Conference Recommendations: Pathbreaking Strategies in the Global Fight Against Sex Trafficking

--Allow the free expression of religion. Faith based movements should include all forms of faith and should provide services to beneficiaries regardless of their religious backgrounds.

--Create independent E-mail groups of conference participants to share best practices and improve intra-national and international communications.

--Require governments and NGOs to embed mega tags that make windows appear on the monitors of their employees who look for sex-related sites. Appropriate admonishments would directly target the right audience.

Regional Workshop 5: Asia to North AmericaIt has been reported that Southeast Asia is the largest source for trafficked persons in the world. Internal legislation and controls are uneven and little regional coordination has been attempted. This workshop chose to look at the “traffic pattern” in the region from both directions: those trafficked to North America from Asia and the “consumers” from North America and from within Asia who use trafficking victims in the region. To fight trafficking and make progress on regional cooperation, the group recommended that states:

--Create a Southeast Asia “e-group” to share human trafficking information.

--Hold a follow-on conference for Asia/North America, the goal of which would be to elaborate a strategy of regional interaction on trafficking.

--Encourage developed countries to assist vulnerable countries (e.g. Fiji) where the problems of sex tourism and commercial exploitation of children have not taken root and help them take early defensive measures.

--Make the protection of Muslim women a high regional priority since they are particularly at risk.

--Negotiate a region-wide agreement to criminalize or regulate “mail order bride” businesses, perhaps along the lines of laws in the Philippines.

--Encourage the U.S. government to strengthen its legal mechanisms against trafficking:

by amending sex tourism and pedophilia laws to remove the necessity to prove intent before the perpetrator goes abroad--committing the act should be the crime;
by creating a system of federal penalties for states that do not criminalize trafficking or which fail to provide assistance to victims; and
by improving the systems to track visa petitioners in order to thwart serial and phony marriage applicants.

--Determine who is financially profiting from trafficking so that after prosecution costs of caring for the victims could be passed directly to them.

--Convince the U.S. military authorities to train personnel on human trafficking and increase prosecution and penalties for those engaging the services of trafficking victims.

--Engage a famous personality to speak out on trafficking as a public service.

Regional Workshop 6: Latin America to North America The nations of Western Hemisphere have taken initial steps in recent years to combat human trafficking and to promote region-wide cooperation on the issue. The intensity of these programs varies from country to country. Some countries have already developed laws and action plans that have had some success in preventing sexual exploitation of victims and prosecuting traffickers. Transnational agreements such as the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors, the Inter-American Convention on Extradition and Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters have already been agreed and ratified by many states. To build on this progress, workshop participants suggested that the region:

--Continue efforts have human trafficking recognized as an intra and inter-regional problem.

--Use NAFTA, PARLACEN, the Regional Conference on Migration and the South American Conference on Migration to push for action.

--Establish a regional network to exchange best practices.

--Find ways to address the demand side of the problem, especially as it affects children.

--Increase the number of female police officers and establish training programs for them.

--Find effective ways to train defense attorneys.

--Create a regional network (between source and destination countries) to help identify/locate victims.

--Work to conform and standardize legislation in the region, including strong penalties for traffickers.

--Create a database of information on traffickers.

--Expand and coordinate public education programs in schools and universities.

--Increase efforts with tourism ministries and hotels to prevent sex tourism.

--Encourage source countries that levy a tourist tax to re-invest those revenues into programs to prevent sex tourism.

Note: Since the conference the participants in this workshop have established a listserv for information exchange entitled “No Se Trata”.

Regional Workshop 7: Europe to North AmericaNorth America is a destination area for people trafficked from Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. Some of these countries have specific laws or a provision within the criminal code that criminalizes trafficking in persons, and some international organizations in Europe have sought to abolish the practice. Only rudimentary steps have currently been taken, however, to coordinate efforts throughout the Euro-Atlantic community. As a result, participants concluded that the strategy between Europe and North America should be one of forming relationships and strengthening ties between governments and NGOs on the issue. Specifically the group suggested that the region:

--Follow up on contacts made during the “Pathbreaking Strategies” international conference.

--Increase training opportunities in all parts of the region, including the USA, especially the creation of regional law enforcement seminars that would focus on transnational organized crime and the prosecution of traffickers.

--Expand opportunities for visits abroad by parliamentarians, U.S. legislators, NGOs, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, so that they can increase their knowledge of the problem from all angles.

--Increase investigation into interrelated industries such as escort services, Internet pornography, mail-order bride businesses, etc. that form linkages to trafficking. Monitoring of the sex industry itself often leads to the identification of traffickers or the ability to prosecute using obscenity or other laws already on the books. Share this information between governments and with law enforcement bodies across the region.

--Coordinate education campaigns that reach school-age children. These might include presentations by former victims, which have a high impact. They might also include awareness programs for boys, both to prevent their own trafficking, and to help change attitudes towards gender violence.

--Expand the base of knowledge by increasing NGO participation in the development of anti-trafficking actions, including involving NGOs in the prosecution process. This would also augment the capacity and reputation of the NGOs.

--Develop a list of accredited NGOs in the field of counter-trafficking so that trafficked individuals and concerned agencies know which NGOs are credible and viable partners.

--Invite journalists to human trafficking-related events to build a corps of well-informed media that does not rely on rumor or sensationalism to create stories. The better the publicity, the more awareness of the threat, and the more danger to the traffickers.

--Establish clear methods to share information across the region about development of new legislation.

--Harmonize legislation on victim protection across concerned countries.

--Create an independent rapporteur or ombudsman who would monitor the extent of human trafficking in the region and the efforts to contain it. The rapporteur would take a regional approach to addressing the problem and would report to the parliaments of the various countries involved.

Regional Workshop 8: Trafficking within East Asia

--Formulate national plans that incorporate NGOs, government officials and all other counter-trafficking players. These should eventually be linked together to form a regional plan.

