TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS CONFERENCE
REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR THE HONORABLE CLAUDE A. ALLEN
HYATT REGENCY
FEBRUARY 25, 2003
8:30 A.M.

Thank you, Congressman Miller, for that very kind introduction, and thank you for all of your hard work in the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department.

Good morning. It is a real privilege for me to be here with you on behalf Secretary Tommy Thompson to discuss the role of the Department of Health and Human Services in ending the scourge of human trafficking throughout the world.

I would like to start by telling you about a group of women and children who were trafficked into the United States. Their story epitomizes the abhorrent reality of trafficking in persons. The following facts have been modified to protect the safety and security of the victims.

An increasing number of South American women and girls have been lured into sex slavery due to economic hardship that often plagues their lives.

We know of one group smuggled into the United States with the promise of employment who found their lives changed drastically when turned over to pimps who beat and rape them before coercing them into prostitution and enslavement.

These girls came from small towns in South America, sisters and cousins lured away from their homes and families with hopes of a better life. Ranging from 12 to 30 years of age, they found themselves caught in a horrific chain of events. They were smuggled in to work in captivity as prostitutes at various bars throughout a major metropolitan city, helpless to escape their servitude.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you take this story and multiply it, you will understand the scope of the problem we are facing.

I am happy to say, however, that we at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are working to provide victims like these young women and girls with a fresh start. And just as important, I know that our Attorney General is taking valiant efforts to prosecute and bring the criminals who stole this young girl's innocence to justice.

These victims had been participating in forced prostitution for up to six months when the FBI and INS conducted a joint raid based on inside information about the existence of this sex-trafficking ring. HHS coordinated with INS prior to the raid and began planning in advance with partner agencies to identify placements for child victims.

This case reflects the successful cooperation among federal agencies and non-governmental organizations in their efforts to investigate and prosecute a trafficking case involving both adults and minors, to ensure that all trafficked victims receive timely and appropriate care sensitive to their needs.

The raid resulted in the determination of multiple children and over 20 adult women as victims of a severe form of trafficking. At HHS, our Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Administration for Children and Families provided certification and eligibility letters for the women and girls, opening the doors for them to access benefits and services available to refugees.

Several women elected to participate in our matching grant program. The program goal is to help these victims attain self-sufficiency within four months after their certification date, emphasizing employment, English language training, and intensive case management.

Other women received access to benefits such as mental health counseling, food stamps, medical assistance, English as a second language (ESL) training, and cash assistance.

The girls received eligibility letters and were placed into the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program, which offers specialized resettlement and foster care services.

This program provides access to foster care placements based on individual needs with attention to the cultural, linguistic, and religious background of each youth; special health, educational, and emotional needs; as well as the personality, temperament and opinions of the youth.

Last October at the White House Conference on Missing and Exploited Children, President Bush said, "In every region of the world, children can be vulnerable-not just here at home, but children everywhere. Each year about a million girls and boys are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Such trafficking is nothing less than a modern form of slavery; an unspeakable and unforgivable crime against the most vulnerable members of the global society."

The United Nations estimates that trafficking in persons generates approximately $7 Billion per year. It is a defiling commerce in human beings, where lives are valued only as a commodity to be exchanged in a criminal and degrading marketplace. Just as the President said, this a modern day form of slavery.

Functioning as an underground industry, trafficking is extremely difficult to expose. Illegal immigrants are particularly vulnerable to threats and intimidation. Ignorant of our laws and fearful of deportation, victims are isolated further by language and cultural barriers.

Three years ago, however, with the help of a unique bipartisan coalition of women's groups, faith-based groups, and children's organizations, the United States adopted its own comprehensive anti-trafficking law-the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

The law provides a comprehensive approach to eliminating trafficking in persons in three ways: Prevention of trafficking; prosecution of traffickers; and, protection and provision of services to victims.

