[Stop-traffic] Advocates Briefing: International Marriage Broker Regulation Act
Melanie Orhant
stop-traffic@friends-partners.org
Thu Jan 29 19:39:43 2004
--============_-1136699473==_ma============
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>Attached and also pasted below please find an invitation to join us
>for an "Issue and Strategy Briefing" on Feb. 5th from 1-3:30 pm on
>the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (S1455/HR2949).
>This proposed federal bill would provide foreign-born women with
>critical information about the marital and criminal histories of
>their prospective American husbands, as well as about their legal
>rights and where they can turn for help if they are abused.
>
>Also attached is our sign-on letter reflecting the signatures of
>more than 100 organizations across the country who support the bill.
>If you have not already done so, please consider adding your
>organization's endorsement. The letter will remain open for
>signature through January 30th.
>
>Many thanks!
>____________________
>Jeanne L. Smoot, Esq.
>Public Policy Counsel
>Tahirih Justice Center
><http://www.tahirih.org/>www.tahirih.org
><mailto:jeanne@tahirih.org>jeanne@tahirih.org
>Please note new contact details:
>6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 220
>Falls Church, VA 22041
>phone: (703) 575-0070
>fax: (703) 575-0069
>
>*********
>Issue and Strategy Briefing:
>"International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2003"
>
>
>
>Why: Many of us working as advocates and service providers
>for abused foreign-born women have become aware of the exploitative,
>unregulated international marriage broker industry operating in the
>United States. Many international marriage brokers (IMBs)
>explicitly market their services to men interested in domineering
>relationships with women whom they perceive to be docile and
>powerless; some male clients of these businesses have a criminal
>history or violent past that IMBs ignore when pairing men with a
>potential foreign bride. As a result, many American citizen men who
>utilize the industry severely abuse, exploit, and even murder their
>foreign-born spouses. In response to the high-profile murders of
>several women brutally killed by IMB clients, Washington State has
>already instituted state legislation to regulate the IMB industry.
>Texas and Hawaii have followed suit. But these state-based
>solutions can only be so effective. A national approach is
>desperately needed.
>
>In consultation with advocates, practitioners and issue experts
>nationwide, therefore, and working with Congressional co-sponsors,
>the Tahirih Justice Center has launched a campaign to pass federal
>legislation to end the abuse of foreign-born women by international
>marriage brokers and their clients.<outbind://52/#_ftn1>*
>
>The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2003 (S 1455/HR
>2949) was introduced July 25, 2003 by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
>in the Senate and by Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA) in the House
>of Representatives. The Act seeks to ensure that a foreign woman
>recruited by an IMB has critically important information about the
>marital and criminal history of her prospective American husband, as
>well as about her legal rights and resources available to her if she
>should find herself in an abusive relationship. These requirements
>are intended to empower women to make informed choices to protect
>their safety in "brokered" relationships.
>
>Who: All public policy/legislative/government relations
>departments of national women's and immigrants' advocacy groups, as
>well as other concerned advocates, who are interested in joining us
>to lobby Capitol Hill for broad, bipartisan support for this bill.
>
>What: The briefing will offer an opportunity to discuss the
>dimensions of the problem of abuse in "brokered" relationships
>nationwide and the solutions offered by this legislation; to explore
>in-depth Q&A; and to disseminate advocacy tools and other resources.
>We will also outline a proposed lobbying strategy, and begin to
>identify point people or teams across agencies in our Coalition to
>take on assignments.
>
>
>Where: Arnold & Porter, Room 300, 555 12th Street NW, Washington DC
> Tahirih thanks Arnold & Porter for graciously
>agreeing to host this event, and for partnering with Tahirih in its
>campaign to end the exploitation of foreign-born women by
>international marriage brokers and their clients.
>
>When: Thursday, February 5, 2004, 1-3:30pm
>
>Please RSVP by February 2nd to
><mailto:justice@tahirih.org>justice@tahirih.org. We look forward to
>working with you!
>
>
><outbind://52/#_ftnref1>* The Tahirih Justice Center is a non-profit
>organization in Northern Virginia that provides pro bono legal
>services and public policy advocacy to immigrant and refugee women
>and girls fleeing violence. Our work on this campaign is inspired
>by the experiences of several of our own clients who suffered
>horrific abuse in IMB-arranged marriages.
>
>
--
__________________________
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose
use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.
Stop-Traffic is making this article available in our efforts to
advance understanding of trafficking in persons for forced labor and
human rights issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of
the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US
Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for
purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
__________________________
STOP-TRAFFIC is an open, facilitated, international electronic
listserv. The archive and the server is provided by Friends and
Partners. We would like to extend our appreciation to Friends and
Partners.
Stop-Traffic addresses human rights abuses associated with
trafficking in persons for forced labor, servitude and slavery around
the world, such as in forced factory labor, domestic servitude,
forced prostitution, forced agricultural labor and other forms of
forced labor. The list maintains a strong emphasis on public health
issues associated with trafficking, which affects the physical
safety, health and well-being of millions of women,men and children
worldwide.
