Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-0128
Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-0128
House International Relations
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and
International Operations
Combating Human Trafficking: Achieving Zero
Tolerance
Testimony of Linda Smith
Founder and Executive Director
Shared Hope International
March 9, 2005
Thank you Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify on H.R. 972, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005. It is always an honor to come before your subcommittee because of the great respect I have for your passionate and tireless commitment to defending the world’s most vulnerable victims.
It is encouraging to see the continued commitment by many in Congress to fine-tune and further develop our anti-trafficking efforts at home and abroad. I am honored to have the opportunity to present what Shared Hope International has learned in its years of rescuing and restoring women and children who are victims of trafficking around the world.
The Bush Administration has taken significant leadership on this issue and should be commended for all that it has done so far. President Bush himself has demonstrated his commitment to eradicating the trade of persons both internationally and domestically by addressing the United Nations on September 23, 2003 and at the Department of Justice’s National Training Conference on Human Trafficking held in Tampa, Florida in July of 2004.
Ambassador John Miller is a catalyst among international leaders evaluating government’s progress and directing US dollars. I appreciate this opportunity to commend him for his bold leadership on this issue.
The Department of Justice is also moving aggressively to prosecute human traffickers. Since January 2001, Civil Rights Division's Criminal Section - working with U.S. Attorney's Offices nationwide - has charged, convicted, or secured sentences for 92 human traffickers in 21 cases. They have also developed city wide taskforces to increase the capacity of local law enforcement to identify victims and bring their traffickers to justice.
The effects of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act are being felt around the world. Regardless of whether you agree on the specific tier placements, it is clear that in the past several years the annual report issued by the Department of State’s Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons is pushing countries to make strides of progress to fight human traffickers and aid their victims. The United States government demonstrates it’s most noble leadership by holding our allies feet to the fire, encouraging them to take all necessary efforts to address trafficking in persons in their country. As a country of destination for trafficking, the United States can continue aggressively leading this international movement by strengthening the protection in our own country. Most notably we need to aggressively tackle the demand that creates market places of victimization.
H.R. 972 is a good bill and I strongly support it. It addresses many of the gaps that exist in the global fight against trafficking in persons. It deals with some issues we’d rather not acknowledge as a country – exploitation of child prostitutes by U.S. government personnel, U.S. government contractors and international peacekeepers – but it provides tools for ensuring that this exploitation is no longer tolerated. It also acknowledges, as did the original TVPA, that trafficking in persons is not something that happens only in other countries but is still a problem in our own country.
I would like to comment on two sections of the bill which I believe are very important:
1) The provisions to create pilot programs for long-term residential care facilities for trafficking victims in the United States and abroad, and
2) The provisions related to the protection of children in post-conflict situations and humanitarian crises.
I am particularly pleased to see language in the bill that enhances services for trafficking victims, both domestic and international. Since the TVPA was passed, the United States government has dramatically improved its service for victims of trafficking in the U.S. There are still improvements that can be made – particularly in the area of housing for victims – and this pilot program will address that.
Creating a pilot project for programs will establish a basis for best-practices and development of services around the world. Starting with two pilot projects is useful, but I would hope this would not limit us to providing long-term residential care facilities in countries with high incidences of trafficking.
Helping women and children who are victimized is the core of Shared Hope International’s mission since its inception in 1998. In the past six years, we have established Homes of Hope in seven countries – India, Nepal, Fiji, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, South Africa and most recently, The Netherlands. All of Shared Hope International's Homes of Hope include the following services: outreach & identification, residential facilities, education, vocational training, and assistance with medical care and job placement. Each of these elements must be in place to provide effective care to trafficking victims.
A victim of human trafficking is a victim of a serious crime, a person whose physical, mental and emotional well-being has been severely damaged. While the seriousness of this crime is not in question, service providers, including ourselves, are still learning how best to bring about healing and long term restoration. I want to give credit to some of my colleagues working in the field who are pioneers on this issue. There was strong testimony presented on after-care to the Subcommittee on International terrorism, Non-proliferation and Human Rights on June 25, 2003 by Rev. Lauran Bethel with the European Baptist Federation, and Nancy Murphy, Executive Director of the Northwest Life and Family Center. I would refer Members to that testimony because it confirms my own experience in working with trafficking victims.
Of course every rehabilitation program must be tailored to the specific cultural context in which it is located, but there are some core principles that I have seen to be highly effective in the restoration and rehabilitation process.
First, effective rehabilitation programs must reflect a holistic view of the person. Programs must consider the displacement of a person who is a victim of trafficking, recognizing the many ways in which the person must be addressed for their long-term restoration. They must meet the needs of the woman and child, including their physical, mental, spiritual and social needs.