--Focus on the implementation of counter-trafficking laws in the region. Where they exist they are not fully exercised.

--Devise immigration laws that are sensitive to the victim and that aim to reduce vulnerability

--Ensure that Burma is not isolated from regional efforts.

--Normalize procedures in the region for returning victims. Thailand is pioneering the use of MOUs with border countries to achieve this.

--Where political considerations make formal MOUs difficult to agree, accept informal agreements among border officials that promote cooperation and aid the victims.

--Encourage donor countries to de-link political issues from counter-trafficking assistance.

Regional Workshop 9: Within South AsiaThere is increasing recognition that trafficking within this region (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan) is a severe problem. Governments within the area have begun to take steps to coordinate among themselves and the conference was an important opportunity to for them to reinforce these efforts and to meet key contacts in neighboring states. The SAARC Convention on Trafficking in Women and Children has been an important breakthrough, and has been signed by every nation in the region except Afghanistan. The workshop recognized the need to build on this step, both on a regional and national level. The group recommended that the states of South Asia:

--Ratify the SAARC convention as soon as possible.

--Step up efforts to raise awareness among vulnerable populations throughout the region:

by sensitizing professional groups--lawyers, social workers, teachers, doctors, etc.--to the constructive role they can play in fighting human trafficking;
by increasing the number of arrests of customers, including foreign tourists engaged in sex tourism, and publicizing their names;
by giving widespread media coverage, including publicizing names, to the prosecution and conviction of traffickers or complicit officials.

--Unify efforts to establish formal procedures for providing victims with temporary residency.

--Encourage each nation to improve victim assistance, including better medical and psychological care. Protection should offer the opportunity to testify against the traffickers. Establishment of a “victim advocate” program would help victims by offering a guide and advisor throughout court procedures.

--Pass extradition treaties between and among regional states as soon as possible.

--Advise nations of the region to pass laws that make rape an automatic part of trafficking charges and that define trafficking as part of organized crime, thus increasing the penalties.

--Encourage nations to draft legislation that makes trafficking a no-bail offense and that allows for the confiscation of assets/profits of traffickers.

--Use monies confiscated from traffickers to reward law enforcement officials who are successful in pursuit of traffickers.

--Increase efforts to train judges and law enforcement officials at all other levels. Take steps to encourage supervisors to stress the importance of the fight against trafficking and to take punitive actions against any official in collusion with traffickers.

Regional Workshop 10: South Asia to the Near EastSouth Asians are trafficked into the Near East for sexual exploitation, forced labor and as camel jockeys. The numbers are thought to be in the millions. Most of the countries in the region do not have anti-trafficking legislation, or means to protect the victims. The trafficking problem in this region is newly recognized, and participants noted that few steps to stem trafficking had been taken on a regional level. In addition, there was recognition that most countries still needed to take action on a national basis. The group suggested that the countries in the region:

--Enhance data collection and comprehensive research and share this widely with neighboring countries.

--Hold regular “networking” workshops and orientation seminars between source and destination countries.

--Review existing laws related to trafficking in each country; ensure that they are in conformance with international and regional agreements; monitor to ensure that are being properly implemented.

--Establish contact points in source and destination countries so that each country knows exactly whom to contact on this issue.

--Strengthen and conform document controls within the region.

--Distribute information through hot lines and shelters at major travel entry points and border areas, for example at airports and in bus and train stations.

--Strengthen training for law enforcement personnel to include information on regional problems, the criminal networks engaged in trafficking and their patterns of operation.

--Produce a regional agreement banning the employment of children as camel jockeys in those countries with a tradition of the sport.

--Improve conditions for foreign workers:

by developing a manual for foreign workers which would outline their rights and obligations and tell them where to seek assistance which could be distributed through embassies;
by establishing information desks for foreign workers at travel entry points;
by licensing companies that procure foreign laborers;
by outlawing the retention of passports by employers of foreign workers; and
by issuing an amnesty for illegal workers and offering repatriation assistance.

In addition, individual countries were encouraged to:

--Establish trafficking cells within their passport offices and police units.

--Enhance prevention through community outreach (including in the foreign worker community) and information sharing programs.

--Strengthen protective measures for victims, especially the development of shelter homes and legal remedies, including mediation.

--Ensure that law enforcement officers are equipped with the best technology to enhance communications and information gathering.

--Make a concerted effort to treat trafficking victims as victims, not as criminals and ensure that they have a right to legal services, safety and compensation.

Texts of Keynote Speeches

Good evening. Thank you for coming. It is an honor to be able to speak to such a distinguished group and to open this conference.

You are an amazing group of people. This room is filled with pathbreaking activists, lawmakers, health care providers, policy makers, law enforcement officials, among others. We hail from more than 120 countries from every continent except Antarctica. While our lives and backgrounds differ significantly, we share one crucial, common goal: that is our unwavering commitment to eradicating what is one of the most unthinkable abuses and crimes that exists today -- trafficking in persons.

Many of you see on a daily basis the lives shattered by the heinous exploitation of innocent people by sex traffickers. Countless men, women, and children are subjected to torture and abuse that we can’t even imagine. People seeking a better life are forced or tricked into exploitation, abuse, and cruelty -- often with little hope of escaping such situations. Too many criminals driven by greed are all too willing to disregard human life to turn a profit, all too willing to treat humans like a lifeless commodity.

And our work -- whether through protecting victims, prosecuting traffickers, or preventing future trafficking -- presents an opportunity to rescue those already trapped in this life of agony and to avert countless other abuses.

As we were preparing for the conference and I read about many of you and your work, I was heartened at your dedication, sacrifice, and accomplishments. It renewed my hope that we will eradicate this scourge that has no place in a world where we have the ability and responsibility to protect each human life from such abuse.

These next several days present us with a unique opportunity -- a chance to gather you -- many of the world experts, indeed the doers, to map out a course, to create a “tool box” for working more closely together to end trafficking in persons. Our combined effort can and will have a multiplier effect if we seize this moment, this opportunity. We need to ask the tough questions.

How can we build bridges between our regions -- more effective bridges than the traffickers whose evil efforts know no borders? How can we make sure that a victim rescued on one side of the world can return safely and be integrated back into their society on the other side, safe with the knowledge that their abusers will be behind bars and that they have a chance to rebuild their lives?

How can we forge closer ties among law enforcement, service providers, civil and religious leaders, and lawmakers to ensure that we are maximizing our pressure? Too often institutional or cultural gaps exist between our various sectors. We share a common goal; we must share a common strategy. Existing divisions can help no one except the traffickers. We must work to be strongly unified and get rid of all divisions.

How can we stop the cycle before it even starts? How can we educate our young people, vulnerable groups, about the evil that lurks behind the empty promises traffickers use? How can we get legitimate businesses to ensure they do not become fronts for traffickers, that our citizens seeking employment abroad know what awaits them, that our citizens vacationing abroad know we will not allow them -- knowingly or not -- to be party to the exploitation of others?

These are just a few of the questions we should tackle over the next several days. We have intentionally structured the conference to give maximum time for dialogue, for grappling with tough questions, and thinking about concrete suggestions for what we should be doing.

The desired outcome is not a lengthy paper or declaration, but rather a short concise document summarizing your suggestions or a blueprint for action. Over the next 2 days, our discussions will be off-the-record because we want to have the most open, frank discussion possible. We want the outcome to provide activists throughout the world with a list of best practices and ideas that will bolster their work. We seek a multiplier effect worldwide.

It is those of you gathered here that will turn their hard work into the thinking and action that can and must make a difference in the lives of many people in desperate need of our help.

Have a good time this evening. Over the next 2 days, I hope you have an opportunity to enjoy yourself, challenge each other, and think about how we can best help each other eradicate what constitutes a tragedy of the 21^st century -- trafficking in persons. Thank you for your commitment and for joining us here.

The Honorable Frank Wolf
U.S. House of Representatives

It is my honor and privilege to welcome all of you today to this international conference on the global fight against sex trafficking.

I am struck by the diversity I see from the participants who have come from all over the world. You have come from every continent on the globe. You have come from different backgrounds, from different cultures.

Yet you have come with the singular purpose of sharing your ideas and expertise and solutions for prevention and prosecution of trafficking and protection of its victims.

We are all here to listen and learn from each other as we work in the fight against trafficking. We are all in this struggle together.

With unity of purpose there can come the power to fight the forces in the world that continue to exist that seek to dominate, abuse and exploit the human spirit.

These forces have been present since the early days of humanity. The forms have changed, but the substance has stayed the same -- the exploitation of human beings for personal gain.

Throughout the ages, a courageous few have taken up the mantle and led the fight against this exploitation in its many guises. Today you are here to carry on that fight and to help teach and inspire others to take up that mantle.

The United States of America is committed to the eradication of sex trafficking, which is the modern-day form of slavery. As a member of Congress, I have joined with my colleagues who are dedicated to this cause and who supported the legislation that brought together the Department of State in partnership with the War Against Trafficking Alliance to sponsor this world summit.

I want to call to your attention my congressional colleagues Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, and the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who led the way in passing the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

I also want to single out my former colleague in Congress, Linda Smith, who now heads the nonprofit organization, Shared Hope International, and was the key force behind this idea for this conference. She is dedicated to aiding those who have been victims of this horrible crime.

As I reflect on the privilege and challenge of serving in public office, I also am reminded of the responsibility that brings to help those around the world who are oppressed or persecuted or enslaved or without a voice.

In our fight against trafficking of persons in this 21^st century, we can be inspired to carry on this fight by those who have gone before.

I am struck by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the fight against the discrimination of African Americans here in the U.S. He said, “In the end we will remember, not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Throughout our history, America has been a friend of the persecuted and the suffering.

That is why Dr. King’s statement is so poignant. In times of trouble, the silence of an enemy is expected, but the silence of a friend is devastating.

I also must mention William Wilberforce, a Member of the British Parliament, a man who has inspired me, who led the successful campaign to abolish the slave trade in England in the early 19^th century.

And now all of you here continue this legacy, in a battle similar to Wilberforce, against the sexual trafficking and enslavement of people.

You know the numbers, and the scale of the suffering is staggering. Each year, 700,000 up to 4 million people are trafficked worldwide and an estimated 50,000 people here in the U.S.

Despite all of our technological and political progress, an alarming number of people, mostly women and children, are being sexually abused and forced into slavery.

Around the world, including the United States, innocent women and children are misled or forced to move across borders, to live in a foreign country, utterly alone and away from family, friends and any kind of support network, where they are forced into the sex trade.

All of you who fight against sexual trafficking every day know much, much better than I how the lives of innocent young women and children are viciously stolen. The victims are left with wounds and scars that may never heal, and in many cases are exposed to sexually transmitted diseases and the deadly HIV/AIDS virus.

Truly, this is one of the most evil practices occurring in the world today. The places where they are taken and the things they are forced to do are among the darkest imaginable.

I believe that America’s greatest contribution to the world is the founding principle: “that all...are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

The Old Testament book of Proverbs says, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter.”

The Bible is clear that all people have an obligation to care for, alleviate, and seek justice for the suffering.

To underscore America’s commitment in the global fight against trafficking, there are provisions in the recently enacted omnibus-spending bill calling for increased coordination among the executive branch agencies of the U.S. government and within the Department of State with respect to the implementation of the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act.

That new law also calls for the establishment of a Senior Policy Operating Group, chaired by the director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking.

He will have enhanced responsibility to help coordinate anti-trafficking programs administered by the U.S. government and also provide the committees and others in Congress a central point to obtain information.

