Witnesses Testify in Congress: "Slavery is Alive and Well"

According to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing to determine reauthorization for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Witnesses at the hearing testified that "slavery is alive and well."

The act is meant to help protect foreign workers brought to the United States by foreign diplomats to work as domestic servants. Some of these workers are enslaved by the diplomats. The diplomats are currently shielded from prosecution due to diplomatic immunity.

While acknowledging the the Trafficking Victims Protection Act is a step in the right direction the American Civil Liberties Union pointed out several weaknesses in the act and have urged Congress to add safeguards to it that they feel will better protect foreign workers.

Legislative Counsel, Vania Leveille, for the American Civil Liberties Union made these comments regarding the Trafficking Victims Protection Act: "These domestic workers, predominantly women, came to America to make an honest living and to provide for themselves and their families, and instead they found themselves enslaved. This problem has existed for years and it's time that our government stopped ignoring the anguish these women suffer. Diplomatic immunity was never intended to allow trafficking with impunity."

Leveille commented further: "We need legislation that will eradicate this form of human trafficking, and we need the United States to tell the rest of the world that slavery is unacceptable, no matter who is doing it. Congress must ensure that no class of traffickers is exempted from punishment and no class of victims remains unprotected."

Diplomats must currently sign contracts promising to treat their workers fairly including providing adequate compensation for the workers labor and allowing them sufficient time off from work. The American Civil Liberties Union points out that the contracts truly accomplish nothing though because there are no laws in place that require the diplomats to abide by the terms of the contract.

This loophole motivated the civil rights group to make specific requests for changes to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to close said loophole and provide domestic workers with more protection from slavery.

The ACLU has specifically asked congress to: require diplomats to sign specific contracts outlining compensation, time off, vacation and other pertinent information; provide with employees with information regarding their employment rights presumably so cultural differences will not allow employees to be tricked into believing that their rights are not being violated and require random, required check-ins with domestic workers to assure that their conditions are good.

The ACLU also, perhaps most importantly, wishes that diplomats be stripped of their immunity if they violate the terms of the contract. This provision would allow the diplomats to be prosecuted should they choose to enslave a worker.