US to give more teeth to human trafficking laws

WASHINGTON, Friday (AFP) - The United States is to give more teeth to laws against human trafficking and widen criteria under which nations are blacklisted, officials said.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill late Wednesday providing greater powers to prosecute American traffickers abroad and those who launder money through such illicit activities.

US civilian contractors, federal employees and even their dependents accused of human trafficking overseas could be prosecuted in US courts under the bill.

US military personnel in South Korea have been accused previously of patronizing bars with women from the Philippines and Russia who had been forced into the sex trade.

"We want to get everyone thinking protection, prosecution and prevention - all of these are mutually reinforcing obviously but the more we do that, I think the better we stop this modern day slavery," Republican legislator Chris Smith, the author of the bill, told AFP in an interview.

He expected the "very comprehensive" bill to also be passed by the Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush, who is "strongly in favour" of the legislation.

"With a crime as abhorrent as human trafficking, it is essential that the United States takes the lead and that includes within our own borders," said Smith, who just returned from a trip to Asia where he had campaigned strongly for stiffer measures against trafficking in persons.

The bill tightens criteria that blacklists governments turning a blind eye to human trafficking.

The bill requires governments to reduce demand for commercial sex acts and prevent citizens from participating in sex tourism.

Following violations among UN peacekeeping troops in several countries this year, the bill requires governments to investigate and punish any of their peacekeepers who engage in or facilitate trafficking.

"This is a significant piece of legislation that, for the first time, expands domestic trafficking protections in the United States and also targets prostitution and the sex trade industry for the first time," Smith said.

"It will have a large effect on the sex trade industry not only in the US, but across the globe specifically in Asia, where the sex trade problem is so rampant," Smith said.

Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across international borders, mostly women and children, including 14,500-17,500 persons into the United States.

Smith said in the past four years, twice as many people in the United States had been prosecuted and convicted for trafficking than in the prior four-year period.

Worldwide, he said, more than 3,000 traffickers were convicted last year, during which also about 40 countries tightened or introduced new laws against trafficking.

According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would provide 361 million dollars over the next two years to combat trafficking in persons worldwide.

The money would also be used for upgrading or building rehabilitation centers for victims of trafficking so that they could equip themselves with vocational skills to help reintegrate them into society, Smith said.