We at HHS are working hand in hand with our sister departments to fulfill every area of this new law. While the Department of Justice will prosecute offenders, we at HHS will look at how to provide financial support, basic medical care, shelter, and counseling to the victims. The lives of these women and children have been destroyed, and we are there to help them rebuild what is left and to give them hope.

Our job at HHS, as I mentioned in the earlier story, is to certify victims of trafficking as refugees, making them eligible for benefits and services to give them that fresh start. This is a critical change to U.S. law.

Here in the United States, a person's eligibility for benefits and services is linked to their immigration status. Most trafficking victims do not come to the United States with an immigration status that would allow them to receive assistance. Refugees are a special group, however, that are eligible for mainstream benefits and services, such as cash assistance, medical care, food stamps, and housing.

Certified trafficking victims can now have access to these essential benefits and services that will help them recover from their trauma and rebuild their lives.

In addition to mainstream benefits and services, we can provide trafficking victims with intensive case management programs to help them find housing and employment and provide assistance for victims of torture, mental health counseling, and specialized foster care programs for children.

Child trafficking victims may be placed with caring families that understand their cultural background and can speak their language. There are also therapeutic placements for children with special needs.

In many ways, our refugee programs are a good fit for trafficking victims. The refugee programs are designed for people who have suffered persecution or torture, have been torn away from everything that is familiar to them, and need to rebuild their lives in a new place where they may not understand the culture and do not speak the language.

In some cases, our refugee programs may not meet all of the needs of trafficking victims. To fill the gaps, we have awarded over $4.6 million in grants to 22 organizations for services geared specifically toward trafficking victims and for outreach to them.

Next month, we will issue approximately $3 million to 15 organizations to provide assistance with temporary housing, independent living skills, cultural orientation, and transportation needs. Additionally, we will help these individuals access appropriate educational programs and legal assistance and referrals.

Our outreach programs concentrate on educating local communities about trafficking and the assistance that victims may receive. We have to build a base of services that will embrace the needs of victims of trafficking and surround them with caring individuals.

Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, HHS has issued nearly 400 certifications to trafficking victims. We have provided benefits eligibility letters to child trafficking victims, who do not need to be certified, but may access benefits to the same extent as refugees.

While this number may seem small compared with the problem, it is a start. We will be working aggressively with the Department of Justice to find the victims and provide them with the services they so desperately need. I know that General Ashcroft will mention the Memorandum of Understanding we are working on between our two departments to facilitate finding and protecting these victims.

One important issue that we have to recognize in dealing with human trafficking is prostitution. The young women and girls I mentioned earlier are clear examples of how we cannot separate trafficking and prostitution. Both must be opposed.

We have to take this connection into consideration as we design the services we provide to victims of trafficking and in ensuring just and effective punishment of traffickers.

This Administration's determined strategy is to mobilize the full resources of the United States government for a comprehensive attack on traffickers both here and abroad, and to enforce the law against traffickers and all involved in their criminal enterprises vigorously.

One particular area that is close to my heart is the devastation of HIV/AIDS. I have been to Africa many times and seen what the scourge of this disease is doing to entire nations. And I work on a daily basis in my position as Deputy Secretary to look at how we can fight and prevent HIV/AIDS both here in the United States and abroad.

The sex trade is an explosive rush that spreads HIV transmission throughout communities, and as women and children are trafficked from location to location to location throughout the world, this epidemic will grow.

As we recommend policies to combat trafficking throughout the world, we have to keep issues like HIV/AIDS in mind.

There is a lot that must be done throughout the world to defeat this terrible human rights abuse. No one government or organization can do this alone. We must work together, and only together can we win this fight.

I want to thank every one of you in this room for your dedication to this issue. I know you have traveled from throughout the world to tell your stories and to let us know how we can help you. Take advantage of the time you have here, and make the connections and the partnerships you need to go back home and combat trafficking in your own countries.

Thank you for allowing me to be with you this morning, and I look forward to working with you as we put an end to this horrific scourge we call human trafficking.