IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 919 
Encouraging States to uphold the rights and dignity of human trafficking 
survivors. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 
Mrs. WAGNER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Encouraging States to uphold the rights and dignity of 
human trafficking survivors. 
Whereas all men, women, and children are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these 
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; 
Whereas neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist 
within the United States; 
Whereas every survivor of sex and labor trafficking has the 
right to be truly recognized and treated as a victim and 
should be treated with the same justice, respect, and dig-
nity as other victims of crime; 
Whereas victims of human trafficking in the United States 
can face criminal charges, mandatory detention, and even 
deportation as a result of their exploitation; 
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Whereas survivors of trafficking who are arrested, pros-
ecuted, and convicted of charges resulting from their sta-
tus as a victim of trafficking face obstacles in reestab-
lishing their lives and obtaining employment, education, 
and housing; 
Whereas victims of human trafficking are difficult to identify 
and are subject to manipulation, force, fraud, coercion, 
and abuse; 
Whereas women in the commercial sex industry have a higher 
homicide victimization rate than any other set of women, 
and are at very high risk for abuse, disease, injury, and 
death; 
Whereas there is no such thing as a child prostitute or child 
sex worker, as children in the commercial sex industry 
are by definition victims of a severe form of trafficking 
in persons; 
Whereas 1 in 5 runaway children are likely sex trafficking 
victims, and studies have shown that adults, often signifi-
cantly older men, manipulate youth into exchanging sex 
for meals, material goods, or cash; 
Whereas many domestic child sex trafficking victims do not 
self-identify as sex trafficking victims and are not aware 
of their rights; 
Whereas child sex trafficking victims are more likely to be ar-
rested than sex traffickers and sex buyers; 
Whereas, as many as 75 percent of underage victims of sex 
trafficking have been advertised or sold online, where the 
Internet makes exploitation simple, anonymous, and ac-
cessible; 
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Whereas victims of labor trafficking are compelled to accept 
jobs through deception, coercion, or force and endure 
horrific, inhumane conditions; 
Whereas many victims of labor trafficking are subject to 
physical abuse, sexual violence, debt bondage, confisca-
tion of identification documents, isolation, inadequate 
food, and no access to health care; 
Whereas a significant portion of labor trafficking victims 
enter the United States on lawful visas but are not iden-
tified; 
Whereas jurisdictions across the United States lack safe, ef-
fective shelter and housing for victims of human traf-
ficking; 
Whereas restitution for victims of trafficking is mandatory 
under Federal law but is only ordered in approximately 
30 percent of sex trafficking cases, and courts deny res-
titution requests in more than half of sex trafficking 
cases; 
Whereas reports estimate that less than 5 percent of Federal 
trafficking prosecutions in 2015 were for labor traf-
ficking, significantly limiting the ability of labor traf-
ficking victims to obtain justice and restitution; 
Whereas United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, 
and foreign national victims of human trafficking face 
many distinct obstacles, including, particularly for United 
States citizen and lawful permanent resident victims, ac-
cess to specialized victim services; and 
Whereas the House of Representatives has committed to a 
victim-centered approach to domestic human trafficking 
through passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking 
Act of 2015: Now, therefore, be it 
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Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) encourages States to uphold the basic rights 
and dignity of human trafficking survivors and— 
(A) truly recognize and identify survivors 
of human trafficking as victims of crime and 
treat these victims with the same justice, re-
spect, and dignity as other crime victims; 
(B) ensure that victims of trafficking are 
accorded the support, services, and legal rights 
as other victims of crime without being 
criminalized or made to feel responsible for the 
crimes committed against them; 
(C) advance a survivor-centered approach 
to addressing human trafficking that ensures 
the safety, confidentiality, and physical and 
mental well-being of victims, while recognizing 
symptoms of trauma and coping mechanisms 
that may impact victims’ interactions with law 
enforcement, the justice system, and service 
providers; 
(D) implement screening mechanisms for 
all children entering child welfare services and 
