Friends Fiduciary Urges Congress To Strengthen Legislation Preventing Labor Trafficking And Protecting Child Victims

FFC urges the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary and the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions to co-sponsor and support the “Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination Act of 2013” (FORTE) (H.R. 3344) and the “Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking of 2013” (S. 1823), respectively. Foreign labor contractors, also known as recruiters, are increasingly relied upon to facilitate the migration of labor from one country to another. While many act ethically and lawfully, many others exploit U.S. non-immigrant visa programs, often deceiving and coercing vulnerable workers into debt bondage or other forms of slavery. H.R. 3344 would allow stricter oversight of contractors, and provisions include requiring full and honest disclosures about work terms and conditions and more strictly enforcing the rule against charging recruitment-related fees. Children in the child welfare system are among the most vulnerable to human trafficking, for both commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Recent reports show that the majority of identified child trafficking victims already had contact, often multiple times, with the child welfare system. S. 1823 provisions include amending the Social Security Act, requiring agencies under the Act to report current or future efforts to address the trafficking of children in their care. S. 1823 provisions also include requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and publish guidelines helping agencies better service child victims and at-risk youth. In signing onto these letters to Congress, Friends Fiduciary lends support to the efforts of ATEST, a diverse alliance of U.S.-based human rights organizations, as well as the International Labor Recruitment Working Group (ILRWG). Concurrently, FFC acts on its mission to represent the values and beliefs of its Quaker constituents in advocating for social welfare and responsibility. To view the foreign labor recruitment letter, click here: To view the child welfare letter, click here: