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105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 114

Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the worldwide trafficking

of women and girls, whereby women and girls are coerced, abducted,

or deceived into migrating within or across national borders, and particularly the trafficking of Burmese women and girls in Thailand for the

purposes of forced prostitution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 10, 1997

Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Mr. YATES, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr.

MILLER of California, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. PASTOR, and

Ms. DANNER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the worldwide trafficking of women and girls, whereby women

and girls are coerced, abducted, or deceived into migrating within or across national borders, and particularly

the trafficking of Burmese women and girls in Thailand

for the purposes of forced prostitution.

Whereas the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in June 1996 declared, ‘‘Corruption and collusion, absence of and/or inadequate laws, lax

law enforcement, and limited sensitization of law enforcement personnel to the harmful impact on children, are all
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further factors which lead, directly or indirectly, to the

commercial sexual exploitation of children.’’;

Whereas the State Department’s 1996 annual Human Rights

Report on Thailand states, ‘‘Incidents of coerced prostitution most commonly involve women who are not ethnic Thai . . .; the number of such women entering the

country to work as prostitutes continued to rise. Because

they cannot speak Thai, and are considered illegal immigrants, these women are particularly vulnerable to physical abuse, confinement, and exploitation. Some women

are lured with promises of jobs as waitresses or domestic

helpers, but are then forced to work as prostitutes.’’;

Whereas the State Department’s report also states, ‘‘Credible

nongovernmental organizations reported at year’s end

(1996) that efforts by police to enforce the new

antiprostitution law were only moderately successful in

curbing the trade in children for commercial sex.’’;

Whereas credible reports also indicate that members of the

Thai police force are often actively involved in, and profit

from, the trafficking of Burmese women and girls for the

purposes of forced prostitution;

Whereas Article 1 of the 1956 Supplementary Convention on

the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery calls for the complete abolition or abandonment of debt bondage;

Whereas forced labor, defined under the 1930 Forced Labor

Convention as ‘‘all work or service which is exacted from

any person under the menace of any penalty and for

which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily’’, is internationally prohibited;
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Whereas the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women requires all States Parties

‘‘to take all appropriate measures, including legislation,

to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation

of prostitution of women’’;

Whereas the trafficking of women and girls and forced prostitution are recognized as worldwide problems, and Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs John Shattuck has testified that the

United States ‘‘urgently needs to encourage countries in

which trafficking of women and children goes on with impunity to enact new laws, and to enforce existing laws.

A particular target of this stepped up law enforcement

should be government officials who participate in or condone trafficking, as well as brothel owners and traffickers’’;

Whereas First Lady Hillary Clinton remarked in Thailand,

‘‘Expanding educational opportunities for children, curbing the spread of AIDS, and ending the exploitation of

young girls in the commercial sex industry will not only

help individual Thai girls and their families, but Thai society as a whole.’’; and

Whereas Secretary Albright has remarked ‘‘[I]f those who

traffic in drugs should be punished severely—and they

should—so should those who traffic in human beings’’:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) trafficking in persons violates the fun4 damental principles of human dignity, and forced

5 prostitution involving coercion or debt bondage con-
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1 stitutes a form of forced labor and a slavery-like

2 practice;

3 (2) the State Department or other appropriate

4 Government agencies should investigate and take ap5 propriate measures to combat trafficking of women

6 and girls and forced prostitution in all countries

7 where they are found;

8 (3) the State Department or other appropriate

9 Government agencies should report to Congress an10 nually on actions it has taken to combat the traffick11 ing of women and girls and forced prostitution inter12 nationally; the annual report should include an as13 sessment of the extent of the problem and rec14 ommendations for an appropriate international re15 sponse;

16 (4) the World Congress on Commercial Sexual

17 Exploitation of Children began important work on

18 international child sexual exploitation, and the inter19 national working group that was formed as a result

20 of the Congress should continue its efforts to curb

21 the sexual exploitation of children;

22 (5) the State Department should urge the Thai

23 Government to strictly enforce the law criminalizing

24 brothel operators, procurers, members of the Thai

25 police force who may be complicit in forced prostitu-
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1 tion, and customers of women and children traf2 ficked for the purpose of forced prostitution;

3 (6) the State Department should ensure that

4 Thai police participants in United States Govern5 ment sponsored police training programs are system6 atically vetted to exclude those who are implicated in

7 trafficking and forced prostitution;

8 (7) the executive branch should take steps to

9 assure that weapons and equipment provided or sold

10 to the Thai police do not become available to mem11 bers of those forces who might be involved in traf12 ficking, forced prostitution, or abuse of women and

13 girls who are apprehended;

14 (8) the State Department should urge the Thai

15 Government to protect the rights and safety of Bur16 mese women and girls in Thailand who are freed

17 from brothels or who are arrested as illegal immi18 grants because their status as trafficking victims is

19 unclear;

20 (9) the State Department should encourage the

21 Thai Government to continue to allow nongovern22 mental organizations assisting in efforts to stop sex

23 trafficking and assisting women and girls who have

24 been victims of forced prostitution to proceed with

25 their work unimpeded;
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1 (10) the United States Agency for International

2 Development should target a portion of its assist3 ance to Thailand for AIDS prevention and control to

4 the foreign population in Thailand, particularly Bur5 mese women and girls in the Thai sex industry; and

6 (11) the State Department should report to

7 Congress, within 6 months of the date of the adop8 tion of this resolution, on actions that it has taken

9 to advocate that the Thai Government implement

10 the above steps.

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