IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 929 

Recognizing December 2 as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 

and the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General 

Assembly of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons 

and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others and commending 

the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the tradition of 

Frederick Douglass. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2009 

Ms. RICHARDSON (for herself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HARE, 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. COHEN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. HONDA) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing December 2 as the International Day for the 

Abolition of Slavery and the 60th anniversary of the 

adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of 

the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in 

Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of 

Others and commending the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the tradition of Frederick Douglass. 

Whereas Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus 

Washington Bailey near Easton, Maryland, in February 

of 1818 and lived the first 20 years of his life as a slave 

before escaping to freedom in 1838 through the UnderVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:30 Nov 20, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR929.IH HR929

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•HRES 929 IH 

ground Railroad and, with the assistance of abolitionists, 

resettled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, changed his 

name to avoid recapture by fugitive slave bounty hunters, 

and began a new life as Frederick Douglass; 

Whereas Frederick Douglass, who had no formal education 

and taught himself to read and write, would go on to become one of the Nation’s leading abolitionists, and whose 

seminal work, ‘‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave’’, explained with unsurpassed 

eloquence and detail how slavery corrupts the human 

spirit and robs both master and slave of their freedom; 

Whereas Frederick Douglass, through his writings, lectures, 

speeches, activism, and friendship with President Lincoln 

helped the Nation summon the will to accept civil war as 

the price to abolish slavery and emancipate millions from 

bondage; 

Whereas Frederick Douglass devoted his life to the struggle 

for freedom, human dignity, and the full measure of civil 

and human rights for all men and women, famously observing that ‘‘where there is no struggle, there is no 

progress; power concedes nothing without demand. It 

never has and never will.’’; 

Whereas notwithstanding the end of the Transatlantic slave 

trade two centuries ago or ending of the Civil War, 

issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States 

Constitution, the scourge of modern day slavery and trafficking in persons still confronts the international community and must continue to be met with the fierce resistance and determined opposition that was the hallmark 

of Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists of the 19th 

century; 


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Whereas 60 years ago the international community, acting 

through the United Nations, affirmed its opposition to 

modern day slavery and human trafficking and expressed 

its resolve to combat this evil by adopting the Convention 

for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the 

Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on December 

2, 1949, and later proclaimed December 2 as the ‘‘International Day for the Abolition of Slavery’’; 

Whereas the international community has also adopted other 

conventions to combat the trafficking in persons and 

modern day slavery, including the Protocol to Prevent, 

Suppress & Punish Trafficking in Persons, International 

Labor Organization Convention 182, Elimination of 

Worst Forms of Child Labor, Optional Protocol to the 

Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of 

Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the 

Child in Armed Conflict, International Labor Organization Convention 29, Forced Labour, and the International Labor Organization Convention 105, Abolition of 

Forced Labour; 

Whereas despite the efforts of governments and nongovernmental organizations such as the Frederick Douglass 

Family Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Global 

Rights, the Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking, 

Safe Horizon, Break the Chains, and the Polaris Project 

to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking, the problem persists and manifests itself in the following forms 

of modern-day slavery, forced labor, involuntary domestic 

servitude, sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, bonded 

labor, forced child labor, and child soldiers, and debt 

bondage among migrant laborers; 


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Whereas the International Labor Organization estimates that 

at any given time 12,300,000 adults and children live in 

conditions of forced labor and sexual servitude and that 

1,390,000 persons are victims of national and 

transnational sex trafficking; 

Whereas it is estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 

victims are trafficked through international borders every 

year and millions more are trafficked domestically within 

their own countries; 

Whereas according to the Report to Congress from Attorney 

General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to 

Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003, each 

year an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are 

trafficked into the United States with the largest number 

of people trafficked into the United States coming from 

East Asia and the Pacific and the next highest numbers 

coming from Latin America, Europe, and Eurasia; 

Whereas these numbers pale in comparison to the number of 

persons trafficked within the United States each year, 

with an estimated 200,000 children in the United States 

at risk for trafficking into the sex industry; 

Whereas 56 percent of victims of modern day slavery and 

trafficking are women and children because traffickers 

prey on those who suffer most from gender discrimination, family violence, and a lack of access to education 

and economic opportunity; 

Whereas human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal 

enterprise in the 21st century generating revenues in excess of $9,000,000,000 and ranking second, after drug 

smuggling and tying with arms dealing, in organized 

crime activities; 


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Whereas as the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of 

the United States Department of State indicates, human 

trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat in that it deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, increases global health risks, and fuels the growth of organized crime; 

Whereas the United States, Japan, and Australia are the top 

three destination points for trafficked victims, although 

human trafficking is prevalent throughout the world and 

has been found to exist in at least 175 countries; and 

Whereas there remains a stark disparity between the large 

global problem of trafficking in persons and the low numbers of prosecutions and convictions of forced labor trafficking crimes (less than 10 percent of all convictions): 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the International Day for the 

3 Abolition of Slavery and the 60th anniversary of the 

4 adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of 

5 the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in 

6 Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution 

7 of Others; 

8 (2) encourages member states of the United 

9 Nations and international organizations to devote 

10 additional resources to apprehend, prosecute, and 

11 punish persons engaged in human trafficking and to 

12 detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal enterprises 

13 organized for that purpose; 


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1 (3) commends the efforts of domestic and inter2 national nongovernmental organizations to expose, 

3 prevent, and document all forms of modern day slav4 ery and human trafficking and to assist victims re5 integrate into society; 

6 (4) commends the Frederick Douglass Family 

7 Foundation for preserving the legacy of Frederick 

8 Douglass by continuing his struggle for freedom and 

9 human dignity for all persons and seeking to abolish 

10 all forms of modern-day slavery and trafficking in 

11 persons; 

12 (5) encourages the people of the United States 

13 to observe the International Day for the Abolition of 

14 Slavery by participating in activities designed to 

15 heighten public awareness of the prevalence of 

16 human trafficking and commends the example of 

17 children engaged in such projects under the auspices 

18 of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation at the 

19 following schools, Brentwood School of Los Angeles, 

20 California, Las Vegas Area School of Las Vegas, 

21 Nevada, North Lawndale College Preparatory Char22 ter High School of Chicago, Illinois, Booker T. 

23 Washington High School of Atlanta, Georgia, Roo24 sevelt Middle School of New Bedford, Massachu25 setts, New Era Academy of Baltimore, Maryland, 


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1 Edmund Burke School of Washington, DC, Fred2 erick Douglass Academy IV, and the United Nations 

3 International School of New York, New York, and 

4 Wilson Foundation Academy of Rochester, New 

5 York; 

6 (6) urges all members of the international com7 munity to redouble their efforts to and renew their 

8 resolve to eradicate modern-day slavery and the 

9 practice of trafficking in persons from the face of 

10 the earth; and 

11 (7) requests the Clerk of the House to transmit 

12 an enrolled copy of this resolution to the principals 

13 of each of the schools listed in resolved (5) and to 

14 the Chairman of the Board of the Frederick Doug15 lass Family Foundation. 

Æ 


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