I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2737 

To provide United States assistance for the purpose of eradicating trafficking 

in children in eligible countries through the implementation of Child 

Protection Compacts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2009 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. PERRIELLO, 

Mr. PLATTS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. UPTON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide United States assistance for the purpose of eradicating trafficking in children in eligible countries through 

the implementation of Child Protection Compacts, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Child Protection Compact 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) According to the United Nations Children’s 

2 Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 158,000,000 chil3 dren aged 5–14 are engaged in child labor. 

4 (2) The International Labor Organizations’ 

5 (ILO) Convention Concerning the Prohibition and 

6 Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst 

7 Forms of Child Labor, which the United States rati8 fied in February 1999, defines ‘‘worst forms of child 

9 labour’’ as— 

10 (A) all forms of slavery or practices similar 

11 to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of 

12 children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced 

13 or compulsory labour, including forced or com14 pulsory recruitment of children for use in 

15 armed conflict; 

16 (B) the use, procuring or offering of a 

17 child for prostitution, for the production of por18 nography or for pornographic performances; 

19 (C) the use, procuring or offering of a 

20 child for illicit activities, in particular for the 

21 production and trafficking of drugs as defined 

22 in the relevant international treaties; and 

23 (D) work which, by its nature or the cir24 cumstances in which it is carried out, is likely 


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1 to harm the health, safety or morals of chil2 dren. 

3 (3) The sexual exploitation of minors is a global 

4 phenomenon. The International Labour Organiza5 tion estimates that 1,800,000 children worldwide are 

6 exploited each year through prostitution and pornog7 raphy. 

8 (4) Many countries with a high prevalence of 

9 trafficking in children lack financial resources, legal 

10 expertise, technical capacity, and other resources to 

11 appropriately protect and rescue these children, de12 spite a demonstrated political will to do so. 

13 (5) Article 8 of the ILO Convention Concerning 

14 the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimi15 nation of the Worst Forms of Child Labor calls on 

16 Members to ‘‘take appropriate steps to assist one 

17 another in giving effect to the provisions of this Con18 vention through enhanced international cooperation 

19 and/or assistance . . . .’’. 

20 (6) As a States Party to the Optional Protocol 

21 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the 

22 Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Por23 nography, the United States is obligated pursuant to 

24 Article 10 to, among other things, take all necessary 

25 steps to strengthen international cooperation by mulVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:46 Jun 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 tilateral, regional, and bilateral arrangements for the 

2 prevention and detection of those responsible for 

3 acts involving the sale of children, child prostitution, 

4 child pornography and child sex tourism. The United 

5 States also is required to promote international co6 operation and coordination authorities of other 

7 States Parties to the Convention, national and inter8 national nongovernmental organizations and inter9 national organizations to achieve these objectives. 

10 (7) Article 10 of the Optional Protocol to the 

11 Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale 

12 of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornog13 raphy further mandates that the United States and 

14 other States Parties in a position to do so to provide 

15 financial, technical, or other assistance through ex16 isting multilateral, regional, bilateral or other pro17 grams. 

18 (b) DECLARATION OF PURPOSE.—The purpose of 

19 this Act is to protect and rescue children from trafficking 

20 by the establishment of Child Protection Compacts be21 tween the United States and select, eligible countries with 

22 a significant prevalence of trafficking in children, in order 

23 to— 

24 (1) address institutional weaknesses within the 

25 government that result in the failure to protect vulVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:46 Jun 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 nerable children and to rescue and properly rehabili2 tate victims; 

3 (2) address other legal, political, and societal 

4 vulnerabilities for children within the country; and 

5 (3) ensure transparency and accountability in 

6 achieving the goals stipulated in the Compact over 

7 the course of its three-year implementation. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT11 TEES.—Except as otherwise provided, the term ‘‘ap12 propriate congressional committees’’ means the 

13 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep14 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Rela15 tions of the Senate. 

