I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1238

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

of victims.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1999

Ms. SLAUGHTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on

the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

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 Traf5 ficking of Women and Children Victim Protection Act of

6 1999’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 Congress makes the following findings:
2

•HR 1238 IH

1 (1) The worldwide trafficking of persons has a

2 disproportionate impact on women and girls and has

3 been and continues to be condemned by the inter4 national community as a violation of fundamental

5 human rights.

6 (2) The fastest growing international traf7 ficking business is the trade in women, whereby

8 women and girls seeking a better life, a good mar9 riage, or a lucrative job abroad, unexpectedly find

10 themselves in situations of forced prostitution,

11 sweatshop labor, exploitative domestic servitude, or

12 battering and extreme cruelty.

13 (3) Trafficked women and children, girls and

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

15 sexual abuse by their traffickers and often held as

16 virtual prisoners by their exploiters, made to work in

17 slavery-like conditions, in debt bondage without pay

18 and against their will.

19 (4) The President, the First Lady, the Sec20 retary of State, the President’s Interagency Council

21 on Women, and the Agency for International Devel22 opment have all identified trafficking in women as a

23 significant problem.

24 (5) The Fourth World Conference on Women

25 (Beijing Conference) called on all governments to
3

•HR 1238 IH

1 take measures, including legislative measures, to

2 provide better protection of the rights of women and

3 girls in trafficking, to address the root factors that

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

5 take measures to dismantle the national, regional,

6 and international networks on trafficking.

7 (6) The United Nations General Assembly, not8 ing its concern about the increasing number of

9 women and girls who are being victimized by traf10 fickers, passed a resolution in 1998 calling upon all

11 governments to criminalize trafficking in women and

12 girls in all its forms and to penalize all those offend13 ers involved, while ensuring that the victims of these

14 practices are not penalized.

15 (7) Numerous treaties to which the United

16 States is a party address government obligations to

17 combat trafficking, including such treaties as the

18 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of

19 Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Prac20 tices Similar to Slavery, which calls for the complete

21 abolition of debt bondage and servile forms of mar22 riage, and the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labor Con23 vention, which undertakes to suppress and requires

24 signatories not to make use of any forced or compul25 sory labor.
4

•HR 1238 IH

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:
5

•HR 1238 IH

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,
6

•HR 1238 IH

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.
7

•HR 1238 IH

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
8

•HR 1238 IH

1 (2) an assessment of the efforts by the govern2 ments described in paragraph (1) to combat traf3 ficking. 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-
9

•HR 1238 IH

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 traf11 ficking victims or refrains from other dis12 criminatory treatment towards trafficking

13 victims due to such victims having been

14 trafficked, or the nature of their work, or

15 their 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
10

•HR 1238 IH

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.
11

•HR 1238 IH

1 SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.

2 (a) NONIMMIGRANT CLASSIFICATION FOR TRAF3 FICKING VICTIMS.—Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigra4 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is

5 amended—

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

7 (R);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub9 paragraph (S) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

10 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub11 paragraph:

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

13 determines—

14 ‘‘(i) is physically present in the

15 United States, and

16 ‘‘(ii) is or has been a trafficking vic17 tim (as defined in section 4 of the Inter18 national Trafficking of Women and Chil19 dren Victim Protection Act of 1999),

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

21 United States, except that any such alien who

22 has filed a petition seeking asylum or who is

23 pursuing civil or criminal action against traf24 fickers shall have the alien’s status extended

25 until the petition or litigation reaches its con26 clusion.’’.
12

•HR 1238 IH

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.’’.
13

•HR 1238 IH

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 per5 sonnel, immigration officials, and Foreign Service officers

6 requiring 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.
14

•HR 1238 IH

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.
15

•HR 1238 IH

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.

Æ