Subject: [Stop-traffic] News/US: Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 signed into l aw
From: Walsh, Maureen (Maureen.Walsh@mail.house.gov)
Date: Thu Nov 02 2000 - 11:14:46 EST
Clinton Signs Bill Protecting Women
Saturday, October 28, 2000
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stating that every 12
seconds a woman
in the United States is beaten, President
Clinton signed legislation
into law on Saturday to combat domestic abuse
and crack down
on global traffickers who force women into
the sex trade.
Clinton said the new law was the "most
significant step we've ever
taken to secure the health and safety of
women at home and
around the world."
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, who
sponsored the bill,
said it was tantamount to declaring "war on
those who prey on
women."
Approved overwhelmingly by the House of
Representatives and the
Senate earlier this month, the legislation
reauthorizes the 1994
Violence Against Women Act and provides $3.3
billion over five
years to expand shelters for battered women
and children and to
prosecute wife beaters.
The Clinton administration, eager to shore up
support from women
for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore,
made renewal of the
law a priority.
"Domestic violence is a criminal activity. It
devastates its victims
and affects us all," Clinton said in his
weekly radio address 10 days
before the Nov. 7 election. "It destroys
families, relationships and
lives, and it tears at the fabric of who we
are as a people."
Domestic violence is the No. 1 health risk
for women between the
ages of 15 and 44, with an estimated 900,000
U.S. victims a year.
The legislation will also provide $95 million
to crack down on sex
trafficking, which is fast becoming a top
source of income for
organized crime.
It provides for punishment of up to life
imprisonment for
traffickers, makes assistance available for
victims who wish to sue
their captors, provides shelter and
authorizes changes in
immigration laws to allow relief from rapid
deportation so human
smuggling cases can be prosecuted.
Sex trafficking is believed to involve over 1
million women and
young girls worldwide, an estimated 50,000 of
whom are forced
into prostitution or other forms of slave
labor in the United States
alone.
"Let those who rape, batter, exploit, and
abuse women and girls
be put on notice -- we're coming after you to
put you in jail,"
Smith said.
The broad legislation also contains a
provision to make it easier for
former hostages and other victims of terror
to collect
compensation from nations that sponsor such
acts.
Specifically, the bill authorizes the
president to take possession of
Cuban assets located in the United States in
order to pay
court-awarded damages to victims and their
families. In the case
of Iran, it authorizes direct payments to
victims.
Clinton Signs Law Against Violence
Saturday, October 28, 2000
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton, noting
that a woman is
beaten in America every 12 seconds, signed
legislation reinforcing
the Violence Against Women Act by covering
women abused by their
boyfriends, helping battered immigrant women
and attacking
international traffic in human beings.
The new law, he said in his weekly radio
address on Saturday, is
``the most significant step we've ever taken
to secure the health
and safety of women at home and around the
world.''
Domestic violence is the No. 1 health risk
for women between the
ages of 15 and 44, Clinton said. Almost
one-third of women killed
in the United States are victims of husbands,
ex-husbands or
boyfriends.
``Every 12 seconds, another woman is
beaten,'' he said. ``That's
nearly 900,000 victims every year.''
Presenting the Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection
Act as an example of congressional
bipartisanship in action,
Clinton also urged Congress to complete its
work on the federal
budget.
``It's time for Congress to set
partisanship aside on the last
two unfinished bills, and complete a budget
with smaller class
sizes, modern classrooms, family tax cuts and
a higher minimum
wage,'' Clinton said, itemizing his budget
priorities.
The anti-violence bill Clinton signed also
contains a provision
to help stop what the president called the
``insidious global
practice'' of trafficking in human beings.
``Every year, 1 million or more women,
children and men are
forced or tricked into lives of utter misery
- into prostitution,
sweatshop work, domestic or farm labor or
debt bondage,'' he said.
``This is slavery, plain and simple.''
It's not just a problem in foreign
countries, he said. ``Each
year, as many as 50,000 people are brought to
the United States for
this cruel purpose,'' he said.
The legislation sets harsh penalties for
those who trade in
human beings. It requires convicted
traffickers to forfeit assets
and make restitution to those they have
exploited. And it gives
victims better access to shelters, counseling
and medical care.
It also increases U.S. assistance to other
countries to help
them track down and punish offenders and
provides sanctions for
nations that refuse to act against the
practice.
The law reauthorizes and strengthens the
Violence Against Women
Act, passed in 1994.
The new law continues providing money for
grant programs to help
police investigate violence against women and
provide victims'
services. It expands the investigation and
prosecution of crimes of
violence against women and continues to fund
the National Domestic
Violence hot line. It also provides new
protections for mistreated
immigrants; expands assistance to programs
targeting dating
violence; and gives more money to American
Indians who are victims
of domestic violence.
``Domestic violence is a criminal
activity,'' Clinton said. ``It
devastates its victims and affects us all. It
increases health
costs, keeps people from showing up to work,
prevents them from
performing at their best.''
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