RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HEARINGS CONCERNING THE RISE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CHICAGO
WHEREAS, The Scottish poet, Robert Burns famed 1784 phrase, "'Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn" can well summate the cruel and tragic consequences that the practice human trafficking has had on mankind through the annals of history; and ,
WHEREAS, Whether called slavery of any kind, indentured servitude, or human smuggling, human trafficking has brought untold misery upon not only the victims but also their families and the communities wherein they lived; and
WHEREAS, Whether those individuals submit to being trafficked voluntarily, semi-voluntarily or against their will, they are victims of that consequential inhumanity that precludes recorded history; and
WHEREAS, Although slavery certainly existed before the 1400s, this epoch marked the start of Portuguese slave trading with the transporting of Africans to Portugal for use as slaves. The British started African slave trading in 1562. Throughout the 1600s, the slave trade flourished in countries like Spain, North America, Holland, France, Sweden, and Denmark; and
WHEREAS, At the beginning of the 20th Century, various governments began to take action in an attempt to curb some of human trafficking's most nefarious practices. The United Kingdom, India, Germany, Prussia, Belgian, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland signed an International Agreement for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic in 1904 to curb the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution; and
WHEREAS, Although human trafficking takes on many forms, the highest profile and the most insidious is the transporting and selling of individuals for forced prostitution. In 1932, the Japanese forced thousands of Asian women into the notorious "comfort stations" for their military personnel; and
WHEREAS, In 1995, the United Nations held their Fourth World Conference to address the iss...
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