Measures to Combat Trafficking in Persons Speech by U.S. Ambassador Marie T. Huhtala Before the SUHAKAM Forum on Trafficking in Women and Children -- A Cross Border and Regional Perspective The Prince Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 13, 2004

Good morning!  I would like to begin by thanking Suhakam for organizing this forum, which I believe is the first of its kind in Malaysia.  I am pleased and encouraged by the wide participation of government ministries, NGOs and foreign embassies present here today.

Trafficking in persons is an evil that can only be defeated by the joint efforts of legislators, law enforcement officers, prosecutors and NGOs working together and with their counterparts internationally.   Your presence here today is a crucial step in forging a national and international collaborative response to the modern day slavery we call trafficking in persons, or TIP.

It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century there are people who are selling human beings, forcing innocent women and children into a life of prostitution, and subjecting them to daily abuse and humiliation.  How can any society tolerate criminals who are willing to destroy lives and treat humans like a commodity in order to make a profit?

Yet slavery and bondage are the reality for many thousands of men, women and children worldwide and alarmingly the trend appears to be on the rise.  Sex trafficking is an affront to human dignity and a profound assault on human values.

As the world has gotten smaller and technology has improved, it has become much easier for traffickers to move their human “cargo” freely across borders.  TIP is a transnational criminal enterprise.  It recognizes neither boundaries nor borders and is today the third most important source of revenue for criminal syndicates after narcotics and arms.

As U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said last year, “ This is an industry that already brings the hardened criminals running it some seven billion dollars a year, a business so lucrative that our intelligence community estimates it will outstrip the illicit trade in guns and narcotics within a decade.”

This trade has a deeply corrupting influence on government and other institutions and can contribute to a corrosive, self-reinforcing cycle of expanding corruption and increased trafficking in persons and illicit materials.

No country can claim to be free from trafficking -- including my own.  We estimate that 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year.  To a greater or lesser extent, every country in the world is affected and all are paying a price in human lives.

Malaysia, like the United States, is primarily a destination country for victims of trafficking.

Young women are brought to Malaysia against their will from other countries and sold into the sex trade.  Others, seeking a better life, are enticed into coming here with offers of employment and then forced into a life of exploitation, abuse and cruelty.

The newspapers are full of stories of women being rescued from prostitution syndicates and of foreign women being trapped in sex slavery.  Many of these women are victims who once had dreams of having a good job, a family and a future.  Those dreams have been destroyed.

Victims of trafficking come from many places, but share a common plight.  They are too young, too frightened, and too trapped in their circumstances to speak for themselves.  It falls to all of us gathered here today to speak on their behalf and find ways to protect them.

So how do we fight this scourge?

To begin with, the commitment to fight trafficking must come from the highest level of government. President Bush has made the fight against TIP an American priority.

In his September 2003 speech to the United Nations General Assembly last September, President Bush called this modern day slavery “a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable.  The victims… see little of life before they see the worst of life – an underground of brutality and lonely fear.  Those who create these victims and profit from their suffering must be severely punished.”

The U.S. is actively partnering with other nations to combat this trans-national crime, providing assistance to trafficking victims and striving to highlight the dangers of sex tourism and trafficking.  Last year nearly $74 million in U.S. Government funding was devoted to anti-trafficking activities.

In February 2003, President Bush signed a National Security Presidential Directive on trafficking in persons, the first ever of its kind.  In it, the President required all relevant Executive Branch agencies to create a strategic plan to advance America’s fight against trafficking in persons.  The directive also instructed agencies to collaborate and coordinate to ensure good communication and sharing of information and resources.

The legislature must also play its role by drafting and ratifying anti-trafficking laws that specifically and comprehensively address all forms of trafficking, with stiff penalties for those that violate the law.

Before 2000, no comprehensive law existed in America that penalized the range of offenses involved in trafficking.  Instead, even the most brutal instances of trafficking were often punished under laws that also applied to lesser offenses, and traffickers typically escaped the full punishment they deserved.

