THE AMERICAN GI FORUM OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the American GI Forum of the United States was established in 1948 to address Mexican American Veteran and their families Civil Rights issues, and

WHEREAS, the American GI Forum of the United States was Congressionally Charted in 1998, becoming a greater voice in the halls of Congress in behalf of veterans, and

WHEREAS, the American GI Forum is committed to upholding the Constitution of the United States, including those rights related to protecting the individual rights of all citizens, and

WHEREAS, human trafficking is a global phenomenon that traps millions in cycles of exploitation for sex or labor and is often called “modern slavery”; it is a direct affront to individual human rights and jeopardizes community health, and

WHEREAS, human trafficking generates about $36 billion each year and about one of every four of these dollars circulate in the United States, where freedom is an inalienable right, and

WHEREAS, human trafficking is inclusive of the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of commercial sex acts.  Children in “the life” are considered victims of severe forms of trafficking, and they are in our communities and schools, and

WHEREAS:, research by the Polaris Project indicates that the majority of trafficked persons come from vulnerable groups, including undocumented migrants, runaways and at risk youth, oppressed and marginalized groups and the poor, and that this occurs specifically because they are easiest to recruit and control.  Many of these young people are our students, and

WHEREAS, some state Organizations for Victim Assistance and state Projects to Comprehensive Combat Human Trafficking have been charged with responding to the needs of trafficking victims and investigating and prosecuting traffickers.  Other national organizations, have established and maintained infrastructure, to combat child sex trafficking and educate the public about the issue.  In 2013, the Trafficking Victim Protection Act was reauthorized to protect and prevent, yet there is work to be done, and therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, that the American GI Forum of the United States support the fight to end the human trafficking and especially condemn the ongoing exploitation and profit from sex trafficking with children, therefore

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American GI Forum of the United States help prevent child trafficking by providing training to ensure that members have the skills to identify indicators of children at risk and to identify signs of child trafficking, therefore

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American GI Forum of the United States, reclaim the promise of healthy communities by supporting legislation to eradicate human trafficking in the United States and abroad.

This resolution was adopted at the Annual Conference of the American GI Forum in Albuquerque, NM on July 20-22, 2017.