U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) welcomed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's endorsement of his proposal to publicize the dangers of sexual trafficking among potential victims. At Senator Akaka's urging, the Department of State is in the process of releasing a brochure in 27 languages to United States embassies in 24 countries entitled "Be Smart, Be Safe...." Originally produced by the Global Survival Network for distribution in Russia and Eastern Europe, the Senator encouraged the State Department a year ago to produce the bulletin for a wider audience. The new brochure will also contain information on American labor laws and victims' rights and will include a special Worker Exploitation Complaint Line, 1-888-428-7581.
Recently, Senator Akaka joined with Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Representative Sam Gejdenson (D-CT) in urging the State Department to distribute the brochure to an even greater number of locations abroad and to develop a public information campaign to warn potential victims of sexual trafficking.
Congressional concern over the increasing global problem of sexual trafficking resulted earlier this year in passage of H.R. 3244, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. The measure has been sent to the President for his signature. At least 700,000 persons annually, primarily women and children, are trafficked within or across international borders. Approximately 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year. Senator Akaka offered language included in the legislation to ensure that the Act also applied to the United States, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and other territories and possessions of the United States. Reports by the Departments of Interior and Labor have detailed how women are lured to Saipan to work in exploitative sexual situations.
Senator Akaka, Ranking Member on the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International Proliferation, Security, and Federal Services, took an active role in eliminating the problem of global human trafficking as he discovered the number of women and children trafficked into the United States. Many young women in China and the rest of Asia are lured under false pretenses to work under exploitive health and safety conditions. Some women travel to U.S. territories, specifically the CNMI, where they work as "indentured" workers, sometimes in exploitive sexual situations, according to reports by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Labor.
"Sexual trafficking continues, unfortunately, to be a global problem," Akaka observed. "We must do everything we can to ensure that the United States does not contribute to it. Educating potential victims of the danger and their rights before they depart from their home countries is a preventive way of reducing exploitation at its source."
