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International Trafficking in Women and Children

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International Trafficking in Women and Children S. HRG. 106–705 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 22 AND APRIL 4, 2000 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 63–986 CC WASHINGTON : 2000 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:59 Oct 31, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 63986 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut ROD GRAMS, Minnesota JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri BARBARA BOXER, California BILL FRIST, Tennessee ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island STEPHEN E. BIEGUN, Staff Director EDWIN K. HALL, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas, Chairman JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey ROD GRAMS, Minnesota PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:59 Oct 31, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 63986 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1 CONTENTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2000 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN Page Gupta, Ruchira, journalist and documentary film maker .................................... 60 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 64 Haugen, Gary A., director, International Justice Mission, Washington, DC ..... 36 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39 Inez, a trafficking survivor ..................................................................................... 26 Lederer, Dr. Laura J., director, the Protection Project, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Washington, DC ................................. 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 33 Loy, Hon. Frank E., Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; accompanied by: Teresa Loar, Director, the President’s Interagency Council on Women; Hon. Harold Koh, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and Wendy Chamberlin, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State, Washington, DC ............................................................... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Ralph, Regan E., Human Rights Watch, Washington, DC .................................. 43 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 48 TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2000 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN: PROSECUTION, TESTIMONIES, AND PREVENTION Ashcroft, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Missouri, prepared statement ............. 75 Bethell, Dr. Lauran D., director, New Life Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand ........ 98 Coto, Virginia P., Esq., director, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Miami, FL .......................................................................................................................... 100 Khodyreva, Natalia, president, Angel Coalition, St. Petersburg, Russia ............ 102 Lederer, Dr. Laura J., director, the Protection Project, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Washington, DC; accompanied by: survivor Marsha, Russia; survivor Olga, Ukraine; and survivor Maria, Mex- ico .......................................................................................................................... 86 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 87 Wellstone, Hon. Paul, U.S. Senator from Minnesota, prepared statement ........ 74 Yeomans, William R., Chief of Staff, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC ................................................................................. 76 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 79 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:59 Oct 31, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 63986 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:59 Oct 31, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 63986 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1 INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2000 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m. in room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Sam Brownback (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Brownback and Wellstone. Senator BROWNBACK. I will call the hearing to order. We have got a full set of witnesses to testify today on a very important topic, so we will try to get through this. I would appreciate it if the wit- nesses, as you do testify, if we could be pretty pointed and succinct so that we can have as much time for questions as possible. It is an extremely important topic. I believe it is an issue of first im- pression for a hearing in the Senate, so we have got a lot of ground to cover on this first hearing. As we begin the 21st century, the degrading institution of slavery continues throughout the world. I was introduced to this problem by the human rights advocacy work that we picked up and we started dealing with the Sudan. Among other extraordinary human rights abuses, thousands of Sudanese women and children have been abducted into slavery as a form of payment or ‘‘booty’’ to ma- rauders of civilian villages in the longest-running civil war in Afri- ca that continues even today. I have seen the pictures of the brands on their cheeks and arms which attest to ownership by a master. I have heard the personal testimonies of their nightmare existence. So I joined with many others in a campaign of awareness to end the continuing practice of slavery in the Sudan. This advocacy prompted me to examine other forms of modern day slavery which still exist. I am very pleased to chair this hearing on the international trafficking of women and children. This includes both trafficking for purposes of forced prostitution as well as forced labor involving slavery-like conditions. This practice which we will examine this morning may be the largest manifestation of slavery in the world today. It is my understanding this is the first time this issue has been presented at a hearing in the U.S. Senate. Every year, approximately 1 million women and children are forced into the sex trade against their will, internationally. They are usually transported across international borders so as to (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:59 Oct 31, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 63986 SFRELA1 PsN: SFRELA1 2 ‘‘shake’’ local authorities, leaving the victims defenseless in a for- eign country, virtually held hostage in a strange land. It is esti- mated that at least 50,000 women and children are brought into the United States annually for this purpose. The numbers are stag- gering and growing. Some report that over 30 million women and children have been enslaved in this manner since the 1970’s. I be- lieve this is one of the most shocking and rampant human rights abuses worldwide. One of two methods, fraud or force, is used to obtain victims. The most common method, fraud, is used with villagers in under- developed areas. Typically, the buyer promises the parents that he is taking their young daughter to the city to become a nanny or do- mestic servant, giving the parents a few hundred dollars as a down payment for the future money she will earn for the family. Then the girl is transported across international borders, and de- posited in a brothel, and forced into the trade until she is no longer useful, getting sick with things like AIDS or other illnesses as well. She is held against her will under the rationale that she must work off her debt which was paid to the parents, which typically takes several years. The second method used for obtaining victims is force, which is used in the cities more often, where a girl is physically abducted, beaten, and held against her will, sometimes in chains. There is one other very compelling motivation for me to convene this hearing, and that is that it happens in the United States as well, impacting even citizens in my own State of Kansas. Some marketers of children in this country keep them locked up for days and weeks at a time, police report, and they state—the police re- port quotes, ‘‘To keep the youths under control and stay one step ahead of the law, pimps often move from city to city.’’ This way, the children form no trusting relationships, and are kept penniless, unable to escape. I recently met with homeless advocates and youth workers from my home State of Kansas, even, who described the methods of pro- curement. They promise girls, and also boys, a job doing grass-roots advocacy for
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