[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today sent a letter to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, asking her to fully implement the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) after they issued a report on the widespread trafficking of persons by foreign diplomats. The report, released last week, found 42 allegations of abuse by diplomats and acknowledged that many more cases go unreported because victims don’t, or can’t, come forward. The GAO is also critical of the State Department for not doing enough to address the problem of trafficking by diplomats.

“The GAO report reveals the State Department has been negligent when it comes to assisting the Justice Department with its investigations, ensuring that consular officials properly implement policies to educate domestic workers about their rights, and maintaining data about allegations of abuse by foreign diplomats” Durbin wrote. “In too many instances, diplomats and their families are using diplomatic immunity as a shield from liability and are abusing domestic workers with impunity.  The State Department cannot turn a blind eye to these transgressions.”

According to the GAO, the State Department has no organized system in place to compile information about allegations of abuse. The GAO also found that State Department officials hampered Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations by failing to share information in a timely fashion – in one case, taking 6 months to provide requested information. Finally, the report faults State Department consular officials for failing to alert visa holders of their rights before they enter the United States. Durbin requested the report last year after seeing accounts of foreign diplomats – primarily in the Washington, D.C. and New York metro areas – allegedly abusing their domestic workers and escaping punishment.

In the report, GAO makes four recommendations to address these problems:

• Create a system to maintain records of all allegations of abuse by diplomats of household workers in order to have a better sense of the scope of the problem. 

• Improve coordination with the Justice Department so that DOJ trafficking investigations are not unduly delayed by disputes with the State Department – e.g. searching the home of a diplomat.
   
• Create an alert system so consular officials can seek guidance from State Department headquarters before issuing visas to applicants whose prospective employer may have abused household workers in the past.
   
• Establish a system in which the State Department conducts spot checks of consular officials to ensure visa applicants are notified of their rights in a language they understand. 

Durbin has introduced and supported legislation to address the issue of human trafficking.  Last year he introduced the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act which would close a legal loophole that currently prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people found in the United States who have committed the crime of human trafficking in other countries. That bill was included in a second bill, supported by Durbin, called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. That bill will, among other things, create new requirements for the State Department to better inform domestic workers of their rights and to hold foreign diplomats responsible for their actions.

Last spring, Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, held a hearing exploring the progress the U.S. government has made in combating human trafficking in the United States and abroad.

The GAO report can be viewed at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08892.pdf