Second, effective rehabilitation programs must be safe. Security is one of the most crucial factors and often one of the most expensive to put in place. All facilities require significant security measures to protect the survivors from the threats of gangs, pimps and traffickers.
Third, rehabilitation care facilities must be available to the person for the long term. We must move from thinking of rehabilitation centers as “short-term shelters” to thinking in terms of “home” and “community.” A home is a place where a person can grow, learn and develop (or recover) a sense of independence with loving care and nurture. A home is a place where people care about you as a person. A home is a place where it is safe to share your feelings and experiences, both positive and negative, with people who will listen and will love you regardless. A home is a place where you belong. We have seen in our experience working with trafficking victims that these individuals need to feel loved and protected before they can move toward recovery. Every individual comes with their own unique story. This requires programs to have the flexibility to meet the individual’s needs.
“Leila” is a Thai girl who was trafficked to Australia. I discovered her while conducting a human rights investigation in February of 2004. She was studying at a University in Thailand and withdrew. She felt responsible for providing the tuition costs for her brother and sister to also attend the University. Different “friends” from Bangkok told her they could get her a job in Australia. She trusted them and they flew with her to Sydney around the time of the 2000 Olympic Games. They told her she could work in a restaurant and make a lot of money. When she arrived they took her to a small hotel where she was kept and forced to prostitute. The girl who traveled with her knew they were going to be sold for prostitution; she had already been taken to other countries. “Leila” paid 50,000 Baht (USD$1,300) to go to Australia. When she arrived she had to pay back A$60,000 (USD$47,500). Eventually, a customer became sympathetic and put her into hiding. She was taken to a safe place but still lives in fear of her traffickers, and believes her mother will not receive her knowing she was a prostitute.
I just returned from Amsterdam where I met with several strong and educated young women whose lives radically changed by the deception and exploitation of human traffickers. “Sarah”, a Nigerian from Edo State, was recruited by a Nigerian trafficker who said that she could be a beautician in Europe and send money home for her family. She was recruited while she was in school learning economics. She is also the oldest child of a family with 9 children and believes she is financially responsible for her family. To intimidate and maintain control of “Sarah” the trafficker took her to a voodoo doctor where they had taken her nails, hair, and body fluids before leaving Nigeria. The first destination was Vienna, Austria where she worked in a strip club and was forced to prostitute. When she arrived in Europe she was told that she owed the trafficker Euro 35,000 (USD$46,350.00). After 8 months she was taken to Amsterdam where she told a “client” what happened to her. He assisted her out of the brothels and introduced her to a place of safety.
“Vanessa” was a University student in Nigeria from Edo State. Vanessa was having trouble getting the money she needed for tuition and books. Another student said he had an auntie who helped people come to Europe. The lady was very nice and helped her get her papers. She arrived in Amsterdam where the woman told her that there weren’t jobs except prostitution. Vanessa did not want to do this and tried to get out. The woman held her captive and sent a man who raped her. They beat her and locked her up. Vanessa eventually ran away and went to Germany where she was picked up and put into an immigration camp. She was raped in the camp and got pregnant. She is now a mother of a five-month-old boy and are both safe in a Home of Hope.
The Netherlands does not provide residency status for victims of trafficking. They also can not return home to Nigeria due to the threat of being re-trafficked. Shared Hope International is establishing an economic program to enable these women to provide for themselves.
I have shared before the story of Ganga who came to our Home of Hope in India in 1998. Ganga had been trafficked from Nepal to India and brought to a brothel on Falkland Road in Bombay. She was malnourished, repeatedly raped and locked in a dark room for a year. She tried to flee numerous times but was always discovered and beaten harshly by her trafficker. She finally managed to escape with the help from one of our outreach workers. The good news is that a year ago January, my husband Vern and I went to Ganga’s wedding with 500 other guests at the Village of Hope. After five years of recovery she is now married and a leader at the Shared Hope International Village of Hope.
Anthea is a 19-year-old girl who is a victim of trafficking in South Africa. She was managed as a prostitute by gangs, addicted to drugs and was coerced by satanic rituals that included having most of her body covered in tattoos. She was identified by a local non-governmental organization (NGO) and offered a safe place to flee the gangs. When I first met Anthea she was pensive, withholding and adjusting to the requirements and comforts of the Home of Hope. After one year in the program, she was becoming a leader. We invited her to join a meeting with the Shared Hope International Board of Directors last fall. She came to tell us that she was accepting a job with the Home of Hope to help direct the girls’ center in Cape Town. As she sat around the board room table she looked around at each one of us and burst into an assertive tone and confidently proclaimed, "I am a person." We were captivated by this young woman who, after a year in the Home of Hope, was radiating not as a victim of a crime but as a young woman who had come to a new understanding of who she really is.
