House Passes Durbin Human Trafficking and Child Soldiers Bill in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act

Press Release

House Passes Durbin Human Trafficking and Child Soldiers Bill in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act

Today the House passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (HR.3887), that includes the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act (S.1703), a proposal introduced by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) in June that will close a legal loophole that currently prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people in the United States who have committed the crime of human trafficking in other countries. The House-passed bill also includes the key elements of the Child Soldier Prevention Act (S.1175), a proposal Durbin introduced in April that would restrict U.S. military assistance to countries recruiting or using child soldiers.

"We cannot allow our country to continue providing assistance to militaries around the world that knowingly and intentionally place children in the line of fire. "Nor can we allow our country to serve as a safe haven for those who traffic in human misery," said Durbin. "We must do everything we can to protect child soldier and trafficking victims who cannot protect themselves, and send a clear signal that the U.S. will in no way tolerate these abhorrent practices."

Today's passed legislation will prohibit the U.S. Government, other than under specific excepted circumstances, from providing military assistance to countries that recruit and use child soldiers in their national militaries or government-supported paramilitaries. The need for such legislation was identified during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law that Senator Durbin chaired in April, "Casualties of War: Child Soldiers and the Law." Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Russ Feingold (D-WI) are among the many bipartisan cosponsors of this legislation.

The House-passed bill will also close the current loophole in trafficking law by amending the Peonage, Slavery, and Trafficking in Persons chapter of the federal criminal code to allow prosecution of non-U.S. nationals for human trafficking committed outside the United States. Under current law, federal prosecutors can only pursue human trafficking crimes if they are committed within the United States or by a U.S. citizen abroad. In contrast, other violations of fundamental human rights - such as torture, terrorism, and hostage taking - may be prosecuted even when committed outside the United States by non-U.S. nationals. This loophole in trafficking law was identified during a March hearing of the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee entitled "Legal Options to Stop Human Trafficking." Senator Tom Coburn is the lead Republican cosponsor of the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act.

Senator Durbin is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law that was officially established at the Senate Judiciary Committee's first business meeting of the 110th Congress. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over all human rights laws and policies and focuses on issues such as human trafficking, genocide, child soldiers, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, and arbitrary detention.

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