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US
Senate Approves Resolution to Establish a
National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness
Annual
observance intended to enhance fight against human
trafficking
June
27, 2007 - Washington, DC
The
US Senate has approved a resolution by Senators Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Barack Obama (D-IL)
and Dick Lugar (R-IN) to create a National Day of Human
Trafficking Awareness, to be observed on January 11 of
every year.
The
Resolution is intended to raise awareness about human
trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery. Victims
of human trafficking are forced to work in sweatshops,
prostitution rings, farm labor, private homes and other
enterprises. Traffickers use many techniques to keep their
victims enslaved – including fear, isolation and threats
of violence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
It
is a pervasive global crime, with nearly 1 million people
trafficked across international borders every year --
roughly 80 percent of them are women and children --
according to the U.S. State Department.
“It
is vitally important that we as a nation work to
eliminate human trafficking, whose victims are among the
most vulnerable members of society, including women and
children,” said Senator Feinstein, a member
of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Human
trafficking is a real problem in California, where there
were 500 known cases of human trafficking between 1998
and 2003. There were no doubt countless other cases,
because victims of this crime live in fear and often
avoid law enforcement. Human traffickers use force,
threats and coercion to make their victims believe they
have no other choice but to work for their captors.”
“This
Resolution is an important step in fighting this crime.
We already have laws against human trafficking. Now,
with this Resolution, we can raise awareness of human
trafficking among the people most likely to come into
contact with victims of this crime.”
Senator
John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, said: “I believe most Americans
would be shocked to learn that slavery continues to exist
today—not just in remote parts of the world, but hidden
away in communities across America. We must keep working
to eradicate human trafficking by raising awareness and
strengthening efforts to combat it both abroad and here at
home.”
“Human
trafficking is an atrocity and we must do everything we
can to enforce the law and to raise awareness to prevent
it,” said Senator Obama. “This
resolution will bring national attention to the victims
of modern slavery in sweatshops and other forced labor
enterprises throughout the nation.”
“Thousands
of people are trafficked every year inside their own
countries and across international borders. The State
Department’s Trafficking in Persons office is vigorous
in calling to account those countries that are the source
and recipients of these abused individuals. We join in
this resolution to highlight their situation and suffering
in the hopes that such attention will heighten the
public’s awareness of their plight, and with the hope of
making progress to curtail these practices,” said Senator
Lugar.
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