Imagine taking any one of these girls and women and giving them 30 days to 3 months to recover in a safe home. Ganga was illiterate, did not have formal education, a family support network, and very little sense of worth. Women like “Vanessa”, “Sarah” and “Leila” are educated and in need of employment and protection in their home countries. All of these young women and girls have hopes and dreams. Each of them has a desire to be empowered to obtain their dreams and provide for their families.
These women and youth are viewed by the traffickers as products to be sold. Market places of victimization are no respecter of persons; it robs the individual of their value. Part of restoring a life, is recognizing the individual person by rediscovering and building her dreams, one life at a time.
The pivotal element to restoration is the long-term commitment and expectation that is given to the woman and children. It is about creating a place that the victimized person would identify as home and like good homes do, provide enough security and opportunity to help them further establish themselves after their period of recovery. We can not underestimate the kind of time it takes for a person to regain their own sense of dignity and the acquired skills to be productive members of society. They must have a place to call home for as long as it takes.
Fourth, more efficient and effective rehabilitation is provided when there is on-going outreach to local service providers already working with women and children and a commitment to build local capacity, including the capacity to provide effective security, so victims of trafficking can be incorporated into existing programs. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just educate and build capacity into groups, including faith-based groups, currently committed to helping women and children.
Organizations such as Teen Challenge International have created models for addiction recovery programs that are often effective for victims of trafficking when applied to the specific cultural context and to the special needs of women and children. Shared Hope International’s partners in three locations are modeled after the Teen Challenge recovery model.
Shared Hope International partners with local service providers to run Homes of Hope because we believe that local leaders committed to helping women and youth do develop the most culturally relevant and effective programs. We look for leaders who demonstrate a sacrificial and sustained commitment to helping vulnerable and victimized women and youth. We then educate them on the nature of trafficking and build their capacity to address the needs of trafficking victims.
One way the U.S. government could help the efforts of the anti-trafficking community worldwide would be to encourage US Embassies and the USAID Missions to routinely inventory NGOs providing a variety of services to women and children. There needs to be a deliberate strategy to identify a broader base of these NGOs, including the faith-based organizations that serve victimized women or youth in cities of destination for human trafficking and commercial sex tourism. We should then ensure that those providing direct services have an increased capacity to apply their programs to women and children trafficking victims.
I should also say for the record that the faith-based community has really stepped up to the plate on the issue of victim rehabilitation. There are new networks being developed around the world of faith-based groups willing and ready to engage in the work of rehabilitation. That is something that is encouraging to me personally.
The other aspect of H.R. 972 which is very needed are the provisions that encourage the U.S. government and the international community to develop trafficking prevention strategies for post-conflict and humanitarian emergency situations.
After the Tsunami in Asia, the media highlighted the trafficking threat in countries such as Thailand and made it seem like it was a new problem. Those of us who have been doing anti-trafficking work know, however, that trafficking was already a big problem in many of those countries before the Tsunami. The only difference is that the Tsunami created a more expansive group of vulnerable victims – children without parents and women who, through the loss of a husband or family, lost their means of livelihood and support.
What is needed are short-term strategies for protecting vulnerable children and long-term strategies for assuring that women benefit from the reconstruction efforts and are able to gain meaningful employment. If women can find jobs and the ability to support their families, they will be less likely to fall prey to traffickers.
Part of this long-term strategy should include programs to train U.S. military personnel who will engage in regions affected by conflict or humanitarian crises about the crime of trafficking, those who are most vulnerable, and how traffickers operate.
This April Shared Hope International will be co-hosting the sixth event as follow up to the world summit that we co-sponsored with the U.S. Department of State in February of 2003. The event will convene 14 nations in Southeast and East Asia to address measures that tackle the demand for child sex tourism and sex trafficking. This event will be among one of the many activities in the region to continue raising the awareness about the conditions of sex trafficking in the region and move practical measures forward. We must continue focusing on programs that educate vulnerable populations as to the nature of trafficking and build economic and educational alternatives that will keep women and children from the false promises that lead to such severe exploitation.
The women and children that I’ve met through our Homes of Hope demonstrate to me the vitality of the human spirit. They are among the strongest people I have encountered. I know that their strength comes in part from the sustained support and development that is offered to them through a community of hope. Together, we can help build these communities offering victims of a serious crime a place to rebuild their lives. This is not an inevitable crime. And, the women and children can be survivors, even becoming the agents of change for others like them.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide remarks on this important piece of legislation.