Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn introduced a resolution Thursday that would designate Sunday, July 30, as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
Blackburn’s resolution, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller, highlights human trafficking around the world, particularly in China, Russia and North Korea. It also notes human trafficking’s gender disparity, with 55% of forced labor victims and 68% of forced marriage victims being girls, according to the resolution. The United Nations has recognized World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30 since 2013.
“Despite being outlawed in every nation, modern day slavery exists around the world, including in the United States,” the resolution reads. The text cites a 2022 report finding “49,600,000 people in modern day slavery, including 27,600,000 in forced labor and 22,000,000 in forced marriage” in 2021. Mauritania, the last country in the world to outlaw slavery, did not do so until 1981, and did not make owning slaves a crime until 2007.
Read the resolution here:
DAV23G73 by Michael Ginsberg on Scribd
“There are an estimated 28 million human trafficking victims worldwide, with at least 3.3 million children experiencing forced labor,” Blackburn said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “This World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, may we recommit to doing everything within our power to end this egregious practice once and for all.”
As part of the Combat Human Trafficking Act of 2015, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is required to publish an annual report detailing human trafficking arrests, prosecutions, convictions and sentences. According to BJS, 1,343 people were prosecuted for human trafficking in 2020, and 658 were convicted. (RELATED: California Assembly Committee Blocks Bill Which Would Have Made Child Trafficking A ‘Serious Felony’)
The FBI’s “Operation Cross Country,” conducted in August 2022, rescued 84 minor victims of child sex trafficking, primarily in New Jersey. Law enforcement officials identified or arrested 85 people, according to a Bureau press release.
“Human trafficking is among the most heinous crimes the FBI encounters,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time. “Unfortunately, such crimes—against both adults and children—are far more common than most people realize. As we did in this operation, the FBI and our partners will continue to find and arrest traffickers, identify and help victims, and raise awareness of the exploitation of our most vulnerable populations.”