As I mentioned, Linda Smith deserves tremendous credit for the idea behind this conference. It is very appropriate that the organization she heads is called Shared Hope International. There is indeed hope today in the area of trafficking of persons.

Many of you have come to Washington, DC, to share your successes in this fight against trafficking.

It is encouraging that some countries that have the worst problems with trafficking are responding positively to the pressure that has been put on them by being listed in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Thanks to the work of the State Department’s Trafficking Office, and to the hard work of NGO’s and law enforcement officials like many of you here today from around the world, some countries are getting the message and beginning to take action to stop the horrible sex slavery occurring within their borders.

There is hope and there is a strong effort being made by this Administration and by the U.S. Congress and by your countries to combat the scourge of sexual trafficking.

Is it enough? No.

Can we do more? Yes.

With the international community united and working together, we can enact tougher laws on trafficking and enforce those laws.

Where countries have been culturally tolerant of sexual trafficking, we need governments and NGO’s to speak out and to raise the public outcry against sexual trafficking.

We also need journalists to write about this issue and bring to the attention of the world these heinous acts.

We need to continue to make it clear that the countries that have the worst records on trafficking need to change and that sex slavery will not be tolerated by the international community.

In his acceptance speech, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel explained that he “swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.”

“We must take sides,” he said. “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must -- at that moment -- become the center of the universe.”

What a powerful statement. Silence never helps the victim, only the victimizer. Silence actually encourages the wrongdoers to continue their acts of violence and abuse.

The late Senator Robert F. Kennedy in a speech in South Africa spoke about the danger of timidity in the context of having the courage to speak out for the oppressed. He said:

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a more rare commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change…. Aristotle tells us that ‘At the Olympic games it is not the finest and the strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter the lists.... So too in the life of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who win the prize.’ I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.”

Know that we in the United States are behind you and will continue to seek ways to help you fight this battle. We will continue to work with the State Department, the Justice Department and the Administration to find better and more effective ways to put an end to an abuse that preys on the innocent and the vulnerable.

And so I thank all of you for coming to this conference. For your hard work on behalf of the innocent and vulnerable. For standing with the oppressed who see no way out of their horrible situation. For sometimes standing alone. And most importantly for your courage. You are making a difference.

The Old Testament book of Isaiah 58:10 says, “And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

As you speak out and continue to work on this important issue, your words and actions can be a light for the persecuted and enslaved that are today suffering so much.

Thank you for all that you are doing in these trying and challenging times. I appreciate your leadership and service around the world.

His Excellency Francisco Santos Calderón
Vice President of Colombia

Enslavement in the XXI Century

A few days ago, we heard on the radio in Colombia, the story of a 19-year-old woman from Cali, who accepted an offer to work as a prostitute in Japan. It was a last resource to obtain some income for the support of her 3-year-old son and her husband. Instead, she fell in the hands of a sinister criminal organization that forced her to serve an average of thirty clients daily. During the four moths she spent there, before she could escape, she was unable to save any money, and was cruelly forced by her captors to pay for her travel and daily expenses.

We also heard of the story of a 22-year-old woman who decided to interrupt her engineering studies to accept a newspaper classified ad job offer with a multinational company based in Germany. Believing she had found a great opportunity, she found herself working as a slave in a quarry mine in Romania, from which it took her two years to escape.

Stories like these, and even worse, happen every day in Colombia and in many other countries affected by the illegal trafficking of persons. This is nothing less than a modern version of slavery. The slavery of human beings of different ages by means of deceit, resulting in exploitation and alienation.

Every year, more than 700,000 women, men and children are victims of illegal trafficking in the world. It is an expanding practice producing enormous amounts of money. According to the International Organization for Migration, this ominous trafficking moves about 7,000 billion dollars a year just in Europe.

As you know, the victims of this trafficking are usually weak, defenseless persons who are used for sexual exploitation, forced labor, illicit trade, for the establishment of forced family relations, and even for the trading of organs and tissues.

The criminal networks that operate this human trafficking have made it the third most profitable illegal activity -- after illegal trafficking in narcotics and weapons.

The magnitude of this problem and its devastating consequences underlines the importance and opportunity of the initiative by Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, Ms. Paula Dobriansky, to promote the analysis and study of the different aspects of human trafficking, including population issues, migrations, labor exploitation, trade and criminal issues. This meeting will also provide new impetus for solutions to this problem, coming both from governments and society.

We have to turn the time we live in into one of solutions, because, so far, practices such as the trafficking of women and children for the purposes of forcing them into prostitution, medicine, forced labor or slavery occur without significant penalties for the traffickers or its consumers.

This largely occurs because of the power of intimidation these criminal organizations have to inflict fear in those who have the courage to denounce these practices. In addition, these criminal organizations use sophisticated methods to recruit their victims and force them into doing the jobs they want. They are highly dangerous, and devote large amounts of money to these inhuman, cruel, degrading transactions.

Undoubtedly, in today’s world the globalization of the economy has also brought about the globalization of crime. This is why governments, as well as international organizations and concerned individuals, have an obligation to join efforts to eradicate these practices forever.

There are adequate legal instruments to this effect. For example, on October 28, 2000, President George W. Bush signed into law the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, which encompasses a set of tools to go after the traffickers, provides protection for the victims of trafficking, increases sentences for traffickers, and calls upon states to provide a greater commitment to fight this type of crime.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Codes established that slavery and enforced prostitution are crimes against humanity “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack”. It defined "enslavement" as the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children.

This crime is similar to illegal narcotics trafficking in as much as there is no available tool to fight against it that is as efficient as increased cooperation between governments, through coordinated, innovative, and courageous actions. This, of course, includes greater surveillance and control within our borders, coordinated police action, and continued, actual tracking of the money that traffickers move using the international banking system. This includes all means of transfers, such as currency exchange agencies, insurance companies, financing agencies, non-profit organizations, and all the existing financial possibilities that operate with the compliance of the banking laws in the so called “tax havens”.