16 (2) COMPACT.—The term ‘‘Child Protection 

17 Compact’’ or ‘‘Compact’’ means a Child Protection 

18 Compact described in section 6. 

19 (3) AMBASSADOR.—The term ‘‘Ambassador’’ 

20 means the Ambassador-at-Large of the Department 

21 of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking 

22 in Persons. 

23 (4) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi24 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 


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1 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of State. 

3 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE. 

4 (a) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, acting through the 

5 Ambassador, is authorized to provide assistance under this 

6 section for each country that enters into a Compact with 

7 the United States pursuant to section 6 to support policies 

8 and programs that assist the country to eradicate the traf9 ficking of children and are in furtherance of the purposes 

10 of this Act. 

11 (b) FORM OF ASSISTANCE.—Assistance under this 

12 section may be provided in the form of grants, cooperative 

13 agreements, or contracts to or with eligible entities de14 scribed in subsection (c). Assistance under this section 

15 may not be provided in the form of loans. 

16 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible entity referred 

17 to in subsection (b) is— 

18 (1) the national government of the eligible 

19 country; 

20 (2) regional or local governmental units of the 

21 country; or 

22 (3) a nongovernmental organization or a private 

23 entity with expertise in the protection of vulnerable 

24 children, the investigation and prosecution of those 


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1 who engage in or benefit from child trafficking, or 

2 rescue of child victims of trafficking. 

3 (d) NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF COMPACTS.—Subject 

4 to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall 

5 determine the number of Compacts based on the estab6 lished need of the countries determined to be most eligible 

7 based on the criteria described in section 5. The amount 

8 of any single Compact shall not exceed a total of 

9 $15,000,000. 

10 (e) ANNUAL DISBURSEMENTS.—Disbursements shall 

11 be made to the eligible entities on an annual basis pursu12 ant to the terms of the respective Compacts. 

13 SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES. 

14 (a) DETERMINATION BY THE SECRETARY.—The Sec15 retary shall select a country for purposes of entering into 

16 a Compact based on whether the country meets the initial 

17 criteria listed in subsection (b) and the selection criteria 

18 listed in subsection (c). The determination pursuant to 

19 subsection (c) shall be based, to the maximum extent pos20 sible, upon objective, documented, and quantifiable indica21 tors. 

22 (b) INITIAL CRITERIA.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—A country may be consid24 ered for a Compact if— 


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1 (A) the country is eligible for assistance 

2 from the International Development Associa3 tion, and the per capita income of the country 

4 is equal to or less than the historical ceiling of 

5 the International Development Association, as 

6 defined by the International Bank for Recon7 struction and Development; and 

8 (B) subject to paragraph (2), the country 

9 is not ineligible to receive United States eco10 nomic assistance under part I of the Foreign 

11 Assistance Act of 1961 by reason of the appli12 cation of any provision of the Foreign Assist13 ance Act of 1961 or any other provision of law. 

14 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For the pur15 poses of determining whether a country is eligible 

16 for receiving assistance under paragraph (1), the ex17 ercise by the President, the Secretary of State, or 

18 any other officer or employee of the United States 

19 of any waiver or suspension of any provision of law 

20 referred to in such paragraph, and notification to 

21 the appropriate congressional committees in accord22 ance with such provision of law, shall be construed 

23 as satisfying the requirement of such paragraph. 

24 (c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—A country should be se25 lected on the basis of— 


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1 (1) a documented high prevalence of trafficking 

2 of children within the country; 

3 (2) demonstrated political will and sustained 

4 commitment by the government to undertake mean5 ingful measures to address the trafficking of chil6 dren, including— 

7 (A) enactment and enforcement of laws 

8 criminalizing trafficking in children with pun9 ishments commensurate with the crime, includ10 ing, when necessary, against complicit govern11 ment officials; 

12 (B) cooperation with local and inter13 national non-governmental organizations with 

