Joint Statement Delivered by Minister Jiang Duan on Issues of Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in the U.S. at the Interactive Dialogue with SR on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
2021-09-17 23:56

Madam President,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of a group of countries. Human trafficking and forced labor are serious human rights violations, which in particular harm women and children. The U.S. practiced in history abhorrent slavery and slave trade, and remains plagued with human trafficking and forced labor to this date. According to statistics, nearly 100,000 people are trafficked to the U.S. from abroad for forced labor every year; at least 500,000 people are subjected to contemporary forms of slavery in the U.S.; a large number of children are trapped working in agricultural sector in the U.S., many of them started to work from the age of 8; roughly 240,000 to 325,000 women and children in the U.S. are victims of sexual slavery; the average life expectancy of children after sex trafficking is 7 years. Behind these numbers are tragedies, broken families and individuals whose fundamental rights are trampled upon.

The connivance, indifference and inaction of the U.S. government are the root causes of rampant human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S.. Under the dominance of White Supremacy, discrimination against migrants, women, children and racial minorities prevails in the U.S.. Various forms of discrimination intertwine with poverty, drug crime and proliferation of guns, which combine to cause widespread contemporary forms of slavery. The U.S. is the only country in the world that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC); nor it ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW); the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows forced labor of prisoners, and all these have abetted forced labor in the U.S..

The U.S. must take immediate actions to ratify core human rights treaties, including CRC and CEDAW, crack down on all crimes of human trafficking and forced labor, rescue hundreds of thousands of women and children from tragic situations of being hurt and mutilated, and bring those responsible to justice. The Human Rights Council, OHCHR, Special Procedures, including the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, should attend to issues of human trafficking and forced labor in the U.S. and take necessary actions.

Thank you, Madam President.