HR 4732
Orphanage Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act
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Bill overview
This bill expands the definition of severe forms of trafficking in persons to include the recruitment, harboring, or transportation of orphaned, abandoned, or minors living in residential facilities like orphanages and group homes. It aims to protect these vulnerable children from exploitation by traffickers who often target them under the guise of care or adoption. The bill recognizes a significant problem of orphanage trafficking, documented by the State Department, and seeks to strengthen U.S. anti-trafficking efforts by explicitly addressing this issue under existing law.
Key provisions
- Expands the definition of severe trafficking to include children in residential facilities.
- Specifically targets the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of orphaned, abandoned, or minors.
- Adds a new subparagraph to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to cover exploitation for various forms of trafficking.
- Addresses fraudulent labeling of children as orphans to facilitate trafficking.
- Aims to strengthen prosecution of perpetrators and protection of victims.
- Recognizes the link between orphanage trafficking and international travel/volun-tourism.
- Considers the impact on legitimate adoption systems.
Who is affected
- Orphaned and abandoned children
- Children in residential facilities (orphanages, group homes, etc.)
- Traffickers and exploiters
- Families of children at risk
- International adoption agencies
Notable changes
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 4732
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To expand the definition of severe forms of trafficking in persons
to include the recruitment, harboring, transportation, transfer, or receipt of orphaned, abandoned, or minors living in public or private residential facilities, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Orphanage Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act
.
Congress finds the following:
Traffickers often target these children under the guise of education, caregiving, or adoption.
orphanage trafficking—the recruitment of children into residential care for the purpose of exploitation and profit—occurs in multiple countries and is increasingly linked to international travel, and volun-tourism.
In some cases, children are fraudulently labeled as orphans and trafficked through inter-country adoption channels, undermining legitimate adoption systems and violating the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done at the Hague on May 29, 1993.
Paragraph (11) of section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102) is amended—
in subparagraph (A), by striking ; or
at the end and inserting a semicolon;
in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or
; and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
the recruitment, harboring, transportation, transfer, or receipt of orphaned, abandoned, or persons living in public or private residential facilities who have not attained 18 years of age, by means of fraud, coercion, force, or abuse of a position of vulnerability, for the purpose of exploitation and profit, forced labor, involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, slavery, child labor, or sex trafficking.