14 demonstrated expertise in combating the traf15 ficking in children; and 

16 (C) the treatment of child trafficking vic17 tims in accordance with Article 6(3) of the Pro18 tocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Traf19 ficking in Persons, Especially Women and Chil20 dren, Supplementing the United Nations Con21 vention Against Transnational Organized 

22 Crime; 

23 (3) the capacity of the host country government 

24 and relevant actors within civil society to effectively 

25 utilize additional resources; 


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1 (4) United States Government in-country pres2 ence; 

3 (5) an identifiable impact that will result from 

4 implementation of a Compact; and 

5 (6) assurances that the measures to be under6 taken will have a continued, sustainable impact once 

7 the Compact period is completed. 

8 SEC. 6. CHILD PROTECTION COMPACT. 

9 (a) COMPACT.—The Secretary, acting through the 

10 Ambassador, may provide assistance for a country only if 

11 the country enters into an agreement with the United 

12 States, to be known as a ‘‘Child Protection Compact’’, 

13 that establishes a 3-year plan for achieving shared objec14 tives in furtherance of the purposes of this Act. 

15 (b) ELEMENTS.—The Compact should take into ac16 count the national child protection strategy of the country 

17 and shall contain— 

18 (1) the specific objectives that the country and 

19 the United States expect to achieve during the term 

20 of the Compact; 

21 (2) the responsibilities of the country and the 

22 United States in the achievement of such objectives; 

23 (3) the particular programs or initiatives to be 

24 undertaken in the achievement of such objectives 


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1 and the amount of funding to be allocated to each 

2 program or initiative; 

3 (4) regular benchmarks to measure, where ap4 propriate, progress toward achieving such objectives, 

5 including benchmarks for each program or initiative; 

6 (5) a multi-year financial plan, including the es7 timated amount of contributions by the United 

8 States and the country, if any, and proposed mecha9 nisms to implement the plan and provide oversight, 

10 that describes how the requirements of paragraphs 

11 (1) through (4) will be met, including identifying the 

12 role of civil society in the achievement of such re13 quirements; 

14 (6) where appropriate, a description of the cur15 rent and potential participation of other donors in 

16 the achievement of such objectives; 

17 (7) a plan to ensure appropriate fiscal account18 ability for the use of assistance provided under sec19 tion 4; 

20 (8) where appropriate, a process or processes 

21 for consideration of solicited proposals under the 

22 Compact as well as a process for consideration of 

23 unsolicited proposals by the Secretary and national, 

24 regional, or local units of government; 


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1 (9) a requirement that open, fair, and competi2 tive procedures are used in a transparent manner in 

3 the administration of grants or cooperative agree4 ments or the procurement of goods and services for 

5 the accomplishment of objectives under the Com6 pact; and 

7 (10) the strategy of the country to sustain 

8 progress made toward achieving such objectives after 

9 expiration of the Compact. 

10 (c) ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMPACT.— 

11 Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary may enter 

12 into contracts or make grants for any eligible country for 

13 the purpose of facilitating the development and implemen14 tation of the Compact between the United States and the 

15 country. 

16 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

17 (1) NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION STRAT18 EGY.—The term ‘‘national child protection strategy’’ 

19 means any strategy to eliminate the trafficking in 

20 children that has been developed by the government 

21 of the country in consultation with a variety of non22 governmental organizations involved in the protec23 tion of vulnerable children, the prosecution of those 

24 who engage in or benefit from child trafficking, or 

25 rescue child victims of trafficking. 


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1 (2) PROGRAM OR INITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘pro2 gram or initiative’’ may include the following: 

3 (A) Evaluation of legal standards and 

4 practices and recommendations for improve5 ments that will increase the likelihood of suc6 cessful prosecutions. 

7 (B) Training anti-trafficking police and in8 vestigators. 

9 (C) Building the capacity of domestic non10 governmental organizations to educate vulner11 able populations about the danger of trafficking 

12 and to work with law enforcement to identify 

13 and rescue victims. 

14 (D) Creation of victim-friendly courts. 

