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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of
Labor Elaine L. Chao
NAALC Trafficking in Persons Conference
Washington, D.C.
Monday, December 6, 2004
Thank you.
I want to thank everyone at the U.S. Department of Labor for their hard
work on this conference, especially Deputy Undersecretary Arnold Levine. I also
want to thank Mark Knouse, Executive Director of the North American Agreement
on Labor Cooperation, for hosting this lunch.
I am pleased to welcome everyone here to this conference addressing a
critical humanitarian issue: human trafficking. This meeting is a milestone: it
is the first time trafficking in persons has been the subject of
a North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation conference. I commend the
governments of Mexico and Canada for joining the United States in a
comprehensive effort to eliminate this human tragedy.
There is nothing more demeaning and debilitating to the dignity of the
human spirit than for men, women and children to be trafficked. It is a form of
modern-day slavery. President George W. Bush has characterized this kind of
exploitation of the innocent and the vulnerable as a "special evil." We are
here today because we all recognize that trafficking in persons is a criminal
issue. It is an international issue. And it is a labor issue.
At least 600,000 people are trafficked across
international borders each year and millions more are trafficked
within country borders. Thousands are believed to be trafficked
into the United States annually. Just last month federal courts
in nearby Maryland convicted two women of trafficking-related crimes. Both
women had brought young girls to the U.S. from Africa and forced them to work
as unpaid domestic servants.
These headlines testify to the fact that the victims of trafficking are
often desperate. They are poor, unemployed or grossly underemployed. In many
cases, they are lured here with false promises of good jobs and better lives.
But the reality is that they are kept confined, against their will. They are
forced to work in brutal and inhumane conditions and often must endure physical
and sexual abuse. Many, including children, are trafficked into the sex-trade
underworld. Many others are exploited as bonded laborers with no rights, no pay
and no way to escape.
The problem is worldwide. It is daunting. And, as I mentioned earlier,
North America is not immune. The United States, under the leadership of
President George W. Bush, has made the battle against trafficking in persons a
priority. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September
2003, President Bush underscored his commitment to fight trafficking with a
pledge of $50 million to support the work of anti-trafficking organizations.
These organizations are helping prosecutors build cases against traffickers,
rescue trafficking victims and launch prevention campaigns.
About this time last year, I led a delegation to the West African
countries of Benin, Congo and Ghana to see firsthand the work of some of these
organizations. I also launched new projects to help children rescued from
trafficking reclaim their lives through education, rehabilitation and
reintegration into their communities.
At a school for children rescued from trafficking, I had a very special
experience that I want to share with you. A tall, shy young man came up to me
and asked simply to shake my hand. As a trafficked laborer, he had been beaten
so badly that he had lost part of his hearing. Today, he bravely endures the
embarrassment of attending classes with much younger children, in order to get
an education. The school he attends is part of a U.S.-funded project for
trafficked children. It is because of this young man-and so many others like
him-that our resolve to fight this special evil must never waver.
The United States is building a strong framework to fight trafficking
through two pieces of landmark legislation: the Trafficking Victim's Protection
Act of 2000 and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003.
This legislation provides tools to combat trafficking in persons both worldwide
and domestically.
I am pleased to note that the Trafficking Victim's Protection Act is
the first comprehensive legislation designed to combat
trafficking in persons into the United States. Under this Act,
the U.S. is using sanctions against governments that fail to make significant
efforts to discourage human trafficking. It is part of this Administration's
comprehensive approach to trafficking. This approach includes:
- Prevention through job training, interception and
enhanced reporting on the incidence and nature of trafficking around the world;
- Rescue programs to find victims and help them escape
from captivity;
- Protection and assistance to victims, including making
available a broad range of benefits and services and "T-visas" for temporary
residency; and
- Prosecution of traffickers, including strengthening of
penalties.
All four strategies are important. But enforcement is
key. Many countries have laws on the books that prohibit
trafficking in human persons. Yet, those held in bondage are all too often
left there. And the perpetrators of these crimes are rarely
prosecuted and brought to justice. That's why enforcing the laws
against trafficking is so important.
