I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2522 
To establish a congressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern-Day 
Slavery. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 24, 2007 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mrs. MALONEY 
of New York, Mrs. DRAKE, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 
ENGEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PITTS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. 
SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. HONDA, Ms. CLARKE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 
Texas, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. JOHNSON of 
Georgia, Mr. CONYERS, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad-
dition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Over-
sight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a congressional Commission on the Abolition 
of Modern-Day Slavery. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Commis-
sion on the Abolition of Modern-Day Slavery Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. MODERN-DAY SLAVERY. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘modern-day slavery’’ means 
the status or condition of a person who is under the con-
trol of another person, where that control is enforced by 
violence, or psychological coercion, and who is exploited 
through involuntary servitude, forced labor, debt bondage 
or bonded labor, serfdom, peonage, trafficking in persons 
for forced labor or for sexual exploitation (including child 
sex tourism), forced marriage, or other similar means. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Modern-day slavery takes many forms, in-
cluding chattel slavery or slavery by descent, and the 
exploitation occurs in a myriad of situations, includ-
ing in the agricultural, commercial sex, construction, 
manufacturing, and service industries, as well as in 
domestic servitude. 
(2) The perpetrators of modern-day slavery vio-
late the dignity of men, women, and children, using 
violence that at times results in death, sexual abuse, 
rape, torture, dangerous and degrading working con-
ditions, poor nutrition, drug and alcohol addiction, 
and psychological trauma. 
(3) According to the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights ‘‘No one shall be held in slavery or 
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servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be pro-
hibited in all their forms.’’. 
(4) The United States and the international 
community have acknowledged that modern-day 
slavery must be abolished in accordance with the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 
the Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour and Similar 
Institutions and Practices Convention of 1926; the 
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slav-
ery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices 
Similar to Slavery; the Optional Protocol to the Con-
vention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of 
Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; 
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the 
Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children 
in Armed Conflicts; the Convention concerning the 
Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimi-
nation of the Worst Forms of Child Labour; the 
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention; and the 
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Traf-
ficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 
Supplementing the United Nations Convention 
Against Transnational Organized Crime. 
(5) The Declaration of Independence recognizes 
the inherent dignity and worth of all people and 
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states that all people are created equal and are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights. 
(6) The 13th amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States recognizes that ‘‘Neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment 
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or 
any place subject to their jurisdiction.’’. 
(7) The United States has given particular pri-
ority to combating trafficking in persons, a form of 
modern-day slavery, through the enactment of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (division 
A of Public Law 106–386) and the Trafficking Vic-
tims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (Public 
Law 108–193) and the Trafficking Victims Protec-
tion Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 109– 
164). 
(8) The importation into the United States of 
goods mined, produced, or manufactured by forced 
or indentured labor, including forced or indentured 
child labor, is prohibited under the Tariff Act of 
1930. 
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