Senate bills aim to direct much-needed resources to the fight against slavery

Today, as part of a landmark effort to combat the global scourge of modern day slavery, two bills were presented before two different congressional committees. The bills aim to increase risks and decrease profits for those who exploit their fellow human beings, and they provide much needed help to victims—a brutalized commodity in this $150 billion a year criminal industry. It’s a moment that puts human traffickers on notice.

Slavery is big business, the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. High profitability coupled with relative impunity has fueled rapid growth. Profits from human trafficking have more than quadrupled in the past decade. Traffickers operate in every state and city in America, threatening hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who are at risk for recruitment, coercion, and exploitation.

{mosads}The End Modern Slavery Initiative Act, introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), acknowledges what many involved in the fight already know: our anti-trafficking efforts are alarmingly underfunded. We should be proud that the United States is the international leader in funding initiatives to combat trafficking. But the $50 million spent annually—about 0.1 percent of the foreign aid budget—is a drop in the bucket when compared to the size of the $150 billion problem. 

The End Modern Slavery Initiative Act highlights the need for increased resources for the development and implementation of strategies that will increase the risks for perpetrators and enablers of human trafficking. The bill simultaneously seeks to decrease the number of current and future traffickers by taking concrete steps to limit profitability. 

If passed, the End Modern Slavery Initiative will set up a $1.5 billion fund from private, public, and international resources to combat human trafficking. The U.S. government will commit an initial $250 million, contingent on raising the remaining funding from foreign governments and private entities over a seven-year period. The resources will be used to bolster law enforcement in targeted regions, with a substantial goal of reducing incidence of modern slavery by at least 50 percent. This concentrated investment will lead to actionable methods of tackling impunity for traffickers, which can then be scaled up and replicated across the country. 

The second piece of legislation, The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (S. 178), addresses key issues affecting victims of sex trafficking and aims to bring more of their exploiters to justice. Re-introduced in the 114th Congress last month by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the bill initiates disincentives, both financially and through the justice system, for those who sexually exploit children. It will increase enforcement of anti-trafficking laws through enhancements to reporting, increased resources for law enforcement training, improvements to victim restitution policies, and measures to better empower victims in criminal proceedings. 

Worldwide an estimated 21 million people are enslaved.  Yet the State Department Trafficking in Persons Report says fewer than 9,500 human trafficking cases were prosecuted in 2013, resulting in fewer than 6,000 convictions. Today’s measures, if implemented, will go a long way towards bringing more traffickers to justice. 

Beyond the passage of these bills, ending modern slavery requires cooperation and leadership from all sectors of government, business, law enforcement, the military, and civil society.  

While the United States passed the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing 150 years ago, the job of eradicating human bondage—on our own shores and abroad—is not yet over. We welcome the intensifying effort in Congress to combat slavery.   

Lungren served in the House from 2005 to 2013. He is currently working with Human Rights First to disrupt the business of human trafficking.