Open Letter: Stop Modern Slavery!

Open Letter From Conservative Leaders
Congress Must Demand that Laws to Halt Modern Slavery Be Enforced and Uphold the Principle That Government Action Should Protect Life

April 5, 2016
Washington, D.C.

All people of good will believe that sex trafficking, forced labor, and other modern forms of slavery are an affront to basic human dignity. Around the world churches, ministries, nonprofit organizations, and governments are working against the multi-billion-dollar human trafficking industry, to prevent victims from being enslaved, to punish those who commit these atrocities, and to liberate and assist victims so they can recover and rebuild their lives.

Many people and organizations are also attempting to establish or strengthen the rule of law and to eliminate the government corruption that aids and abets trafficking. These efforts are critical to ending modern slavery.

Enslaving a human being denies that person’s dignity and moral worth. The moral principles in which this truth is rooted also compel us to recognize the dignity of each and every human being. This ethic of life necessitates providing compassionate care and assistance to pregnant victims of trafficking and protecting the unborn children who are additional victims of this modern form of slavery. U.S. leadership in fighting human trafficking domestically and around the world should be consistent with the principle that every human life has value and deserves protection. Despite their numbers, the victims of modern slavery are not statistics: They are individuals. They have names, like Qamar, Najwa, and Raqiyah; and some of them may have names even if they haven’t been born yet.

The United States should take two particular steps to combat modern slavery. First, the U.S. should ensure that no US taxpayer funds are paid to those who may be complicit in perpetuating trafficking. The U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report evaluates country efforts to comply with minimum standards for combating trafficking in persons. There are four categories. From best to worst, they are: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3. Countries on Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3 include totalitarian and notoriously corrupt regimes, e.g., inter alia, Burundi, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. The U.S. should support the efforts of nongovernmental organizations in Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3 countries that rescue and rehabilitate victims of trafficking and that address challenges to the rule of law. However, aid is fungible and if it ends up in the wrong hands, it can perpetuate precisely the evil that it is provided to stop. The U.S. has a responsibility to ensure that funding for anti-trafficking efforts has appropriate safeguards and reliable oversight so that it does not bolster corrupt governments or governmental entities that are complicit in human trafficking.

Second, the U.S. should ensure that the taxpayers’ money is used in ways that respect the inherent dignity and right to life of every human being. The U.S. should ensure, therefore, that no funds from any U.S. government program established to combat human trafficking are used to perform an abortion, or to assist in or facilitate an abortion, or to coerce any person into performing, assisting, or facilitating an abortion.

Senator Corker (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced S. 553, the End Modern Slavery Initiative (EMSI) Act. The bill would create a congressionally charted 501(c)(3) foundation that could receive funding from the United States government, and from foreign governments and private donors, which it could distribute to NGOs that work to eliminate trafficking. While the portion of the funding from the U.S. government would be covered by existing statutory prohibitions on U.S. Government monies’ being used to fund abortions, the funding from other governments and from private individuals would not be subject to the prohibition. Therefore, in order to be truly effective in the fight against human trafficking and its related evils, the language in the legislation should be strengthened by including a provision to protect human life.

Many Americans rightly feel a strong moral obligation to combat human trafficking around the world. They believe the U.S. should continue to support the most effective programs that reduce trafficking, and those that assist victims and prevent further enslavement, while at the same time upholding the worth of all human beings — whatever their names are, and whether they have been born or not.

Legislative efforts to fight trafficking, including the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act (S. 553), must advance these goals if they are to be regarded as serious, and potentially effective, efforts to combat human trafficking.

All organizations listed for identification purposes only.

The Conservative Action Project, founded by former Attorney General Edwin Meese and chaired by The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop, is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals. Participants include the CEO’s of over 100 organizations representing all major elements of the conservative movement: economic, social and national security.