18 November 2005

Ambassador Miller: Thank you. Chris, is this on? Hearing me? Okay, good. Distinguished panelists and distinguished audience, I am so pleased to be with you. I know there are many in this audience who have worked and toiled in the vineyards so hard on this issue and I thank you, and the people of the United States thank you too. During my time here I have met with government officials, I have met with NGO’s, the news media; last night I had a very special visit. We put out a report every year and along with describing the state of slavery in the world we have a section on heroes and a year ago, in June 2004, we named as one of our Anti-Trafficking in Persons Heroes an Italian, Sister Eugenia Bonetti.

(Applause)

And last night I had the privilege and the joy of having dinner with the Sister and her colleagues at a shelter along with many survivors. And of course that brings home what this issue is about because we talk always in terms of categories, and figures, and programs, and I am going to get into that too, but this is a human issue. Human beings made in the image of God are the ones that have suffered and are suffering. Last night I met with a wonderful young woman from Nigeria. A student in Nigeria kidnapped, put under the spell of voodoo, shipped to Italy, beaten, beaten again, locked in a home, beaten again, forced to go out on the street and service hundreds and thousands of men, abortions, forced abortions – a life that is hard to imagine leading and yet, she was able to smile as we had dinner with the sisters. And there was another young woman there from Romania. A child in Romania, friends who were no friends who said you can make some money in Italy, you can work in a factory, got her to Italy and seized her documents and beat her and forced her into prostitution, but she also was able to smile. There is, there is hope.

Who would have thought? Who would have thought that in the 21 st Century we would be talking about slavery? In the 21 st Century? Of course we have euphemisms, we talk about trafficking in persons, but we are really talking about slavery. Many of my fellow citizens in the United States in the last several years as they have learned about this issue they say, “What slavery? Didn’t that end with the American Civil War?” And of course that legally sanctioned slavery based on color in the United States ended with the Civil War, but today we have slavery of many kinds. Sex slavery, domestic servitude slavery, factory slavery, farm slavery, child soldier slavery – I go to Uganda in a week to learn more about that – child camel jockey slavery in the Middle East, all of these different kinds of slavery. One of the speakers mentioned children; our estimate is that when you look at the 800,000 men, women, and children that we believe are trafficked across international borders every year into slavery and you look at the hundreds of thousands more that are internal victims of slavery, anywhere from a third to half of these victims are our children.

Now, let us turn to the United States and Italy. We have special obligations, I believe, my President believes, our Congress believes. We are primarily what we call destination countries, as opposed to source countries. Many people in our two countries think slavery is something that exists in the less-developed countries of the world. Many of the victims come from there, but where do they end up? Who is creating the demand for these victims? It is countries such as the United States, and Italy, and Japan, and all the countries of Western Europe, and Canada, and Australia, etc. Now, if you look at Italy and the United States we have, I am speaking generally, very advanced laws. I know about your Article 18, I know about your criminal code 2003 provisions, we have a Trafficking Victim Protection Act in the United States; we both have very advanced laws, particularly compared to other countries. And we both have many programs, many programs – scores, hundreds of programs – law enforcement programs, victim protection programs, prevention programs; but we should not be praising ourselves too much. We should not be patting ourselves on the back because both of us have so much more to do. I think our challenge, the challenges in both the United States and Italy, are not so much the laws, or the programs – of course they can be improved – I think the challenges are the spirit with which the laws and the programs are implemented. That is the challenge that we face.

Let me give you some examples. We talk the three P’s: prosecution. Yes, in Italy and the United States we have laws that provide for prosecution, but are the arrests leading to investigations, leading to prosecutions, leading to convictions, leading to jail, leading to punishment of traffickers that will deter other traffickers? Another P: protection, victim protection. Yes, we have legal provisions in both countries for victim protection, but are the victims stepping forward? If victims do not step forward, there cannot be prosecution. If victims do not step forward there cannot be compassionate care for victims. Are our police and law enforcement authorities asking sensitive questions? For example, when young women are picked up that may be engaged in prostitution, or may be illegal, are sensitive questions being asked as to whether they are victims? Is there coordination between the law enforcement and the police on the one hand and the NGO’s on the other hand who understand how to help the victims? Are they meeting? Are they exchanging ideas? Are they helping in the questioning? Do our law enforcement authorities while following the technicalities of the law, are they ending up just taking people that may have been picked up for offenses, or because they may be considered illegal, and just shipping them off after a suitable number of days to home countries? Of course, we don’t say shipping off, we say report or repatriate. And what about that third P: prevention? Our laws talk about prevention. Prevention to a large extent means education and education is something that can be directed at potential victims in countries far from ours. That is important. But that is the supply side. As the gentleman from Caritas said earlier, what about the demand side? That’s our side, the destination side, Italy, the United States. What kind of education efforts do we have addressed to our societies? What kind of education do we have addressed to those in our societies that make slaves of domestic servants? What kind of education efforts do we have addressed to out societies to those that make slaves of factory workers? What kind of education efforts do we have in our society to those who do not just conduct the sex trade, the traffickers, and the pimps; but those who create the demand for the sex trade through prostitution? Many, many, many hundreds of thousands of people, and what sort of efforts to change their attitudes? What kind of efforts do we have through our schools? What kind of efforts do we have through our churches, and synagogues, and mosques? What kind of public service announcements do we have on our television and radios? How do we involve the work sectors in this program – businesses and unions, etc.? That is why I say there is so much more to be done. We’re at the beginning. We, Italy, the United States, many others, in the last few years have started to realize that slavery does exist in the 21 st Century. Yes, we now know it exists, but how can it exist? It can exist and continue to exist on this scale if good people do nothing.

That is our challenge. And it is a challenge; yes, it is a challenge for governments. Governments have to do much more. And that means more than resolutions and protocols, more than laws, more even than tax dollars. It means approaching this issue with spirit on the behalf of governments. NGO’s, the civic society, they led the way into our country. If it hadn’t been for faith-based organizations, and to some extent feminist organizations, our government would not have gotten involved. There is so much more for them to do. There is so much more for religious institutions to do – the churches, the synagogues, the mosques – what a force there is there. After all, is this not, not only a civic calling, a moral calling, but a religious calling? In the book that Christianity, and Judaism and Islam all read, the book of Exodus, the Lord tells Moses to go tell Pharaoh to let my people go so that they may serve me. The link between service of God and ending slavery. We talk in this world, and we talk particularly in the United States, about extending freedom, extending democracy. Slavery is the antithesis of freedom. Nothing can be more important to extending freedom around the world than ending slavery. And so, what I think we are all called to do, we’re called to follow in the footsteps of our abolitionist ancestors. I am talking about the people who in the 19 th and 18 th Centuries lead the fight to abolish that slavery, the legal slavery based on color. It took them decades, it took patience and perseverance; it will take us decades, it will take us patience and perseverance, but we have to finish the job. What we need is a 21 st Century abolitionist movement. And what I ask you, and your friends, and your acquaintances, and those you meet, and those you know, I ask all of you to be a part of this abolitionist movement so that we can leave the world and God’s creatures better off.

Thank you.

(Applause)

END