WWW.STOP-TRAFFIC.ORG
Melanie Orhant
Stop-Traffic Moderator
--============_-1136699473==_ma============
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Advocates Briefing: International Marriage Broker
Regu</title></head><body>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1">Attached and also pasted
below please find an invitation to join us for an<b> "Issue and
Strategy Briefing" on Feb. 5th from 1-3:30 pm on the
International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (S1455/HR2949).</b> This
proposed federal bill would provide foreign-born women with critical
information about the marital and criminal histories of their
prospective American husbands, as well as about their legal rights and
where they can turn for help if they are abused.<br>
</font> <br>
<font size="-1">Also attached is our sign-on letter reflecting the
signatures of more than 100 organizations across the country who
support the bill. If you have not already done so, please
consider adding your organization's endorsement. The letter will
remain open for signature through January 30th.<br>
</font> <br>
<font size="-1">Many thanks!<br>
<font color="#808080">____________________<br>
</font>Jeanne L. Smoot, Esq.<br>
Public Policy Counsel<br>
Tahirih Justice Center<br>
</font><a href="http://www.tahirih.org/"><font
size="-1">www.tahirih.org</font></a><font size="-1"><br>
</font><a href="mailto:jeanne@tahirih.org"><font
size="-1">jeanne@tahirih.org</font></a><font size="-1"><br>
<font color="#000080"><i>Please note new contact details:</i><br>
</font>6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 220<br>
Falls Church, VA 22041<br>
phone: (703) 575-0070<br>
fax: (703) 575-0069<br>
</font> <br>
<font size="-1">*********</font><br>
<i><b>Issue and Strategy Briefing:</b></i><br>
<i><b>"International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of
2003"</b></i><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><i><b> </b></i><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite><b>Why: </b> Many of us
working as advocates and service providers for abused foreign-born
women have become aware of the exploitative, unregulated international
marriage broker industry operating in the United States. Many
international marriage brokers (IMBs) explicitly market their services
to men interested in domineering relationships with women whom they
perceive to be docile and powerless; some male clients of these
businesses have a criminal history or violent past that IMBs ignore
when pairing men with a potential foreign bride. As a result,
many American citizen men who utilize the industry severely abuse,
exploit, and even murder their foreign-born spouses. In response
to the high-profile murders of several women brutally killed by IMB
clients, Washington State has already instituted state legislation to
regulate the IMB industry. Texas and Hawaii have followed suit.
But these state-based solutions can only be so effective. A
national approach is desperately needed. <br>
<br>
In consultation with advocates, practitioners and issue experts
nationwide, therefore, and working with Congressional co-sponsors, the
Tahirih Justice Center has launched a campaign to pass federal
legislation to end the abuse of foreign-born women by international
marriage brokers and their clients.<a
href="outbind://52/#_ftn1">*</a><br>
<b> </b><br>
The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2003 (S 1455/HR
2949) was introduced July 25, 2003 by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in
the Senate and by Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA) in the House of
Representatives. The Act seeks to ensure that a foreign woman
recruited by an IMB has critically important information about the
marital and criminal history of her prospective American husband, as
well as about her legal rights and resources available to her if she
should find herself in an abusive relationship. These
requirements are intended to empower women to make informed choices to
protect their safety in "brokered" relationships.<br>
<b> </b><br>
<b>Who: </b> All public
policy/legislative/government relations departments of national
women's and immigrants' advocacy groups, as well as other concerned
advocates, who are interested in joining us to lobby Capitol Hill for
broad, bipartisan support for this bill.<br>
<br>
<b>What: </b> The briefing will offer an
opportunity to discuss the dimensions of the problem of abuse in
"brokered" relationships nationwide and the solutions
offered by this legislation; to explore in-depth Q&A; and to
disseminate advocacy tools and other resources. We will also
outline a proposed lobbying strategy, and begin to identify point
people or teams across agencies in our Coalition to take on
assignments.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Where: </b> Arnold & Porter, Room 300,
555 12th Street NW, Washington DC<br>
<b
> <span
></span> </b><i> Tahirih thanks Arnold &
Porter for graciously agreeing to host this event, and for partnering
with Tahirih in its campaign to end the exploitation of foreign-born
women by international marriage brokers and their
clients.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b> </b><br>
<b>When: Thursday, February 5,
2004, 1-3:30pm</b><br>
<br>
<i><b>Please RSVP by February 2nd to</b></i> <a
href="mailto:justice@tahirih.org"><i><b>justice@tahirih.org</b></i></a
><i><b>. We look forward to working with you!</b></i><br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="outbind://52/#_ftnref1">*</a><i> The Tahirih Justice Center
is a non-profit organization in Northern Virginia that provides pro
bono legal services and public policy advocacy to immigrant and
refugee women and girls fleeing violence. Our work on this
campaign is inspired by the experiences of several of our own clients
who suffered horrific abuse in IMB-arranged marriages.</i><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div><br>
<br>
__________________________<br>
<br>
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use
has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.
Stop-Traffic is making this article available in our efforts to
advance understanding of trafficking in persons for forced labor and
human rights issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of
the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US
Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for
purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.<br>
<br>
__________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
STOP-TRAFFIC is an open, facilitated, international electronic
listserv. The archive and the server is provided by Friends and
Partners. We would like to extend our appreciation to Friends
and Partners.<br>
<br>
Stop-Traffic addresses human rights abuses associated with trafficking
in persons for forced labor, servitude and slavery around the world,
such as in forced factory labor, domestic servitude, forced
prostitution, forced agricultural labor and other forms of forced
labor. The list maintains a strong emphasis on public health
issues associated with trafficking, which affects the physical safety,
health and well-being of millions of women,men and children
worldwide.<br>
<br>
WWW.STOP-TRAFFIC.ORG<br>
<br>
Melanie Orhant<br>
Stop-Traffic Moderator</div>
</body>
</html>
--============_-1136699473==_ma============--