International Traffcking of Women and

Children Victim Protection Act of 1999 (S.600)

Analysis of Protection Act by Dorchen Leidholdt

14 April 1999

The Honorable Paul Wellstone

United States Senate

136 Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Wellstone:

The undersigned, a coalition of women's rights organizations united against trafficking in

women and children, would like to thank you fortaking a leadership role in combating the

international trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation and forced labor. We are

writing tourge you to amend the International Trafficking of Women and Children Victim

Protection Act of 1999 (S.600)to ensure that all women and girls whoare trafficked for the purpose

of sexual exploitation can benefit fromits provisions.

As you know, millions of women and children around the world are trafficked for the purposes of

sexual exploitation and forced labor. Traffickers procure their victims inmany ways, and the sexual

exploitationof women and girls takes many forms.Some women and girls are abducted; some are

deceived by offers of legitimate work in another country; some are sold by their own poverty-

stricken parents who, barely able to feed their children, are lured by traffickers who profit from

their desperation. These young women and girls, anxious to contribute to their families and help

them seek a better life, sometimes acquiesce. They are then sold by traffickers into prostitution,

where they are mercilessly exploited by practices such as sex tourism, which often involves

Americans traveling onorganized sex tours from the UnitedStates, or they are catalogued

and exploited as mail-order or internet brides, often by American men who buy them into marriage

for the price of agreen card. Regardless of how they are dragged into the multi-billion dollar industry of

sexual exploitation, these women and girls suffer unspeakable human rights violations as

commodities of the trade in human beings.

While we welcome the International Trafficking of Women and Children Victim Protection Act

of 1999 (S.600)and the measures proposed therein to combat international trafficking and protect

victims of exploitation by traffickers, the definition of"trafficking" in this bill must be

amended as it is drasticallyunder-inclusive. As written, S.600would not cover some of the most

common methods of sex trafficking which prey on and profit from the economic desperation of

women, girls,and their families by securing their"consent" to sale in prostitution or marriage. The

definition of trafficking currently in S.600 wouldnot only fail to protect a substantial number of

trafficking victims, it would also shield many traffickers inthe global sex trade from prosecution.

In failing to address the human rights violations suffered by the millions of desperately

impoverished women and children who"consent" to their sexual exploitation, the definition of

trafficking in S.600 falls far short of the standards set forth ininternational human rights law.

The 1949 United Nations Convention for th eSuppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the

Exploitation of theProstitution of Others recognizes that"the traffic in persons for thepurpose of

prostitution is incompatible with the dignity andworth of the human person and endanger the

welfare of the individual, the family and the community." The Convention explicitly obligates

stateparties to punish any person whoexploits the prostitution of anotherperson "even with the

consent of that person." Similarly, Article 6 of theUnited Nations Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women providesthat "State Parties shall take

all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and

exploitation of prostitution of women." These treaties reflect a consensus of the United Nations,

reflected in international law, that human trafficking is the recruitment and transport of

persons for the purpose of exploitation, regardless of whether or not they have "consented" to their

trafficking. It is the traffickers - those responsible for this exploitation - who are the focus of attention

for definition purposes, rather than thos etrafficked. Exploitation, rather than coercion, is the

operative concept.

To reflect the international consensus that the transport of human beings forthe purpose of sexual

exploitation constitutes trafficking, regardless of whether or not such persons have "consented" to

their exploitation,Section 4(2) of the proposed bill should be amended to read as follows:

(2) Trafficking. --The term"trafficking" means:

(a) sex trafficking: the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer,

receipt or harboring of a person for the purpose of prostitution or exploiting the marriage of

suchperson; or

(b) labor trafficking: the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase,

sale,transfer, receipt or harboring of a person involving the use of deception,coercion (including the

use or threat of force or the abuse of authority) ordebt bondage for the purpose of placing or

holding such person, whether for pay or not, in servitude,in forced, bonded or coerced labor, in a

community other than the one in which such person lived at the time ofthe original deception,

coercion orbondage.

For the purpose of this definition,the exploitation of marriage shall be defined as the

commercial facilitation, by an individual, partnership, association or corporation, of marriage

through introduction between men who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States

and women who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States when such women

are offered by mail or any electronic method of communication among 15 or more other such

women for selection by men, for a fee. Unlike dating services, which offer introductions to both

men and women for a fee, theexploitation of marriage involves adifferential treatment on the

basis of sex which positions husbands asconsumers and wives as products.

You have recognized and acted on the clear need for strong legislation addressing the

international trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labor.

We urge you to make thatlegislation comprehensive by amending the definition of trafficking

set forth in S.600 as suggested above. In this way you can bring this legislation in line with

internationallaw, ensuring that all forms oftrafficking are addressed by thisimportant

legislation and that all women and girls who are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation

can benefit from its provisions.

Sincerely,

Jessica Neuwirth, President

Equality Now

Gloria Feldt, President

Planned Parenthood Federation ofAmerica

Adrienne Germain,

PresidentInternational Women’s Health Coalition

Patricia Ireland, President

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Mim Kelber, Co-Founder and Secretary

Women's Environment and Development

Organization (WEDO)

Frances Kissling, President

Catholics for a Free Choice

Laura Lederer,

Director of TheProtection Project

John F. Kennedy School of Government

Dorchen Leidholdt, Co-Executive

Director

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

Robin Morgan, Founder

The Sisterhood Is Global Institute

Julia Scott, President

National Black Women’s Health Project

Eleanor Smeal, President

The Feminist Majority

Gloria Steinem, Founder

Ms. Magazine

Leslie R. Wolfe, President

Center for Women Policy Studies