World Slavery Report: 'Millions are Living in Bondage'

Slavery still exists around the world. It is mainly women and children who are exploited.

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was First Lady, her office drafted legislation and worked with Congress to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Her former chief of staff, Melanne Verveer, now works in the State Department with Clinton as the nation's first ambassador for Global Woman's Issues.

When Clinton held a ceremony at the State Department on Tuesday to draw attention to the ninth annual release of a State Department report on trafficking in persons, she unwittingly drew a contrast between how she handled her role as First Lady and First Lady Michelle Obama.


At this point, the East Wing would not want Mrs. Obama to be identified as drafting any of her "own" bills. Mrs. Obama has a policy staff, but the goal is to be seen only as supporting President Obama's legislative agenda, especially in areas that are part of Mrs. Obama's issues portfolio, such as national service. Part of this is also structural; the Mrs. Obama East Wing wants to be seen as an operating partner of the West Wing and does not model itself on the "Hillaryland" of the Clinton White House.


At the State Department, Clinton, who long has fought trafficking, turned a spotlight on "modern slavery" in her remarks, pegged to a new report with a global overview of the problem, "The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report."

"Around the world, millions of people are living in bondage. They labor in fields and factories under brutal employers who threaten them with violence if they try to escape. They work in homes for families that keep them virtually imprisoned. They are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the streets, fearful of the consequences if they fail to earn their daily quota. They are women, men, and children of all ages, and they are often held far from home with no money, no connections, and no way to ask for help," Clinton said.

"This is modern slavery, a crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with an endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain. Human trafficking is a crime with many victims: not only those who are trafficked, but also the families they leave behind, some of whom never see their loved ones again.

"Trafficking has a broad global impact as well. It weakens legitimate economies, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, shatters families, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. And it is an affront to our basic values and our fundamental belief that all people everywhere deserve to live and work in safety and dignity.

"The Obama Administration views the fight against human trafficking, both at home and abroad, as a critical part of our foreign policy agenda. The United States currently funds 140 anti-trafficking programs in nearly 70 countries, as well as 42 domestic task forces to address the challenge here. We are proud of the work we do, but we know we have much more ahead of us. Economic pressure, especially in this global economic crisis, makes more people susceptible to the false promises of traffickers.

"Today, the State Department releases our annual report on trafficking in persons. It underscores the need to address the root causes of trafficking, including poverty, lax law enforcement, and the exploitation of women.

"The trafficking report is not an indictment of past failures, but a guide for future progress. It includes examples of steps taken against trafficking worldwide – for example, in Congo, where an army officer was convicted in a ground-breaking case for forcing children to serve as soldiers; or in Colombia where the government has pioneered a comprehensive operations center that tasks agents to investigate trafficking allegations and ensure that victims receive rehabilitative services; or in Jordan, where the Ministry of Labor has established a fund to provide trafficking victims with food, housing, and legal aid.

"With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery so all governments can see where progress has been made and where more is needed. Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But that's not the case. Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on earth, and that includes our own.

"Trafficking and forced labor are grave problems here in the United States. And we've been reminded of this in recent weeks, where authorities uncovered a scheme to enslave foreign workers as laborers for hotels and construction sites in 14 Midwestern states.

"To coincide with this year's Global Trafficking in Persons Report, the Department of Justice is releasing its own report, which describes the problem of human trafficking in the United States and offers recommendations for how we can do a better job of fighting it."