While Malaysia has several laws that penalize some types of trafficking, in particular trafficking for sexual exploitation, these laws are not anti-trafficking laws per se, are not comprehensive and, like the United States prior to 2000, are weakened by overlapping jurisdictions.

Most importantly, they do not provide for the protection of victims.  We must not view victims through the prism of the penal code.  They are not criminals; they are innocents trapped in horrifying circumstances. Common humanity implores us to offer victims shelter, counseling and assistance in repatriation.  To do less is to dehumanize them.

Law enforcement plays a key role in shutting down trafficking syndicates and bringing these criminals to justice.  I recently read in The Star that CID Director Datuk Musa Hassan has been cracking down on vice activities.

Datuk Musa was quoted as saying,  “The government and the top brass of the force are adamant in wiping out such unhealthy activity.”  This is very encouraging since these criminal elements are the leading culprits in trafficking.

In order to be effective it is also important that officers and investigators be trained to identify trafficking victims and determine whether human trafficking activity is masquerading as other crimes, such as alien smuggling.

Interagency task forces and cooperation with NGOs are also essential to ensure that traffickers do not slip through the cracks in enforcement and that victims are quickly identified and treated humanely.

It is not enough to arrest traffickers; they must also be prosecuted, convicted and punished.

This is one of the most challenging aspects of the fight against trafficking in persons.  Often victims are unable or afraid to testify, and as a result, traffickers escape prosecution.

This is one reason that we believe that victim protection programs are essential in the fight against TIP.  Active victim and witness protection programs help provide the tools and evidence that prosecutors need to track and convict traffickers.

Victims of trafficking are often fearful of placing their trust in the government, particularly if they have been detained and treated as criminals.  The state must reach out to victims and send the message that human freedom and dignity will be protected.

This means that governments must extend their responsibility to protect even foreign victims of trafficking.  This is the only way to encourage those victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers.

Ideally, governments should provide victims with legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they might face retribution or hardship, and ensure that victims are not penalized solely for unlawful acts that occur as a direct result of being trafficked.

Our experience in the United States in the past was that many foreign victims were hesitant to seek help from the authorities for fear of deportation.  In response, a special visa has been created to allow those freed from trafficking to remain in the United States for up to three years.  To date, 448 victims have received these special visas.

The NGO community is vital to providing services to victims, and we encourage all governments to actively support the efforts of NGOs involved in anti-trafficking.  These organizations assist victims by providing emergency medical attention, shelter, counseling and repatriation.

Such efforts are essential not only in helping victims begin to build a new life, but also in providing a source of hope and encouragement to those who are still trapped.

The NGO community also plays a key role in prevention--- stopping trafficking before it occurs.   Through education, anti-trafficking campaigns, research and lobbying, NGOs cast light on a topic that is all too often underestimated, misunderstood or ignored.

Another way to approach prevention is to punish “sex tourists.”  These are the customers who prey on the victims and essentially fund trafficking for sexual exploitation.

In April 2003, President Bush signed into law new legislation that allows enforcement officers to prosecute Americans who travel abroad for illegal sexual conduct with minors.   American “sex tourists” are now subject to domestic child exploitation laws even when their crimes are committed abroad.

In the last year the Justice Department has arrested eight U.S. citizens abroad for illegal sexual contact with minors.  They face up to 30 years in prison if convicted and a fine of up to $250,000.

Trafficking in persons is a transnational crime and international co-operation is essential if we are to eliminate it.   Countries that turn a blind eye to trafficking are effectively condoning slavery.

Aside from being a gross violation of human rights, it also threatens the world community by allowing safe haven to trafficking syndicates, funding illicit activities and facilitating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

To address this issue the U.S. Congress mandated in 2000 the law that is at the center of our TIP efforts: The Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 provides a comprehensive approach to eliminating trafficking in persons through a three-pronged strategy: prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of victims.  The law does a number of things:

• First, it establishes a definition of trafficking that gets at the whole pipeline of trafficking activity, from recruiter, transporter, buyer, seller, harborer, brothel owner, and manager.