15 (E) Development of appropriate after-care 

16 facilities for rescued victims. 

17 (F) Development and maintenance of data 

18 collection systems. 

19 (G) Development of regional cooperative 

20 plans with neighboring countries to prevent 

21 cross-border trafficking of children and child 

22 sex tourism. 

23 SEC. 7. SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION OF ASSISTANCE. 

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1 ance in whole or in part for a country or entity under 

2 section 4 if the Secretary determines that— 

3 (1) the country or entity is engaged in activities 

4 which are contrary to the national security interests 

5 of the United States; 

6 (2) the country or entity has engaged in a pat7 tern of actions inconsistent with the criteria used to 

8 determine the eligibility of the country or entity, as 

9 the case may be; or 

10 (3) the country or entity has failed to adhere to 

11 its responsibilities under the Compact. 

12 (b) REINSTATEMENT.—The Secretary may reinstate 

13 assistance for a country or entity under section 4 only if 

14 the Secretary determines that the country or entity has 

15 demonstrated a commitment to correcting each condition 

16 for which assistance was suspended or terminated under 

17 subsection (a). 

18 (c) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 

19 3 days after the date on which the Secretary suspends or 

20 terminates assistance under subsection (a) for a country 

21 or entity, or reinstates assistance under subsection (b) for 

22 a country or entity, the Secretary shall submit to the ap23 propriate congressional committees a report that contains 

24 the determination of the Secretary under subsection (a) 

25 or subsection (b), as the case may be. 


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1 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The authority to sus2 pend or terminate assistance under this section includes 

3 the authority to suspend or terminate obligations and sub4 obligations. 

5 SEC. 8. CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION AND ANNUAL RE6 PORT. 

7 (a) CONGRESSIONAL CONSULTATION PRIOR TO COM8 PACT NEGOTIATIONS.—Not later than 15 days prior to 

9 the start of negotiations of a Compact with a country, the 

10 Ambassador— 

11 (1) shall consult with the appropriate congres12 sional committees with respect to the proposed Com13 pact negotiation; and 

14 (2) shall identify the objectives and mechanisms 

15 to be used for the negotiation of the Compact. 

16 (b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION AFTER ENTER17 ING INTO A COMPACT.—Not later than 10 days after en18 tering into a Compact with a country, the Ambassador 

19 shall provide notification of the Compact to the appro20 priate congressional committees, including a detailed sum21 mary of the Compact and a copy of the text of the Com22 pact. 

23 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

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1 nually thereafter, the President shall transmit to the 

2 appropriate congressional committees a report on 

3 the assistance provided under section 4 during the 

4 prior fiscal year. 

5 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 

6 shall include the following: 

7 (A) The amount of obligations and expend8 itures for assistance provided to each eligible 

9 country during the prior fiscal year. 

10 (B) For each country, an assessment of— 

11 (i) the progress made during each 

12 year by the country toward achieving the 

13 objectives set out in the Compact entered 

14 into by the country; and 

15 (ii) the extent to which assistance pro16 vided under section 4 has been effective in 

17 helping the country to achieve such objec18 tives. 

19 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro21 priated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for the 3-year period 

22 beginning on October 1, 2010, to carry out the purposes 

23 of this Act. 

24 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts authorized 

25 to be appropriated under subsection (a) are authorized to 


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1 remain available until expended, but not later than the 

2 date of the termination of the Compacts. 

3 (c) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may allocate 

5 or transfer to any agency of the United States Gov6 ernment any of the funds available for carrying out 

7 this Act. Such funds shall be available for obligation 

8 and expenditure for the purposes for which the 

9 funds were authorized, in accordance with authority 

10 granted in this Act or under authority governing the 

11 activities of the United States Government agency to 

12 which such funds are allocated or transferred. 

13 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall notify 

14 the appropriate congressional committees not less 

15 than 15 days prior to an allocation or transfer of 

16 funds pursuant to paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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