A concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of observing the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness on January 11 of each year to raise awareness of and opposition to human trafficking.

Whereas the United States has a tradition of advancing fundamental human rights;

Whereas because the people of the United States remain committed to protecting individual freedom, there is a national imperative to eliminate human trafficking, including early or forced marriage, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, labor obtained through debt bondage, involuntary servitude, slavery, and slavery by descent;

Whereas to combat human trafficking in the United States and globally, the people of the United States and the Federal Government, including local and State governments, must be aware of the realities of human trafficking and must be dedicated to stopping this contemporary manifestation of slavery;

Whereas beyond all differences of race, creed, or political persuasion, the people of the United States face national threats together and refuse to let human trafficking exist in the United States and around the world;

Whereas the United States should actively oppose all individuals, groups, organizations, and nations who support, advance, or commit acts of human trafficking;

Whereas the United States must also work to end human trafficking around the world through education;

Whereas victims of human trafficking need support in order to escape and to recover from the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma associated with their victimization;

Whereas human traffickers use many physical and psychological techniques to control their victims, including the use of violence or threats of violence against the victim or the victim’s family, isolation from the public, isolation from the victim’s family and religious or ethnic communities, language and cultural barriers, shame, control of the victim’s possessions, confiscation of passports and other identification documents, and threats of arrest, deportation, or imprisonment if the victim attempts to reach out for assistance or to leave;

Whereas although laws to prosecute perpetrators of human trafficking and to assist and protect victims of human trafficking have been enacted in the United States, awareness of the issues surrounding human trafficking by those people most likely to come into contact with victims is essential for effective enforcement because the techniques that traffickers use to keep their victims enslaved severely limit self-reporting; and

Whereas the effort by individuals, businesses, organizations, and governing bodies to promote the observance of the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness on January 11 of each year represents one of the many examples of the ongoing commitment in the United States to raise awareness of and to actively oppose human trafficking: Now, therefore, be it