victimized by

24 police, traffickers, or others, grants of stays of

25 deportation, and provision of humanitarian re-
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1 lief, including provision of mental and physical

2 health care and shelter;

3 (G) whether the government is cooperating

4 with governments of other countries to extradite

5 traffickers when requested;

6 (H) whether the government is assisting in

7 international investigations of transnational

8 trafficking networks; and

9 (I) whether the government—

10 (i) refrains from prosecuting traffick11 ing victims or refrains from other discrimi12 natory treatment towards trafficking vic13 tims due to such victims having been traf14 ficked, or the nature of their work, or their

15 having left the country illegally; and

16 (ii) recognizes the rights of victims

17 and ensures their access to justice.

18 (c) REPORTING STANDARDS AND INVESTIGATIONS.—

19 (1) RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SECRETARY OF

20 STATE.—The Secretary of State shall ensure that

21 United States missions abroad maintain a consistent

22 reporting standard and thoroughly investigate re23 ports of trafficking.

24 (2) CONTACTS WITH NONGOVERNMENTAL OR25 GANIZATIONS.—In compiling data and assessing
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1 trafficking for the Human Rights Report and the

2 Inter-Agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat

3 Trafficking Annual Report, United States mission

4 personnel shall seek out and maintain contacts with

5 human rights and other nongovernmental organiza6 tions, including receiving reports and updates from

7 such organizations, and, when appropriate, inves8 tigating such reports.

9 SEC. 6. INELIGIBILITY FOR POLICE ASSISTANCE.

10 (a) INELIGIBILITY.—Except as provided in sub11 section (b), any foreign government country identified in

12 the latest report submitted under section 5 as a govern13 ment that—

14 (1) has failed to take effective action towards

15 ending the participation of its officials in trafficking;

16 and

17 (2) has failed to investigate and prosecute

18 meaningfully those officials found to be involved in

19 trafficking,

20 shall not be eligible for police assistance.

21 (b) WAIVER OF INELIGIBILITY.—The President may

22 waive the application of subsection (a) to a foreign country

23 if the President determines and certifies to Congress that

24 the provision of police assistance to the country is in the

25 national interest of the United States.
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1 SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.

2 (a) NONIMMIGRANT CLASSIFICATION FOR TRAFFICK3 ING VICTIMS.—Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration

4 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

6 (R);

7 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub8 paragraph (S) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

9 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(T) an alien who the Attorney General

12 determines—

13 ‘‘(i) is physically present in the

14 United States, and

15 ‘‘(ii) is or has been a trafficking vic16 tim (as defined in section 4 of the Inter17 national Trafficking of Women and Chil18 dren Victim Protection Act of 1999),

19 for a stay of not to exceed 3 months in the

20 United States, except that any such alien who

21 has filed a petition seeking asylum or who is

22 pursuing civil or criminal action against traf23 fickers shall have the alien’s status extended

24 until the petition or litigation reaches its con25 clusion.’’.
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1 (b) WAIVER OF GROUNDS FOR INELIGIBILITY FOR

2 ADMISSION.—Section 212(d) of the Immigration and Na3 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)) is amended—

4 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(d)’’; and

5 (2) by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General shall, in the Attor7 ney General’s discretion, waive the application of

8 subsection (a) (other than paragraph (3)(E)) in the

9 case of a nonimmigrant described in section

10 101(a)(15)(T), if the Attorney General considers it

11 to be in the national interest to do so.’’.

12 (c) INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE.—Section 1584 of title

13 18, United States Code, is amended—

14 (1) inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘Whoever’’;

15 (2) by striking ‘‘or’’ after ‘‘servitude’’;

16 (3) by inserting ‘‘transfers, receives or harbors

17 any person into involuntary servitude, or’’ after

18 ‘‘servitude,’’; and

19 (4) by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘involuntary servitude’

21 includes trafficking, slavery-like practices in which persons

22 are forced into labor through non-physical means, such as

23 debt bondage, blackmail, fraud, deceit, isolation, and psy24 chological pressure.’’.
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1 (d) TRAFFICKING VICTIM REGULATIONS.—Not later

2 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,

3 the Attorney General and the Secretary of State shall

4 jointly promulgate regulations for law enforcement person5 nel, immigration officials, and Foreign Service officers re6 quiring that—

7 (1) Federal, State and local law enforcement,

8 immigration officials, and Foreign Service officers

9 shall be trained in identifying and responding to

10 trafficking victims;

11 (2) trafficking victims shall not be jailed, fined,

12 or otherwise penalized due to having been trafficked,

13 or nature of work;

14 (3) trafficking victims shall have access to legal

15 assistance, information about their rights, and trans16 lation services;

17 (4) trafficking victims shall be provided protec18 tion if, after an assessment of security risk, it is de19 termined the trafficking victim is susceptible to fur20 ther victimization; and

21 (5) prosecutors shall take into consideration the

22 safety and integrity of trafficked persons in inves23 tigating and prosecuting traffickers.
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1 SEC. 8. ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.

2 (a) IN THE UNITED STATES.—The Secretary of

3 Health and Human Services is authorized to provide,

4 through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, assistance to

5 trafficking victims and their children in the United States,

6 including mental and physical health services, and shelter.

7 (b) IN OTHER COUNTRIES.—The President, acting

8 through the Administrator of the United States Agency

9 for International Development, is authorized to provide

10 programs and activities to assist trafficking victims and

11 their children abroad, including provision of mental and

12 physical health services, and shelter. Such assistance

13 should give special priority to programs by nongovern14 mental organizations which provide direct services and re15 sources for trafficking victims.

16 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE

18 INTER-AGENCY TASK FORCE.—To carry out the purposes

19 of section 5, there are authorized to be appropriated to

20 the Secretary of State $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and

21 $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO THE

23 SECRETARY OF HHS.—To carry out the purposes of sec24 tion 8(a), there are authorized to be appropriated to the

25 Secretary of Health and Human Services $20,000,000 for

26 fiscal year 2000 and $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO THE

2 PRESIDENT.—To carry out the purposes of section 8(b),

3 there are authorized to be appropriated to the President

4 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $20,000,000 for fis5 cal year 2001.

6 (d) PROHIBITION.—Funds made available to carry

7 out this Act shall not be available for the procurement of

8 weapons or ammunition.

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