Last night WWMT focused on an issue that is happening in our own community as well as throughout communities across the globe. Human trafficking has garnered additional attention recently due to the kidnapping of over 250 schoolgirls in Nigeria, but the problem is much more widespread. On Friday, Congressmen Huizenga and over 170 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Obama calling for U.S. Leadership in the fight to end this form of modern-day slavery. Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives will be taking up five pieces of legislation to help combat human trafficking both domestically and aboard.
Those bills are:
• The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (H.R. 3530, Rep. Poe) a comprehensive domestic anti-human trafficking bill that reallocates existing grants for human trafficking deterrence and victims’ support and provides additional law enforcement tools to enable authorities to prosecute all those involved in human trafficking.
• The Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act (H.R. 3610, Rep. Paulsen) encourages states to adopt safe harbor laws that treat trafficked minors as victims and provide an avenue for victims to leave their situations with access to protective services, counseling, and skill building rather than entering the legal system and being incarcerated.
• The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act (H.R. 4058, Rep. Reichert) would require states to take steps to identify, prevent, and address sex trafficking of youth in foster care. It also would improve the lives of youth in foster care by ensuring they have more normal opportunities and experiences, while also providing them with tools they need to become successful adults.
• The Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation (SAVE) Act (H.R. 4225, Rep. Wagner) makes it a federal crime to knowingly advertise for the commercial sex exploitation of minors and trafficking victims.
• International Megan’s Law (H.R. 4573, Rep. C. Smith) ensures that a destination country is aware when an American sex offender who has previously abused a child is traveling to that country and encourages reciprocal notification to protect American children from abuse by foreign sex offenders.
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