• Second, it increases penalties from 5 years to between 20 years and life in prison.  This is important because it sends a message to traffickers that we take human trafficking seriously—and that the penalties will be commensurate with the crime.



• Third, it has a victim-centered approach that includes the new visa for victims of trafficking, as well as the establishment of shelters and services.



• Perhaps most importantly, the new law also creates the President’s Interagency Task Force on Trafficking in Persons.

This cabinet-level task force, which is chaired by Secretary of State Colin Powell, includes senior government officials from all branches of our government.  The group sets our policies and programs in the fight against trafficking and ensures that the many different parts of the Executive Branch work in unison to achieve progress.

The law also creates the Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons.  This office supports prevention efforts abroad through public awareness campaigns and economic alternative programs for vulnerable populations.  Additionally, it assists victims in the U.S. and abroad by providing for shelters, as well as medical, psychological and counseling services.

Finally, the law mandates that the State Department produce an annual Trafficking in Persons Report to help increase our dialogue with other countries and provide an impetus for serious action.  The objective of the report is to evaluate each nation’s commitment to combat trafficking in persons.  Specifically, the report assesses countries’ actions in prevention, protection of victims and prosecution of criminals.

Those countries that fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking are placed in Tier 1.   Those countries making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed in Tier 2.  Finally, those countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance are placed in Tier 3.

The Act requires that a country do four things to show that it meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking:

• Prohibit trafficking and punish acts of acts of trafficking.



• Prescribe punishment for the worst kinds of trafficking that are commensurate with the punishment for grave crimes, like forcible sexual assault.



• Prescribe stringent punishment sufficient to deter the knowing commission of any act of trafficking.



• Make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate trafficking.

In determining whether serious and sustained efforts are being made to eliminate trafficking we look at a number of different criteria.  In particular, we consider whether the government vigorously investigates and prosecutes acts of trafficking and if it protects victims of trafficking.  This includes ensuring that victims are not inappropriately penalized for offenses such as visa violations that are a direct result of being trafficked.

We also look at whether the government vigorously investigates and prosecutes public officials who participate in or facilitate trafficking.

Basically the U.S. Congress wants to know from the State Department which countries are committed to combating trafficking both in word and deed.

Naturally, not all countries have the same resources, or are experiencing the same type of trafficking.  Both the nature and scope of trafficking vary widely.  And we look to developed countries like Japan with significant resources to shoulder more responsibility than poor countries like Cambodia, even though the scope of trafficking in Cambodia is much greater than in Japan.

It really comes down to a question of:  “Is the government doing everything it can reasonably be expected to do to combat trafficking?”

Last year there were 15 countries on Tier 3.  They included nations with poor human rights records like Burma, Cuba and North Korea, but also U.S. friends and allies like Greece and Turkey.  Many of these countries subsequently took action to demonstrate their commitment to fighting trafficking and were raised to Tier 2.

Malaysia is one of the wealthier countries in this region and has been a recognized regional leader in fighting counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics.  It can -- and should -- also be a leader in anti-trafficking.

While the volume of trafficking in Malaysia is relatively small in comparison to its neighbors, it has been growing.  This has contributed to corruption and is providing funding to criminal elements operating here.  If left un-checked it could have widespread social repercussions.   I don’t think anyone wants to see Malaysia become a destination for sex tourism.

Unfortunately, because the scope of the problem has been relatively small, Malaysia has lagged behind some of its neighbors in implementing the types of legislation and victim protection programs that would allow it to meet the minimum standards which we look at in our trafficking report.

In particular, the identification and protection of victims is inadequate, there is no witness protection program and the number of prosecutions of traffickers has been relatively small.   Specific anti-trafficking legislation would help focus national efforts to combat trafficking.

As it has with many regional issues, Malaysia has the opportunity to take up the challenge posed by trafficking in persons and become a leader in combating it.  What it will take is political will, allocation of needed resources, implementation of appropriate legislation, training of enforcement officers and establishment of victim and witness protection programs.

I want to thank Suhakam for inviting me to speak at this forum, and all of you for participating.  The elimination of trafficking in persons is goal we all can and should support.