Update to TVPRA--Hooray!

On June 29, 2011, a bill called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Leahy (VT), Brown (MA), Kerry (MA), Boxer (CA), Cardin (MD), and Wyden (OR).

This bi-partisan legislation is critical - it will renew the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which established the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, authorized the annual Trafficking in Persons report, and established human trafficking as a punishable crime here in the U.S.

Abolitionists around the country are calling on Congress to pass the TVPRA quickly.

What can you do to help: Please contact you U.S Senators and let them know how important it is to renew the TVPRA. Here is an example of what you can tell your senator:

Dear Senator:

I write to express support for the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S.1301).

As you may know, there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today. The TVPRA would sustain and improve life-saving U.S. programs that combat slavery around the world and within our borders.

In particular, this legislation would give additional resources and diplomatic authority to the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP)--our government's most important asset for combating modern-day slavery internationally. TIP's skilled diplomats monitor slavery and press governments around the world to confront it. By providing grant funding to organizations , the TIP Office has enabled the rescue and rehabilitation of thousands of survivors of human trafficking, and the prosecution and conviction of hundreds of trafficking perpetrators.

I urge you to co-sponsor the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and to protect the TIP Office's small budget from further cuts. Please help maintain U.S. leadership in the fight against modern-day slavery by defending the programs that serve the most vulnerable among us.