Together with Brazil and the Dominican Republic, Colombia is one of the three countries most affected by human trafficking in the Western hemisphere. Young, working women are the most vulnerable segment of our population. Every year, about 50,000 Colombian women are taken out of Colombia to Asia and Europe for prostitution.

This fact has a lot to do with our own social and economic problems: Unemployment, armed conflict, family violence and impoverishment of the population. Thousands of fellow Colombians in search of a better future become, unknowingly, easy prey for these criminal organizations.

Nonetheless, in addition to being a victim of trafficking in persons, Colombia is also one of the leading countries combating this crime. The U.S. Department of State in its Trafficking in Persons Report certifies that in spite of our very limited economic and institutional resources and an inefficient judicial system, Colombia meets the standards to combat trafficking in persons.

In 1996, the Office of the President of Colombia created an inter-agency Committee to fight against trafficking in persons, especially, trafficking in women and children, which brings together several cabinet offices and all of the organizations concerned with this problem.

Since then, we have concentrated on those areas of the country which we have detected are most vulnerable to trafficking in persons. We have created strategies to identify and address this problem, while creating an institutional fabric, with a view to keeping in place actions for assistance and prevention.

Under the coordination of this committee, preventative activities, such as awareness campaigns for the general public and the authorities, are constantly implemented. The Office of the Attorney General keeps a detailed record of the cases of trafficking in persons, and it provides training to its staff on the processing of evidence and the scientific and technical management of judicial cases. Our internal security agency -- DAS -- has put a system in place for the exchange of intelligence information about criminal networks responsible for trafficking in persons for the purposes of labor or sexual exploitation. This system has the international support of INTERPOL. DAS also has a hotline to receive complaints relating to this crime.

Our National Police has extensive experience with the modus operandi of these criminal organizations from the work of the Humanitas Group of the Criminal Investigation Unit. This unit constantly monitors newspaper ads, discos, education institutions, dating agencies, casinos, and other activities and places where traffickers might find an opportunity to carry out their illegal activities.

Also, under the coordination of this committee, a Social Network has been put in place for the prevention of trafficking in persons with the purposes of sexual exploitation in the most vulnerable areas of the country. Presently Colombia has eleven Houses of Justice that operate with resources of international cooperation. With the leadership of NGOs, a series of prevention campaigns aimed at the educational community are carried out for the purpose of creating public awareness on different methods used by organized crime to force or induce persons into their trade.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides assistance to Colombian nationals who have been victims of trafficking in persons in a foreign country. Our consulates have attorneys and social workers that assist victims. They intervene for their human rights, including due process, non-discrimination and right of defense, among others.

The committee, in its capacity as government policy advisor, has also promoted the ratification of international conventions concerning trafficking in human beings, such as the 1949 Hague Convention on the Trafficking of Persons and the 1980 Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as well as the passing of Law 470 of 1988, by which Colombia Ratified the Convention on International Trafficking in Minors.

Colombia participated actively in all stages leading up to the adoption of the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and additional Protocols. In addition, Colombia was one of the first states to subscribe to the Convention and the additional Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

As important as it is to observe these international conventions, it is also essential to have the internal legal tools to confront the problem. According to the international law and observing our international obligations, we achieved great advancement by penalizing the trafficking in persons in our Criminal Code of the year 2000. In the year 2002, Congress passed Law 747 that goes after the illicit enrichment of persons and asset laundering connected to trafficking in persons. This law punishes both the trafficking in migrating persons as well as the trafficking in persons. It also makes these crimes as punishable as narcotics trafficking, arms trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and illicit enrichment. It is established in the law that a 6-15 prison sentence and a fine of between six thousand and six million dollars will be given to whomever acquires, keeps, invests in, transports, transforms, or administers assets which are the direct result of trafficking in migrating persons or trafficking in persons. Also subject to this law are those who act as figureheads for the hiding of such assets.

In general, I would like to underline the consistency between our legal system and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, additional to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

Considering the magnitude and complexity of trafficking in persons, from our own perspective I would suggest that the best way to confront it is through the active teamwork of civil society groups, governments and the international community. In Colombia, important organizations have been created such as Fundación Esperanza. They promote mechanisms to fight trafficking in persons and provide help to the victims.

As a direct result of this interaction, we have designed and implemented several strategies, such as making our consular officials more aware and attentive to this problem, and allowing them to assist victims of this heinous crime. Moreover, in many instances this consular participation has prevented victims from being indicted due to their illegal immigration status.

Additionally, we have been educating government officials at all levels of the administration and NGO members of the characteristics of this crime. The international airport of Bogotá is the main port of entry and departure of Colombians that could be victims of trafficking in persons. That’s why we have designed a strategy to be implemented there as a last chance to prevent our people from being victimized.

Fundación Esperanza tries to identify potential victims and distributes information about this crime, the organizations that benefit from it and the rights that people have according to the country they are heading to. This foundation also works with victims holding fake documents to try to capture the traffickers instead of sending behind bars victims who were forced to use these documents. This early warnings have worked very well.

Also, the presence in the airport has been an equally important opportunity to offer care and assistance to victims who are returning to Colombia. From there, they are remitted to tailor-made programs.

The U.S. State Department considers that Colombia is on level one among all the countries of the Americas in confronting the trafficking in persons, based on these measures and strategies.

The Administration of President Uribe is committed to strengthening these measures and efforts to be more efficient in providing assistance and protection to the victims of this crime, increasing the participation of the official and non-governmental institutions, the education sector and the solidarity of the Colombian people.

Notwithstanding these efforts, we are still a country deeply affected by this international crime. We have more than 50,000 Colombians that have been victimized. We still have a lot of serious work to do. Let me illustrate this point: A few months ago a Spanish journalist who lived in our country for five years wrote an article for the El Mundo newspaper in Madrid about how the women of a region in Colombia are deceived and forced to work as prostitutes. There was a huge debate in the country on the adjective that she used for her article, but not on the problem itself.

The countries of origin and destination and their politicians -- and sometimes the societies themselves--are ashamed of having this problem. That is why in some cases they try either to hide it or ignore it.

Allow me to conclude my remarks by commending the sensibility, responsibility and commitment of this initiative by Undersecretary Dobriansky. It’s clearly unacceptable that in this age of modern technology and rapid communications, criminals who run these enterprises dedicated to trafficking in persons continue to operate in some of the most developed countries of the world. We have to corner them and close down all their possibilities. I think that’s the most important goal and commitment of this meeting for each of our countries.

Her Excellency Margareta Winberg
Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is a very interesting conference on a pressing subject at a time when the trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation almost has the same staggering turnover as the drugs or arms trade.

It is particularly interesting for me to participate as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden -- a country that, since the 1940s, has persistently worked to improve the condition of women through various reforms and measures. We have done this by working on gender equality issues over the decades. We are now actively pursuing a specifically feminist analysis and approach to gender inequalities.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Sweden has a feminist government and every one of our ministers, including the Prime Minister, is currently receiving training to enable them to implement feminist policies in all areas -- taxation, communications, public transportation, and so on.

We, the members of the Swedish Government, have pledged, before each decision is taken, to ask the question "in what way will this affect women, and in what way will it affect men?” We intend, quite simply, with gender mainstreaming as our method, to change the power structures that bind and restrict us to traditional gender power relations and therefore limit our opportunities as women and as men.

Naturally this commitment is binding, and it imposes considerable requirements on us as decision-makers, but we are convinced that this is the only way to achieve the desired changes. The goal is that every individual should be given opportunities in life based on their wishes, aims and knowledge -- but not on their sex.

Before coming here, I asked myself, what do all countries being here have in common in the area we will be discussing these days -- that is the trafficking in women? Why are we taking part on the same platform and hopefully reaching the same conclusions in the fight against sex trafficking?

Even if we may have different perspectives on how to deal with women’s issues, we share the same sense of urgency that we have to fight the indignity of trafficking in human beings. In recent years we have made a high priority of the work against trafficking in women in Sweden as well as in our Nordic region.

It is obvious to us that there is a very clear link between prostitution and trafficking. Without prostitution there would be no trafficking in women.

So what is prostitution? According to our Swedish definition, prostitution is a form -- a serious form -- of male violence against women. Many men see it as their “natural” right to be able, in return for payment, to exploit women and children, mostly girls, for their own pleasure. Some do it secretly, others openly brag about it and are not at all ashamed of their actions

One Swedish man said in a radio interview, one morning after having heard me speak about our efforts to combat prostitution and trafficking: "It's natural, when my friend and I visit Thailand where we eat well and drink well, that we also want a woman -- afterwards."

Far too many men, in Sweden and in the rest of the world, see women as objects, as something that can be bought and sold. If they, the men, feel like doing it….

The international prostitution debate has tended, for very good reasons, to focus on the women, who, for one reason or another have been drawn into prostitution. Today, however, we can see where the true problem lies -- it lies with the buyers, the customers, and the men.

Unless we dare to get to the heart of the problem, we will never be able to solve it. We would merely be curing the symptoms, that is, "taking care of" the victims, the women. Which would mean that men could continue to exploit women and children.

These are the reasons for our unique legislation that prohibits the purchase of sexual services. According to Swedish law, it is no longer permitted to buy another human being for prostitution purposes.

A woman's body is not the same as a glass of brandy or an ice cream after a good dinner. And there is a difference between shoelaces and girls' bodies. Brandy, ice cream and shoelaces are inanimate objects. Women and girls are something else, they are human beings and therefore they are not for sale!

This is why we, as the only country in the world so far, have criminalized the buying of human beings for sexual purposes. We have clearly recognized that women and girls are not commodities and that the men who treat them as such should be criminalized. We are working to encourage other countries to follow our example.

It is the purchasers, that is, most often the men, who are committing a criminal act. According to our point of view, the women -- the prostituted women -- should not be regarded as criminals. Their actions are viewed from a social perspective. They should be offered education opportunities, health care if necessary, and support allowing them to lead a life with a job that allows them to make an adequate living without having to be sexually exploited.

Prostitution is one of the most serious expressions of the oppression and discrimination of women, largely upheld by the economic and social structures of society. These structures are global, although they are admittedly stronger in some countries and in some social environments. Women and men are confronted with these structures constantly in their everyday lives and in their encounters with financial and social institutions. Women have a weaker economic position, they own less -- in many countries nothing at all -- and in general they have less access to various resources.

It is more difficult for them to find employment and even more difficult to get the well-paid jobs. While doing similar kinds of work, they often have lower wages than men. At the same time they usually bear greater responsibility for the upbringing and care of children. Women are not represented to the same extent as men in political institutions. In most of the world they have less access to basic education and even in the wealthiest countries, there are significantly fewer female professors than male.

It is true that there have been many positive developments. Important steps towards achieving gender equality have been taken. The opportunities for women to support themselves through employment have increased. More women are nominated for positions in political assemblies. The Swedish Government currently consists of ten women and twelve men, and women make up 45 percent of the Swedish Parliament. The women's movement -- not least in the USA -- has made a significant international impact in its fight for women's rights and against oppressive attitudes towards women.

But there have also been setbacks and we are presently witnessing a serious backlash in today's society. This backlash manifests itself in three main areas:

Firstly, economic conditions in large parts of the third world have deteriorated for large sections of the populations. This has specifically affected women.

The dramatic changes in Eastern Europe have also had a number of negative consequences. These include of the feminization of poverty and declining public health. New forms of organized crime and Mafia-like networks have risen from the ruins of the old power structures. This has had numerous social consequences such as the increase in the number of women and girls being victims of prostitution and trafficking. In Sweden, the effects have become clear when pimps in our country exploit women from the Baltic countries and northwestern Russia. And in Europe, some 500, 000 (half a million) women are trafficked for prostitution purposes to the different member states of the European Union from the Eastern countries and Asian every year.

