Hillary Speaks Against Trafficking

The excitement of seeing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in person at the Department of State as a college student is beyond words. Yesterday, Secretary Clinton spoke on the release of the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report and I went to listen as a No Limits Intern. With Secretary Clinton at the release were Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca and the 2011 TIP Report Heroes who devoted their lives in stopping human trafficking. The statements were not only informative, but also encouraging.

In her remarks, Secretary Clinton pointed out that human trafficking is both a human bondage issue and a gender-based issue which hurts women and girls disproportionately. In recent years, human trafficking has become a more serious problem due to the ease of transportation and globalization of communication. As many as 27 million men, women, and children are exploited. Lawbreakers reach deep into villages with promises and pictures of what a better life might be and lure the victims to another country where they suffer from modern day slavery. Therefore, each country should not only make laws, but put more efforts in carrying them out. The traffickers should be brought to justice while victims should be provided with legal protection and other support. It is also necessary that governments all around the world work together to crack down such a crime.

In Secretary Clinton’s words, this report helps us to define ourselves and to show where political will and political leadership are making a difference. However, the report is just one part of the work. Besides helping the United States to see what progress we have made and where we need to improve, it encourages every country to create new ways to do better, like developing partnership with the NGOs. Even a little bit of effort makes difference. The individual heroes honored like Bridget Lew Tan who has dedicated her life to protecting migrant workers in Singapore or Deputy Prosecutor Dilcya Garcia in the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office who contributed to the first trafficking sentence in Mexico showed us how a single person could make his/her influence on this issue.

Secretary Clinton shared a story of a girl whose eye was stabbed by a brothel owner when protecting herself against what was expected of her. Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca also told a story about a deaf 16-year-old boy begging for change on a New York City subway as a slave. Fortunately, both children were rescued and were able to begin new lives, but there’s still a long way to go. Just as Secretary Clinton said,

So while this report is encouraging more countries to come to the table, none of us can afford to be satisfied.

Watch the full version of the remarks here.

Read the full remarks here.