In Case You Missed It: Obama Is Cracking Down on Slavery
In Case You Missed It: Obama Is Cracking Down on Slavery
While the media spent this week scrutinizing polls and deconstructing the 47 percent video, President Obama signed an executive order that experts say could stop US tax dollars from funding human trafficking abroad. But does it go far enough?
Obama made the announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative last Tuesday, just after the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. His executive order targets US federal contractors and subcontractors by explicitly creating a zero-tolerence policy for companies that engage in trafficking.
These contractors and subcontractors charge migrant workers exorbitant fees that they must then pay off, essentially placing them in debt bondage. While workers attempt to pay back their hiring fees, they are sometimes confined to horrible living conditions, without their passports. In Baghdad, for example, about 1,000 workers hired by a US subcontractor were stuck in a windowless warehouse for three months without pay.
The order addresses this practice by prohibiting it under Federal Acquisition Regulation, which oversees government purchases. Obama is also bulking up resources for law enforcement, by providing training to police and prosecutors and expanding legal assistance for trafficking victims.
Last year, a bipartisan legislative commission found that US contingency contractors are using US tax dollars flowing into Iraq and Afghanistan to engage in sex and labor trafficking, often without penalty.