Posted on: Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Task force to help fight against human trafficking
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
A new task force formed to improve government and public vigilance against human trafficking has begun planning ways to help in the fight against forced labor and human-rights violations. Education and training programs are pegged for this summer.
The Hawaii Anti-Trafficking Task Force was formed after November's Human Trafficking Conference sponsored by the Globalization Research Center.
The group includes representatives of the Honolulu Police Department, agencies serving victims of domestic violence and the U.S. Attorney's Office and is seeking to get other participants, said Nancie Caraway, who directed the conference.
"We need representatives from labor, Waikiki hotels, the tourism authority," she said. "We want to get the military involved, as well as customs and immigration — they're the ones who have the contacts with the victims."
There are no statistics on the extent of human trafficking in Hawai'i, Caraway said, but there is suspicion that a place positioned in the middle of the Pacific would be a gateway for profit-seekers trafficking people across international lines.
The issue has gained attention here because of the Feb. 21 conviction of Kil Soo Lee, owner of the Daewoosa Samoa Ltd. clothing factory in American Samoa. Lee was found guilty of conspiracy, extortion, money laundering and 11 counts of involuntary servitude in the employment of Vietnamese and Chinese immigrant workers.
Caraway said the task force hopes to have workshops on trafficking in July, to coincide with the presence here of federal trafficking investigators for Lee's sentencing in Honolulu's District Court.
In addition, she said, state Rep. Marilyn Lee, a task force member, introduced a bill that gives mail-order brides more ready access to their prospective spouse's criminal and marital histories. Mail-order brides are vulnerable to trafficking and often are held in bondage, she said. The bill is awaiting the governor's signature.
The task force plans to seek grants to finance public education programs and to work with similar groups in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Seattle.
