For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 10, 2003
Presidential Determination
Statement by the Press Secretary
Presidential Determination Regarding the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act for 2003
The President notified Congress that ten countries have avoided
possible sanctions under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
because of significant steps their governments have taken to fight
trafficking in persons. These governments -- Belize, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Greece, Haiti,
Kazakhstan, Suriname, Turkey, and Uzbekistan -- deserve recognition for
their quick action to address problems noted in the Department of
State's June 2003 Trafficking in Persons Report. The President is
committed to leading the fight to eradicate trafficking in persons,
which according to our recent estimate involves up to 900,000 people a
year being moved across international borders into forced labor, sexual
exploitation, and other forms of modern day slavery. Steps taken by
these ten governments demonstrate that the Administration's
intervention on this issue is spurring the international community to
action and, most importantly, is yielding results.
These ten countries made notable progress in many key areas
including the drafting or passage of new anti-trafficking legislation
and procedures; conducting high-profile public awareness campaigns on
national press and television; developing new anti-trafficking training
programs for police, immigration and judicial officials; creating
national task forces and action plans; establishing confidential
hotlines to fight corruption and trafficking in persons; and building
referral systems for victims. These important actions will punish the
perpetrators and help the victims of this heinous crime around the
world.
The steps taken by these countries stand in contrast to the
continuing failure of Burma, Cuba, and North Korea to make significant
efforts to comply with the Act's minimum standards. As a result, the
President decided to impose sanctions on these countries in accordance
with the Act. While Liberia and Sudan have also failed to meet the
standards of the Act, and are thus subject to sanctions, the President
has determined that certain multilateral assistance for these two
countries would promote the purposes of the Act or is otherwise in the
national interest of the United States. For Sudan, the assistance will
be limited to that which may be necessary to implement a peace accord.
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