The US PROStitutes Collective has asked the Global Women’s Strike to
circulate a model letter to Senators opposing provisions in HR 3887,
the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2007. The law is currently before the Senate.
The model letter and explanatory cover note explain how trafficking
laws are being used as a pretext to target and deport immigrant
women who work in the sex industry and how this proposed law change
will make this easier. Meanwhile, nothing is being done to address
the widespread rape and other violence that sex workers face.
Please use the enclosed model letter to write to your Senator urging
them to oppose this measure. Thanks, and let us know if you have
any questions.
Sincerely,
Lori
Nairne, Global Women’s Strike/SF Bay Area
Dear Friends,
Sex
Workers Outreach Project-USA and the US PROStitutes Collective are
asking for your help in opposing provisions in House Bill HR 3887
passed in the US House of Representatives on December 4, 2007 and
now before the US Senate.
HR
3887 is part of a campaign to use justifiable concern about
trafficking to promote a moralistic and dangerous crusade against
sex workers – a crusade we are determined to stop.
HR 3887,
the William
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of
2007 would allow the Department of Justice to prosecute traffickers
without having to prove “fraud, force or coercion”, or that the
victim is a minor. Section 221 (f)(1) would add an amendment to the
discredited 1910 Mann Act so that anyone can be charged with “sex
trafficking” and imprisoned for up to 10 years for “persuading,
inducing or enticing” an individual to engage in prostitution or
attempting to do so.
HR
3887 is being presented as a necessity to ensure that victims get
protection. Congresswoman Carolyn B Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens),
co-chair of the Congressional Human Trafficking Caucus and co-author
of H.R. 3887 claimed recently that:
“By eliminating the need to prove
force, fraud, or coercion except to obtain enhanced penalties,
prosecutors will have a more effective way to crack down on
traffickers.“
Nothing could be further from the truth. Sex workers and our
friends and families will become easy targets and criminalized under
this law just for being supportive of each other or crossing state
borders, while real traffickers continue to go free.
We
know from speaking to politicians that they are being lobbied to
back this legislation and that some are not aware of the issues.
Urgent action is needed. Please send your own letter, or the
enclosed form letter, to your Senator and encourage them to vote
against the proposed changes in HR 3887.
The
Bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Judiciary so the
members of this Committee (see list below) are key to lobby. But
all Senators will vote in the end so even if your Senator is not
listed, please write them now. If you don’t know who your Senator is
or how to contact them please click here and follow the directions:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Further criminalization can only isolate sex workers from our
support networks and make us more vulnerable to attack. Help us
stop it.
The Senate Judiciary members include: Patrick J. Leahy (Chairman,
D-Vermont), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), Joseph R. Biden Jr.
(D-Delaware), Herb Kohl (D- Wisconsin), Dianne Feinstein
(D-California), Russell D Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Charles E. Schumer
(D-New York), Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois), Benjamin L. Cardin
(D-Maryland), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) Arlen Specter
(Ranking member R-Pennsylvania), Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Charles E.
Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama),
Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina, John Cornyn (R-Texas), Sam
Brownback (R-Kansas), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma). These Senators are
key at the moment because the bill is in committee, but all Senators
will vote in the end. So even if you Senator is not listed, please
write them now.
More info:
<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h3887/show>http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h3887/show
<http://www.bayswan.org/traffick/HR3887.html
Model letter
Date
The Honorable____________
United States
Senate
331
Hart Senate Office Building
Washington,
DC 20510
Re:
HR 3887 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2007
Dear
Senator_________________ ,
As you
are aware, many people are justifiably concerned about people
trafficked into sweat shops, farms, the sex industry and elsewhere.
But legislation (House Bill HR 3887), currently in the Senate, will
make it more difficult to investigate and prosecute serious cases
involving violence and coercion while providing no extra protection
to victims.
HR3887 reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
The TVPA defines sex trafficking as where “a commercial sex act is
induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”
Section 221(f)(1) of HR 3887 amends the discredited Mann Act (which
criminalizes the transportation of persons across state lines for
the purpose of prostitution) to say that if someone 'persuades,
induces or entices' any individual to engage in prostitution or
attempts to do so, they can be charged with the new offence of 'sex
trafficking' and be fined or imprisoned for up to ten years, or
both. No proof of 'force, fraud or coercion’ is needed to prosecute
cases.
This change is premised on the claim that all prostitution is
coerced. Sex workers, like everyone, have always distinguished
between the sex they consent to (for money or not) and rape. While
many may prefer another job, they also point to the fact that sex
work is often better paid than most of the low-waged jobs women do.
Claims are made that this change is necessary because of the “acute
difficulty of gaining testimonial evidence of fraud, force or
coercion.”
Many women, immigrant and not, are deterred from reporting rape and
other abuse by systematic sexism and other discrimination in the
criminal justice system. Changing the law to remove the need for
the victim to give evidence about the violence and coercion she
experienced is a dangerous precedent. For women working in the sex
industry, fear of arrest and for immigrant women, fear of
deportation, are the primary deterrent to reporting violence. Why
is this not being addressed?
These changes will:
1)
Result in more
criminal charges against sex workers who cross state borders (and
even those who make work arrangements by phone or the web), against
clients and anyone peripherally involved in helping someone working
in the sex industry regardless of whether violence or coercion is
involved.
2)
Divert needed
resources and attention away from real cases of trafficking
(including in agriculture, domestic and other work) which involve
coercion, force and violence. The millions of dollars designated
for the TVPA to go after violent assailants of women and children
will be instead used to go after sex workers;
3)
Create an
impractically large class of people under the jurisdiction of
federal sex trafficking/prostitution law enforcement, even when they
consensually exchange sexual services for money. Black women and
other women of color will be disproportionately impacted as they are
often singled out for arrest and more likely to sentenced to prison.
Federal charges carry higher sentences & fines, are heard in courts
which are less accessible and result in less accountability to local
people’s views about law enforcement priorities.
One aim of H.R. 3887 is “to compile data from every U.S. agency,
international organizations and private sources so that the
executive branch can prepare a comprehensive analysis of trafficking
patterns.”
This legislative
change which makes no distinction between genuine victims and those
working independently in the sex industry would artificially inflate
the figures and seriously distort any analysis.
Any provision for resources for trafficking victims in this law can
be provided without changing the definition of trafficking to remove
force and coercion.
Trafficking is slavery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, rape, great
bodily injury and extortion. Existing laws cover all these offences
and could be used to prosecute perpetrators whatever work they force
people into.
Trafficking is not about prostitution but about poverty and the need
people have to emigrate in the hope of improving their and their
children’s lives. Instead of addressing this,
trafficking legislation is primarily being used to target immigrant
sex workers for deportation.
I strongly urge you to vote against these provisions in H.R. 3887,
which would dangerously undermine efforts to combat serious
trafficking by conflating trafficking with prostitution.
Signature & address