THE
PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for coming. I
appreciate you all being here. In a moment I'll have the honor of
signing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime
in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are
bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals. Our
nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery. And
this bipartisan bill will help expand our efforts to combat this brutal
crime that steals innocence and destroys lives.
I want to thank the members of the United States Congress who have
joined me here. I appreciate Senator Sam Brownback; Chris Smith, Deborah
Pryce, and Carolyn Maloney for their hard work on this important
legislation. (Applause.) I appreciate the Secretary of State who has
joined us here. (Applause.) And the Attorney General, Al Gonzales.
(Applause.) And his wife.
In today's world, too often human traffickers abuse the trust of
children and expose them to the worst of life at a young age. It takes a
perverse form of evil to exploit and hurt those vulnerable members of
society. Human traffickers operate with greed and without conscience,
treating their victims as nothing more than goods and commodities for
sale to the highest bidder. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of
people around the world have been trafficked against their will, across
international boundaries, and many have been forced into sexual
servitude. Thousands of teenagers and young girls are trafficked into
the United States every year. They're held hostage. They're forced to
submit to unspeakable evil. America has a particular duty to fight this
horror because human trafficking is an affront to the defining promise
of our country.
We're attacking this problem aggressively. Over the past four years,
the Department of Homeland Security has taken new measures to protect
children from sexual predators, as well as pornography and prostitution
rings. The Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with
faith-based and community organizations to form anti-trafficking
coalitions in 17 major cities across our country. The Department of
Justice has more than tripled the number of cases brought against these
traffickers.
The bill I sign today will help us to continue to investigate and
prosecute traffickers and provide new grants to state and local law
enforcement. Yet, we cannot put the criminals out of business until we
also confront the problem of demand. Those who pay for the chance to
sexually abuse children and teenage girls must be held to account.
(Applause.) So we'll investigate and prosecute the customers, the
unscrupulous adults who prey on the young and the innocent.
We also have a duty to reach out to victims of trafficking, some of
whom were smuggled into this country as children. The legislation I sign
today will help us provide important new services to these victims,
including appointing a guardian for young victims and providing access
to residential treatment facilities to help victims get a chance at a
better life.
We'll continue to call on other nations to take action against
trafficking within their own borders. Three years ago, at the United
Nations, I asked other governments to pass laws making human trafficking
a crime. Since then, many have risen to the challenge. Secretary Rice
and I will continue to press the others to rise to the challenge. We are
working with the nations of Southeast Asia and others to crack down on
sex tourism. America is a compassionate and decent nation, and we will
not tolerate an industry that preys on the young and the vulnerable. The
trade in human beings continues in our time and we are called by
conscience and compassion to bring this cruel practice to an end.
For those of you who have worked on this bill, thank you very much.
For those of you who are involved in this important struggle, I
appreciate your efforts, continue to do so. For those of you who are
providing the compassionate care to those who have been affected by
human trafficking, thank you for your love. And for those of you in
Congress who have worked to make this reality, good work. (Applause.)
(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)