Secondly, we have seen signs that various forms of fundamentalism across the world are gaining influence. Religious forms of fundamentalism, in particular, affect the situation of women and girls in a negative way and encroach upon their rights. The leaderships of the Catholic Church and certain political groups in the west sometimes support these forces. They are joining together in their opposition to women's rights, in their unwillingness to provide resources for women's reproductive health and in their opposition to the right and access to abortion and contraceptives. This situation worries me and other feminists around the world.

Thirdly, we have, for a number of years, seen a rise in the international drug trade. Organized crime networks make their profit from the trafficking in drugs, arms as well as in women and children for prostitution purposes. Drug abuse is often a consequence of the abuse and torture that women in prostitution experience at the hands of pimps and traffickers.

That's why it is crucial that we search for holistic solutions and that our work against trafficking in human beings is undertaken as a political priority. Prostitution and trafficking in women touch upon the issues of human rights, gender inequality, sex and racial discrimination, and economic depravation, as well as the rule of law, crime control, law enforcement and corruption.

That’s why the Nordic-Baltic region has chosen a strategy that I think can be interesting for other governments, even if every country or region of course must base their work on their own situation.

In June 2001, I suggested to my colleagues, those ministers who are responsible for gender equality affairs in the Nordic and Baltic countries, that we should jointly organize a Nordic-Baltic Campaign against Trafficking in Women during 2002. The response to my proposal was overwhelmingly positive. We knew that, in order to be truly effective in the fight against trafficking in women, we must work together -- governments, authorities, and civil society -- over national borders and in close collaboration.

The overall objective of the Campaign was to increase our own knowledge and raise awareness in all our countries -- among the public, among authorities and among NGOs -- about trafficking in women in our region. We also wanted to focus on the women and children who are victims of trafficking and the very difficult circumstances that they live under.

Most importantly, we intended, and I believe we accomplished this, to initiate and stimulate debates and discussions about the problem in our region. The success of our work has been reflected in the continuing keen interest of the local media.

I am glad that the U.S. State Department has recognized the importance of the work of NGOs worldwide, against prostitution and trafficking in women. Our experience is that the work of non-governmental organizations is indispensable in the fight against prostitution and trafficking in women. NGOs have valuable experiences and knowledge about how to work against male violence against women, prostitution and trafficking in women.

We must make use of their expertise and learn from them. Their role is to remind us of our undertakings and responsibilities, and to challenge us to take action. We must, in turn, be receptive to their demands and support their work.

I have great expectations as to the outcome of this conference. This is an opportunity for us to re-commit to continue our work through more and better preventive measures, effective legal protection and assistance to all victims, and collaboration to ensure the prosecution of traffickers and organized crime networks. This is an opportunity for us to exchange experiences and ideas on how to work to eliminate existing political, legal economic, social and cultural disparities -- those inequalities that provide the breeding ground for trafficking in human beings between and within our countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

This conference is a way for us to show that even if we -- in many important areas -- do not share the same ideological backgrounds, we are able in one very important, and for many women vital, area to agree and say together:

Women are not for sale!

Stop the prostitution and trafficking in women and children!

Thank you for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to speak.

The Honorable Claude A. Allen
Deputy Secretary
Department of Health and Human ServicesFebruary 25, 2003

Thank you, Congressman Miller, for that very kind introduction, and thank you for all of your hard work in the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department.

Good morning. It is a real privilege for me to be here with you on behalf of Secretary Tommy Thompson to discuss the role of the Department of Health and Human Services in ending the scourge of human trafficking throughout the world.

I would like to start by telling you about a group of women and children who are trafficked into the United States. Their story epitomizes the abhorrent reality of trafficking in persons. The following facts have been modified to protect the safety and security of the victims.

An increasing number of South American women and girls have been lured into sex slavery due to economic hardship that often plagues their lives.

We know of one group smuggled into the United States with the promise of employment who found their lives changed drastically when turned over to pimps who beat and rape them before coercing them into prostitution and enslavement.

These girls came from small towns in South America, sisters and cousins lured away from their homes and families with hopes of a better life. Ranging from 12 to 30 years of age, they found themselves caught in a horrific chain of events. They were smuggled in to work in captivity as prostitutes at various bars throughout a major metropolitan city, helpless to escape their servitude.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you take this story and multiply it, you will understand the scope of the problem we are facing.

I am happy to say, however, that we at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are working to provide victims like these young women and girls with a fresh start. And just as important, I know that our Attorney General is taking valiant efforts to prosecute and bring the criminals who stole this young girl’s innocence to justice.

These victims had been participants in forced prostitution for up to six months when the FBI and INS conducted a joint raid based on inside information about the existence of this sex trafficking ring. HHS coordinated with INS prior to the raid and began planning in advance with partner agencies to identify placements for child victims.

This case reflects the successful cooperation among federal agencies and non-governmental organization in their efforts to investigate and prosecute a trafficking case involving both adults and minors, to ensure that all trafficked victims receive timely and appropriate care sensitive to their needs.

The raid resulted in the determination of multiple children and over 20 adult women as victims of a severe form of trafficking. At HHS, our Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Administration for Children and Families provided certification and eligibility letters for the women and girls, opening the doors for them to access benefits and services available to refugees.

Several women elected to participate in our matching grant program. The program goal is to help these victims attain self-sufficiency within four months after their certification date, emphasizing employment, English language training, and intensive case management.

Other women received access to benefits such as mental health counseling, food stamps, medical assistance, English as a second language (ESL) training, and cash assistance.

The girls received eligibility letters and were placed into the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program, which offers specialized resettlement and foster care services.