the juvenile justice system, and for unaccom-
panied children migrating into the country, to 
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identify child trafficking victims and connect 
them with appropriate services; 
(E) ensure that child trafficking victims 
are provided with the full range of protections, 
including access to child welfare services, trau-
ma-informed programming, and the same legal 
rights, afforded to other children who experi-
ence sexual abuse, rape, or incest; this includes 
ensuring that criminals who exploit child sex 
trafficking victims are not given lesser sen-
tences and penalties than criminals who exploit 
children through sexual abuse, rape, or incest; 
and ensuring that child trafficking victims are 
never referred to as ‘‘child prostitutes’’ or ‘‘un-
derage sex workers’’ in law or official docu-
ments and proceedings; and 
(F) develop a 24-hour emergency response 
plan to provide victims of labor and sex traf-
ficking with immediate protection and support 
when they are first identified; such a plan may 
include physically moving victims of trafficking 
to a place of safety, attending to the immediate 
medical and emotional needs of survivors, as-
sessing whether survivors are under risk for 
harm, retaliation, or intimidation, and directly 
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connecting survivors with victim advocates, 
housing, and service providers; 
(2) strongly urges States to adopt rights and 
protections for victims of human trafficking that in-
clude the right— 
(A) to be treated as a victim of crime and 
afforded justice, respect, and dignity; 
(B) to protection if the victim’s safety is at 
risk or if there is danger of harm, retaliation, 
or recapture by the trafficker; 
(C) to comprehensive trauma-informed, 
long-term, culturally competent care and heal-
ing services oriented toward emotional, physical, 
psychological, and family healing without time 
limit restrictions; 
(D) to evidence-based screening and as-
sessment tools, treatment plans, and therapy to 
address traumatic stress and associated mental 
health symptoms; 
(E) to safe and effective emergency and 
long-term housing; education, vocational, and 
job assistance and training; mentoring pro-
grams; language assistance; drug and substance 
abuse services; and legal services; 
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(F) for child sex trafficking victims to be 
treated as children in need of child protective 
services and to be served through the child wel-
fare system, where appropriate, in place of the 
juvenile justice system; and 
(G) for all victims of trafficking who are 
United States citizens, lawful permanent resi-
dents, and foreign nationals to be eligible for 
services; 
(3) strongly urges States to adopt the following 
legal rights and protections for victims of human 
trafficking, including the— 
(A) right to have convictions and adjudica-
tions related to prostitution and nonviolent of-
fenses vacated and such records cleared if of-
fenses were committed as a result of the victim 
being trafficked; 
(B) right to legal protection and immunity 
for child trafficking victims for offenses related 
to prostitution and nonviolent offenses if of-
fenses were committed as a result of being traf-
ficked, and the right to have charges dismissed 
as part of a specialized diversion program; im-
munity should be granted in combination with 
service provision aimed at eliminating detention 
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while giving victims the necessary resources to 
heal and reintegrate in their communities; 
(C) right to not be held in mandatory de-
tention, receive a mandatory residential place-
ment in a punitive setting, or be detained in fa-
cilities inappropriate to one’s status as a victim 
of crime; 
(D) right to the same type of court proce-
dures and legal protections accessible to victims 
of sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, or 
incest, including the right to not be treated as 
a criminal; 
(E) right to testify without being forced to 
make face-to-face contact with one’s trafficker, 
for instance, via one-way closed-circuit tele-
vision; 
(F) right for foreign national victims to be 
granted a temporary visa without being re-
quired to cooperate with a law enforcement in-
vestigation; 
(G) right to be informed and notified in 
writing of the survivor’s legal rights, including 
the availability of victim compensation, manda-
tory restitution, and a civil cause of action; the 
availability of protective orders and policies re-
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lated to their enforcement; and the rights and 
services available to the victim under 18 U.S.C. 
3771 and 42 U.S.C. 10607(c); and 
(H) retention of all rights regardless of 
whether the crime has been reported to law en-
forcement; and 
(4) recognizes and applauds the State legisla-
tive bodies that have taken tremendous steps to 
adopt protections and services for victims of traf-
ficking. 
Æ 
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