In Cambodia, she said, “I met with women who had been trafficked.’’ Men from the United States, Sanchez said, “are going there supposedly for tourism and going on these sex things mostly with underage children.’’
April 12th, 2010By Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
The Orange County Register (California, USA)
Whether countries like Taiwan, the Philippines and Cambodia are doing what they can to combat human trafficking was at the top of Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s agenda last week when she visited four Southeast Asian countries in six days.
“I went and had meetings with trafficked victims,’’ Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, said Monday. “I had an hourlong discussion with the Minister of Foreign Relations and the Minister of Labor’’ in Taiwan.
Sanchez had hoped to bring these issues to leaders of the government of Vietnam but she was unable to get into the country after officials there ignored her request for a visa, she said.
Sanchez said what she discovered in Taiwan was that it has the laws it needs to help get these women out from under a life of virtual enslavement but that the laws are not being implemented.
“They are trapped,’’ she said. When a woman calls the hot line the government has set up, government officials do respond. But, “they show up with the brokers and the deal-makers who own contracts on these workers.’’
Sanchez said while the United States has diplomats in all these countries who raise these issues with the government, “there’s nothing like a congressman meeting with the president of Taiwan saying this is important to us.’’
Sanchez said the United States has laws that tie good conduct by foreign governments in this area to their receipt of foreign aid. And each year, she said the State Department does an assessment of how well these nations are living up to their promises to thwart these practices.
Taiwan is looking for a better rating in this area than they’ve gotten before, she said. But she pointed out to Taiwan’s President, Ma Ying-jeou, that they need to better implement the laws they have on their books.
In Cambodia, she said, “I met with women who had been trafficked.’’ Men from the United States, Sanchez said, “are going there supposedly for tourism and going on these sex things mostly with underage children.’’
In Vietnam, Sanchez wanted to raise the issue of women being trafficked for sex and for domestic work.
Not receiving a visa from that country’s government is something she has experienced before. Sanchez, who has been an outspoken critic of the government of Vietnam’s record on human rights, was denied access in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, when she was given a visa, she found herself in the middle of an incident where Vietnamese officials refused to allow a group of dissidents to meet with her at the American ambassador’s residence.
“They don’t directly say no,’’ Sanchez said of the Vietnamese government. “What they do is just don’t approve you and then your trips comes and goes and it’s too late.’’
Sanchez said the human trafficking issue has U.S. components, particularly in Orange County, which she called a “destination point” for people from Vietnam and Mexico who are brought here to do domestic work .
“Because we’re such a diverse community here, people don’t notice these people here. We have a lot of it going on.’’
Sanchez said she believes beyond the human rights component of this issue there are national security implications.
“If they have the ability to smuggle people you can also smuggle terrorists, drugs, you have the forging of documents and money laundering,’’ she said.
Sanchez also went to Singapore on this trip to check out port security procedures as part of her work on the Homeland Security Committee.
“I went and had meetings with trafficked victims,’’ Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, said Monday. “I had an hourlong discussion with the Minister of Foreign Relations and the Minister of Labor’’ in Taiwan.
Sanchez had hoped to bring these issues to leaders of the government of Vietnam but she was unable to get into the country after officials there ignored her request for a visa, she said.
Sanchez said what she discovered in Taiwan was that it has the laws it needs to help get these women out from under a life of virtual enslavement but that the laws are not being implemented.
“They are trapped,’’ she said. When a woman calls the hot line the government has set up, government officials do respond. But, “they show up with the brokers and the deal-makers who own contracts on these workers.’’
Sanchez said while the United States has diplomats in all these countries who raise these issues with the government, “there’s nothing like a congressman meeting with the president of Taiwan saying this is important to us.’’
Sanchez said the United States has laws that tie good conduct by foreign governments in this area to their receipt of foreign aid. And each year, she said the State Department does an assessment of how well these nations are living up to their promises to thwart these practices.
Taiwan is looking for a better rating in this area than they’ve gotten before, she said. But she pointed out to Taiwan’s President, Ma Ying-jeou, that they need to better implement the laws they have on their books.
In Cambodia, she said, “I met with women who had been trafficked.’’ Men from the United States, Sanchez said, “are going there supposedly for tourism and going on these sex things mostly with underage children.’’
In Vietnam, Sanchez wanted to raise the issue of women being trafficked for sex and for domestic work.
Not receiving a visa from that country’s government is something she has experienced before. Sanchez, who has been an outspoken critic of the government of Vietnam’s record on human rights, was denied access in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, when she was given a visa, she found herself in the middle of an incident where Vietnamese officials refused to allow a group of dissidents to meet with her at the American ambassador’s residence.
“They don’t directly say no,’’ Sanchez said of the Vietnamese government. “What they do is just don’t approve you and then your trips comes and goes and it’s too late.’’
Sanchez said the human trafficking issue has U.S. components, particularly in Orange County, which she called a “destination point” for people from Vietnam and Mexico who are brought here to do domestic work .
“Because we’re such a diverse community here, people don’t notice these people here. We have a lot of it going on.’’
Sanchez said she believes beyond the human rights component of this issue there are national security implications.
“If they have the ability to smuggle people you can also smuggle terrorists, drugs, you have the forging of documents and money laundering,’’ she said.
Sanchez also went to Singapore on this trip to check out port security procedures as part of her work on the Homeland Security Committee.
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