This program provides access to foster care placement based on individual needs with attention to the cultural, linguistic, and religious background of each youth; special health, educational needs; as well as the personality, temperament and opinions of the youth.

Last October at the White House Conference on Missing and Exploited Children, President Bush said, “In every region of the world, children can be vulnerable -- not just here at home, but children everywhere. Each year about a million girls and boys are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Such trafficking is nothing less than a modern form of slavery; an unspeakable and unforgivable crime against the most vulnerable members of the global society.”

The United Nations estimates that trafficking in persons generated approximately $7 billion per year. It is defiling commerce in human beings, where lives are valued only as a commodity to be exchanged in a criminal and degrading marketplace. Just as the President said, this is a modern day form of slavery.

Functioning as an underground industry, trafficking is extremely difficult to expose. Illegal immigrants are particularly vulnerable to threats and intimidation. Ignorant of our laws and fearful of deportation, victims are isolated further by language and cultural barriers.

Three years ago, however, with the help of a unique bipartisan coalition of women’s groups, faith-based groups, and children’s organizations, the United States adopted its own comprehensive anti-trafficking law -- the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
The law provides a comprehensive approach to eliminating trafficking in persons in three ways: prevention of trafficking; prosecution of traffickers; and protection and provision of services to victims.

We at HHS are working hand in hand with our sister departments to fulfill every area of this new law. While the Department of Justice will prosecute offenders, we at HHS will look at how to provide financial support, basic medical care, shelter, and counseling to the victims. The lives of these women and children have been destroyed, and we are there to help them rebuild what is left and to give them hope.

Our job at HHS, as I mentioned in the earlier story, is to certify victims of trafficking as refugees, making them eligible for benefits and services to give them that fresh start. This is a critical change to U.S. law.

Here in the United States, a person’s eligibility for benefits and services is linked to their immigration status. Most trafficking victims do not come to the United Stated with an immigration status that would allow them to receive assistance. Refugees are a special group, however, that are eligible for mainstream benefits and services, such as cash assistance, medical care, food stamps, and housing.

Certified trafficking victims can now have access to these essential benefits and services that will help them recover from their trauma and rebuild their lives.

In addition to mainstream benefits and services, we can provide trafficking victims with intensive case management programs to help them find housing and employment and provide assistance for victims of torture, mental health counseling, and specialized foster care programs for children.

Child trafficking victims may be placed with caring families that understand their cultural background and can speak their language. There are also therapeutic placements for children with special needs.

In many ways, our refugee programs are a good fit for trafficking victims. The refugee programs are designed for people who have suffered persecution or torture, have been torn away from everything that is familiar to them, and need to rebuild their lives in a new place where they may not understand the culture and do not speak the language.

In some cases, our refugee programs may not meet all the needs of trafficking victims. To fill the gaps, we have awarded over $4.6 million in grants to 22 organizations for services geared specifically toward trafficking victims and for outreach to them.

Next month, we will issue approximately $3 million to 15 organizations to provide assistance with temporary housing, independent living skills, cultural orientation, and transportation needs. Additionally, we will help these individuals access appropriate educational programs and legal assistance and referrals.

Our outreach programs concentrate on educating local communities about trafficking and the assistance that victims may receive. We have to build a base of services that will embrace the needs of victims of trafficking and surround them with caring individuals.

Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, HHS has issued nearly 400 certifications to trafficking victims. We have provided benefits eligibility letters to child trafficking victims, who do not need to be certified, but may access benefits to the same extent as refugees.

While this number may seem small compared with the problem, it is a start. We will be working aggressively with the Department of Justice to find the victims and provide them with the services they so desperately need. I know that Attorney General Ashcroft will mention the Memorandum of Understanding we are working on between our two departments to facilitate finding and protecting these victims.

One important issue that we have to recognize is dealing with human trafficking is prostitution. The young women and girls I mentioned earlier examples of how we cannot separate trafficking and prostitution. Both must be opposed.

We have to take this connection into consideration as we design the services we provide victims of trafficking and in ensuring just and effective punishment of traffickers.

This Administration’s determined strategy is to mobilize the full resources of the United States government for a comprehensive attack on traffickers both here and abroad, and to enforce the law against traffickers and all involved in their criminal enterprises vigorously.

One particular area that is close to my heart is the devastation of HIV/AIDS. I have been to Africa many times and seen what the scourge of the disease is doing to entire nations. And I work on a daily basis in my position as Deputy Secretary to look at how we can fight and prevent HIV/AIDS both here in the United States and aboard.

The sex trade is an explosive rush that spreads HIV transmission throughout communities, and as women and children are trafficked from location to location to location throughout the world, the epidemic will grow.

As we recommend policies to combat trafficking throughout the world, we have to keep issues like HIV/AIDS in mind.

There is a lot that must be done throughout the world to defeat this terrible human rights abuse. No one government or organization can do this alone. We must work together, and only together can we win this fight.

I want to thank everyone one you in this room for your dedication to this issue. I know you have traveled from throughout the world to tell your stories and to let us know how we can help you. Take advantage of the time you have here, and make the connections and the partnerships you need to go back home and combat trafficking in your own countries.

Thank you for allowing me to be with you this morning, and I look forward to working with you as we put an end to this horrific scourge we call human trafficking.

February 24, 2003 February 24, 2003 February 24, 2003 The Honorable Paula J. Dobriansky
Under Secretary for Global Affairs
Department of State

February 23, 2003East Asia is one of the world’s largest source and destination areas. Some sources have reported that more than 225,000 East Asians are trafficked for sexual exploitation each year. Sporadic attempts have been made to form regional links on the issue, and some countries have laws or criminal codes that criminalize trafficking, but they are applied unevenly. The representatives of seven countries who attended this workshop lamented the lack of regional coordination now existing in the area. As first steps for addressing the problems together they suggested that the area:

The Honorable John Ashcroft
U.S. Attorney General
Department of JusticeFebruary 25, 2003