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Jamie Rubin: So there is this law now, The Victims of Trafficking Act that was signed by President Clinton in 2000. You are now a Senator; you get to monitor the implementation of laws. How do you think it's going?
Hillary Clinton: I think we've made a lot of progress, and I want to point out this was a bipartisan effort -- colleagues in the Congress like Congressman Chris Smith in the House, Senator Sam Brownback here in the Senate. So this was a bipartisan effort that led to the legislation, and we've made progress. There have been something between 50 and 100 prosecutions. That's not a lot, but at least we're beginning to go after the perpetrators. Programs around the country have been given funding to help train police officers and provide victim assistance. We have maintained a spotlight on this issue in bilateral discussions at the highest level. The State Department has --
Jamie Rubin: They have continued to do that?
Hillary Clinton: They have continued to do that, and I appreciate the Bush Administration's commitment to this issue. So we've made progress. Have we done everything I'd like to see? Of course not. And there will be a reauthorization of the legislation, hopefully this year or next, that we can try to improve on and learn from what has happened in the past. But we still haven't yet raised public awareness. Not only here in the United States, but around the world, so that people understand the horrible nature of this crime, and that they don't just view it as a cultural artifact or a way of someone looking for a better life and maybe being mistreated, but no harm done. They've got to understand that this is really at root a criminal enterprise that crosses all boundaries.
Jamie Rubin: When we're talking about the smuggling of people and essentially slavery, other countries have been less helpful than the United States in trying to put a stop to it. Do you think that we should use this law as provision to name them, to shame them, to sanction them? How should we approach that problem?
Hillary Clinton: Well, we need to start raising the profile of the issue. And we do issue the names of countries that don't cooperate on drug running and criminal enterprise having to do with smuggling drugs. We talk about countries that have porous borders when it comes to arms trafficking, when it comes to terrorism. I think trafficking of people should join that list, that hall of shame, so that we do shine that spotlight. There are many brave law enforcement officials, civic groups, and NGOs inside a lot of these countries who are trying to prevent trafficking, who are trying to get the word out to young women who read an ad that promises a good job in a rich country like the United States or somewhere in Europe. And we need to make it clear with the highest level of public attention that these are bait and switch operations and to try to provide support so that people inside a lot of the countries that haven't given enough attention to this can bring pressure on their own governments.
Jamie Rubin: So if you had your way, there would probably be a little bit more attention from this government, the Bush Administration, in shining that spotlight on other countries.
Hillary Clinton: I think it would be helpful. I understand there are many other issues that we have to negotiate over with many nations. And in particular now with the war on terrorism, we need to keep the involvement and good offices of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Jamie Rubin: Particularly in the former Soviet Union countries, which are a problem.
Hillary Clinton: That's right. But I also think that we could raise this. In the two and a half years that I've been in the Senate, the Vital Voices initiative has continued to work on this under the leadership of Melanne Verveer, and we've had a number of delegations of people from some of these countries. They've come to my office so that I could greet them, and they are proud of what they are doing to combat trafficking. They need a little more help. They need some positive reinforcement, and the United States is the place from which that has to come.
Jamie Rubin: And money?
Hillary Clinton: I think it would be useful to look at how we could help build up some of the law enforcement resources and the public awareness campaigns in some of these countries.
Jamie Rubin: This trafficking issue is part of the broader movement of peoples. After the end of the Cold War, we projected this image of openness to the world and now they all want to come, and we're shutting our doors and they're having to go to smugglers to sneak through our borders. Isn't this ironic, historically, that we're now sort of shutting down at the very moment when the world has become more and more free?
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Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
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