HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	337
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the director of human services to facilitate provision of social services to victims of human trafficking pending repatriation or determination of residency STATUS.

WHEREAS, trafficking in persons — the illegal and highly profitable recruitment, transport, or sale of human beings into all forms of forced labor and servitude, including trafficking into forced marriage — is a tragic and complex human rights abuse; and

     WHEREAS, women and children are particularly vulnerable to this slavery-like practice, due largely to the persistent inequalities they face in status and opportunity worldwide; and

     WHEREAS, corrupt officials facilitate the trafficking, accepting bribes to falsify documents and provide protection; and

     WHEREAS, many governments treat trafficked persons as illegal aliens, criminals, or both, exposing them to further abuse; and

     WHEREAS, there is a need to curtail this human rights abuse through legal regulations and punitive measures as well as by creating institutional mechanisms for the protection and support of trafficked persons while in the United States, including support in either becoming citizens or repatriation to their home countries; and

WHEREAS, House Bill No. 1784 makes trafficking of humans a crime with penalties, it does not address the need to find solutions to trafficking, giving in-country support to the victims of this crime while they are in the State of Hawaii by either assisting these victims to become residents or citizens of Hawaii or by facilitating a return to their home country; and

     WHEREAS, in the Philippines Republic Act 9208, Section 14, the court shall order the confiscation and forfeiture in favor of the government of all the proceeds and properties derived from the commission of the crime and put them into a trust fund which shall be administered by an Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for programs that will prevent acts of trafficking and protect, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked persons into the mainstream of society; and

     WHEREAS, trafficked persons in Hawaii who are nationals of a foreign country should also be entitled to appropriate protection, assistance, and services such as legal services, health care, emergency shelters, skills training, and educational assistance to trafficked children; and

     WHEREAS, a single state agency should be designated to take primary responsibility for facilitating the repatriation of trafficked persons unless repatriation would expose the victims to greater risks, in which case this agency should undertake such efforts as may be necessary for the extension of appropriate residency permits and protection, as may be legally permissible in the State of Hawaii; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Human Services is requested to facilitate the provision of social services by public and private agencies to victims of trafficking until such time as the person secures a visa, certification, or a work authorization card from the Department of Homeland Security or other federal agency or to facilitate the person's return to their country of origin if they wish to do so; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Services.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking