THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            35
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        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   

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

 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            35
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, within state government, the Legislature believes
 2   an appropriate role for the Hawaii Legislature is to take steps
 3   that ensure that resources are available for trafficked women,
 4   trafficked women are identified, and trafficked women and
 5   children treated as victims; now, therefore,
 6   
 7        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 8   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
 9   Representatives concurring, that all members of the Legislature
10   condemn and abhor this modern form of slavery and express
11   strong support for United States government efforts to make the
12   fight against trafficking in women and children an integral
13   aspect of our human rights policy; and
14   
15        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that directors of Hawaii's state
16   departments are urged to identify resources needed to carry out
17   the State's role in combating trafficking and to ensure that
18   departmental budgets include requests for funds and personnel
19   necessary to make resources available for trafficked women,
20   identify trafficked women and children, and treat them as
21   victims; and
22   
23        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
24   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
25   United States, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, to
26   the Governor, and to the directors of all state departments.
27 
28 
29 
30                           OFFERED BY: ___________________________