16
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION
  SUPPORTING FEDERAL EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND
    CHILDREN.



 1        WHEREAS, international trafficking in persons is a
 2   fundamental violation of human rights; it is a global plague
 3   that has an impact on all nations, including the United States;
 4   and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, traffickers prey upon the hopes and fears of
 7   their victims, who are often forced or lured from their home
 8   countries, shuttled across borders, and enslaved, with their
 9   human rights violated all along the way; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, trafficking includes the recruitment,
12   transportation, harboring, transfer, or sale for the purpose of
13   placing people in any type of forced labor, and is often
14   divided into sexual trafficking and labor trafficking; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, sexual or labor trafficking takes many forms,
17   from forced prostitution to bonded domestic servitude, from
18   coerced work in sweatshops to the pressing into service of
19   child soldiers; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, trafficking in women and children is a multi-
22   billion dollar industry, and one of the fastest growing
23   criminal enterprises in the world, with North America a growing
24   destination for trafficking victims; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, although victims of trafficking can include men,
27   women, and children of any age, the majority are women and
28   girls under the age of twenty-five; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, for example, children from Mexico are sold to
31   brothels in the United States and more than fifty thousand
32   women are trafficked into the United States every year; and
33   
34        WHEREAS, the child sex trade systematically moves children
35   along the "Pacific circuit" that runs from Vancouver, Canada to
36   the United States west coast, and then to Honolulu; and
37   
38        WHEREAS, it is estimated that more than one thousand five
39   hundred women and children are prostituted in Honolulu, with
40   several hundred under the age of eighteen; and 
41   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, the United States government has taken steps to
 2   eliminate trafficking:  strengthened the human rights
 3   protection for victims; increased prosecution of the
 4   trafficking crimes; helped victims assist in prosecuting
 5   traffickers; increased public awareness of the problem; and
 6   have coordinated the fight against trafficking with all
 7   countries involved, including countries of origin, transit, and
 8   destination; and 
 9   
10        WHEREAS, as part of the United States government efforts:
11   
12        (1)  A working group established by the President's
13             Interagency Council on Women is consulting with
14             members of Congress and nongovernmental organizations
15             to address prevention, victim assistance and
16             protection, and enforcement;
17   
18        (2)  The Department of State is working with the European
19             Union, the Group of Eight, the United Nations, and
20             international governments to combat trafficking;
21   
22        (3)  The Department of State and the Department of Justice
23             are training personnel to enhance their ability to
24             effectively implement border security and identify
25             traffickers and victims;
26   
27        (4)  The Department of Justice is actively investigating
28             and prosecuting cases of trafficking women and
29             children both into and within the United States; and
30   
31        (5)  A Department of State project is expected to produce
32             prototype legislation and guidelines on enforcement
33             and victim protection;
34   
35   and
36   
37        WHEREAS, it is appropriate and proper that this body
38   express its strong support for federal efforts to combat sexual
39   trafficking and labor trafficking of women and children; and
40   
41        WHEREAS, within state government, this body believes an
42   appropriate role for the Hawaii Legislature is to take steps
43   that ensure that resources are available for trafficked women,
44   trafficked women are identified, and trafficked women and
45   children treated as victims; now, therefore,
46   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        


 1        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
 2   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
 3   of 2000, that all members of this body condemn and abhor this
 4   modern form of slavery and express strong support for United
 5   States government efforts to make the fight against trafficking
 6   in women and children an integral aspect of our human rights
 7   policy; and
 8   
 9        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that directors of Hawaii's state
10   departments are urged to identify resources needed to carry out
11   the State's role in combating trafficking and to ensure that
12   departmental budgets include requests for funds and personnel
13   necessary to make resources available for trafficked women,
14   identify trafficked women and children, and treat them as
15   victims; and
16   
17        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
18   Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United
19   States, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, to the
20   Governor, and to the directors of all state departments.
21 
22 
23 
24                           OFFERED BY: ___________________________