To ensure that the full power of the U.S. government is brought to bear
on this issue, the President launched the Interagency Task Force on Trafficking
in Persons two years ago. Through the task force, the U.S. Departments of
Labor, Justice, and Health and Human Services, as well as the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Service, coordinate their efforts against trafficking.
Last year, the United States also established a high-level office
within the State Department to monitor and combat trafficking in persons
worldwide. I know that you heard more about this from Ambassador Miller, whose
leadership on the Interagency Task Force is very much appreciated.
In 2003, the United States also passed the PROTECT Act. This Act makes
it a crime for any person to enter the United States for the
purpose of sex tourism involving children. It also makes it a crime for any
U.S. citizen to travel abroad for the purpose of sexually abusing
children. The goal is zero tolerance for pedophiles and to criminalize the
heinous act of preying on children, wherever it may occur. Using the authority
of this Act, the United States has already successfully prosecuted pedophiles.
The U.S. Department of Labor has an important role in combating trafficking
because it is a workforce issue. That's why the Department has provided more
than $125 million to support international efforts to combat trafficking in
persons. It has launched projects to combat trafficking in persons in Africa,
Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.
In fact, since 1995, more than 88,000 children have been rescued,
rehabilitated and/or protected from trafficking through these projects. And
22,000 of these children have been enrolled in education and training programs.
In Eastern Europe, a Department of Labor-funded project created
economic alternatives and job training for at-risk women in seven major cities.
That project has provided skills training and job placement services to 20,000
women and young people of legal working age. That's so important, because young
women in the emerging economies of Eastern Europe are some of the most
vulnerable targets of sex trafficking.
A project in the Balkans and Ukraine is also reducing the vulnerability
of children who are potential trafficking victims. The project is helping
children and young people stay in school and learn marketable skills so they
can find jobs when they reach the legal working age. This project is also
strengthening national policies in those two countries regarding trafficking.
In 2004, the Department of Labor provided another $18.65 million in
grants to fight adult and child trafficking around the world. This included
$3.75 million awarded as part of the Presidential Initiative to Combat
Trafficking in Persons.
These education and job-training programs are essential to helping
trafficking victims. Through education and skills training, trafficking victims
will have a chance to make a fresh start.
The Department of Labor is fighting trafficking within
U.S. borders as well. The Department is reaching out to trafficking victims
with job training and job search assistance through its nationwide network of
3,500 One-Stop Career Centers. There is a One-Stop Center in almost every major
community in the United States, so this is an important resource.
And the Department is also taking aggressive action to identify and
eliminate abusive labor practices that affect the most vulnerable in our
society. Our field investigators focus on low-wage industries where labor
trafficking victims are most often found. The Department works with the
consulates of Mexico and other countries, along with non-governmental
organizations, to reach out to immigrant communities. To help immigrant workers
understand their rights, the Department has created a series of informational
videos and worker hotlines in languages such as Spanish and Chinese.
By working to increase compliance with labor laws, the Department is
helping to ensure that vulnerable immigrants are treated fairly. It is U.S.
policy that all workers are entitled to full and fair
compensation for their labor, regardless of their status.
The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, have ratified ILO
Convention No. 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. This
conference is a concrete manifestation of our joint effort to put the
principles of this convention into practice to stop trafficking in persons. But
as I noted earlier, joining conventions and passing laws is not enough.
Implementation and enforcement are critical to
eliminating this special evil.
So, I want to commend all of you here today for your commitment to
ending the horrific practice of trafficking in persons. You are
on the front lines of this issue. The policies you make, the strategies you
develop and the programs you implement are making a difference.
You are a lifeline to the victims of trafficking. So
don't ever give up-no matter how daunting the task. We can never give back to
the victims of trafficking what has been taken from them. But we
can rescue them and help them rebuild their lives in a very real
and concrete way. And most of all, we can help them reclaim the dignity and the
promise that is the birthright of each and every person on this earth.
Thank you for coming and God bless your work.
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