Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has made it a priority of his administration to combat trafficking of human beings for sex, hard labor, military conscription and other acts of modern day slavery. He commented today on the U.S. Senate’s passing of a victims’ rights bill for survivors of trafficking:
“I am pleased U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle overcame any political maneuvering and joined together to pass unanimously the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. I have witnessed up close and very personally how human trafficking and sex slavery destroys the lives of young children and women alike. Few make it out of enslavement alive. Those who do escape vitally need resources to begin healing from the atrocities they have endured. This bill can empower them to begin a very long road to recovery. It’s not a Conservative versus Progressive issue but a Humanitarian one that requires all voices uniting to sound a warning cry. I urge the same bipartisan support in the House on such an important bill.
“I look forward to testifying this May in front of Congress in favor of another important human trafficking bill that will allow us in law enforcement to better investigate and coordinate sex trafficking and other human slavery cases with agencies in other countries. I plan to share with the committee my personal experiences fighting the child sex trafficking threat, which remains rampant worldwide. With over 20 million worldwide victims, mostly women, and 5.5 million children, this despicable practice generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and has become the second most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world. It will be a great day for these victims, their families and our society when this legislation becomes law, and starts to bring some hope to survivors in an otherwise bleak environment. I remain optimistic that rescue-oriented organizations like Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) will continue to liberate and rehabilitate young girls and boys from around the world, while helping to put traffickers and sexual abusers behind bars like we did last October in Colombia during an O.U.R.-led sting.”
