POLICY REFORM

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York speaks about human trafficking on Captiol Hill

At the Tronie Foundation, we’re committed to strengthening laws against human traffickers and helping restore  the survivors.   We’ve refused to stay silent about the horrors of modern day slavery, and have helped take the cause from the steps of the Washington State capitol to the steps of the White House.

We are proud to have worked with bi-partisan legislators to help make Washington state a national model for reform.   Beginning in 2002, our founders helped craft legislation making Washington state the first in the country to pass statewide trafficking legislation.   But we didn’t stop there.  Over the next six years, the Tronie Foundation collaborated with legislators to add additional legal protections for victims, including providing them with services and safety measures.

READ: Kohl-Welles legislation to offer confidentiality to human trafficking victims.

By invitation, our co-founder Rani Hong has joined with some of the most prominent and well-educated authorities in our country to bring the issue of human trafficking to the national forefront, including then-Ambassador John Miller, and the Senior Advisory to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  Rani joined  influential Americans, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, and international participants  from 100 countries in a World Summit hosted by the U.S. Department of State.   They reviewed the most successful strategies against trafficking and discussed innovative methods to combat traffickers and restore victims. Read On

Crucial conferences and summits like these help pull together facts about the magnitude of human trafficking and help raise awareness both nationally and abroad.

READ: Victims No Longer: Research on Child Survivors of Trafficking for Sexual and Labor Exploiatation in the United States Final Report
              CRS Report for Congress: Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International Response

Dr. Laura Lederer, Senior Director for Global Projects from the U.S. Department of State, Ruth Ada Kamara, a survivor of human trafficking and Anti-Trafficking Community Educator for FAAST Sierra Leone, and Congresswoman Thelma Drake of Virgina speak about human trafficking on Captiol Hill.

The Tronie Foundation celebrates these achievements.  We successfully petitioned state legislators  to proclaim January 11 Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Washington State,  Additionally, we succeeded  in asking WA St to acknowledge Freedom Day, February 1, the day President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery.  This holiday promotes equal opportunity among all citizens, and calls on us to remember that the United States is a nation dedicated to the ideal of freedom.  Our founders believe this resolution will raise awareness of this crime and how it impacts us right in our own communities.