CONGRESS PASSES CRITICAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING LAW

On December 10, 2008, the House and Senate unanimously passed the "William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008" which reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. API Legal Outreach, which has served over 200 survivors of human trafficking since 2000, applauds Congress’s action to pass a law that expands protections for family members of adult victims of human trafficking, preserves the integrity of the definition of human trafficking, provides for worker protections and mandates foreign consulates to provide adequate information to foreign workers regarding rights, laws, and resources for help.

API Legal Outreach is part of the Freedom Network, a national coalition of service providers and advocacy organizations assisting human trafficking survivors. It is also a founding member of the Asian Anti-Trafficking Collaboration (AATC), which provides comprehensive legal and social services to survivors of the most grave human rights abuses. To date, AATC has served more than 200 individuals – men, women, and children from as young as 9 years old to seniors more than 65 years old – who had been subjected to severe forms of forced labor and sex trafficking. Our clients have hailed from more than 25 different countries in five continents.

This Congressional action to continue to protect human beings who have had their dignity, their lives, and their liberty stripped away, is a powerful signal to survivors that the U.S. will strive to protect the most vulnerable workers from abuse and exploitation and continues to fight to stop those who would prey upon them.

As noted by the Freedom Network, a young adult survivor of trafficking says that if this law had been in place a few years ago, she would have been able to have her mother join her here and offer support during the long, stressful process of preparing to be a witness for the prosecution. At a time of great vulnerability that involved enormous personal risk, this young woman decided to testify against her traffickers. At the time, there was no provision for a family member to be with her throughout this process. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act will provide for family members facing retaliation to join their relative and offer support. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 keeps to the spirit envisioned in the original TVPA by upholding the definition of human trafficking. With increased oversight, comprehensive reporting and coordinated services, we look forward to continuing the complex work of prevention, protection and prosecution.

For more information, please contact: Cindy Liou (work) 415.567.6255 or email cliou@apilegaloutreach.org