Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorizatin Act of 2005

TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to support passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.

This law will help continue the progress in fighting the insidious global practice of trafficking in human beings. It is estimated that nearly a million people are trafficked across international borders each year and pressed into labor or servitude by the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Human trafficking represents the commerce in human misery.

Today we reauthorize a bill that was passed and signed into law in October 2000. In doing so, we honor one of the great champions of that bill--the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Senator Wellstone's commitment to combating human trafficking and other human rights abuses stands as one of his most enduring legacies. The Senate and the Nation miss his courage, passion, and leadership on this issue and so many others.

The passage of today's bill is also a tribute to the tireless advocacy of one of my constituents, Oprah Winfrey. She has helped put a spotlight on the tragedy of human trafficking, and she has been a powerful and eloquent voice for those who are silenced by oppression.

Human trafficking is most prevalent in foreign lands, but the U.S. Government has estimated that over 10,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year. In my own State of Illinois, for example, a Russian trafficker was prosecuted in 2002 for forcing several women from Latvia to work in Chicago-area strip clubs. The State of Illinois has risen to the challenge. This past summer, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed a law that provides more legal tools for State prosecutors and more protections for trafficking victims.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 will help combat human trafficking throughout the Nation and around the globe. It extends the provisions given to Federal law enforcement in 2000 to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent future abuses.

And it will allow our government to continue holding other nations accountable for their efforts to combat human trafficking abroad. I have discussed this issue with Ambassador John Miller, a former member of Congress who is now the director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. I am pleased that the number of countries to whom the State Department has given a failing grade--so-called ``Tier 3'' countries--has dropped from 27 in 2001 to 14 in 2005.

Earlier this month, we commemorated the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. On this occasion, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said:

The world is now wrestling with a new form of slavery--trafficking in human beings, in which many vulnerable people are virtually abandoned by legal and social systems into a sordid realm of exploitation and abuse. People who perpetrate, condone or facilitate slavery or slavery-like practices must be held accountable by national and, if necessary, international means. The international community must also do more to combat poverty, social exclusion, illiteracy, ignorance and discrimination, which increase vulnerability and are part of the underlying context for this scourge.

By passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, we are heeding the advice of Kofi Annan and carrying the torch of Paul Wellstone.

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