Resources
purchase viagra buy CIALIS Acheter Cialis moins cher buy cheap cialis
IJM Delivers Thousands of "Abolition Pledge" Postcards to Office of Senator Richard Durbin
 PRINT |
Tuesday, 06 January 2009

Washington, DC -- International Justice Mission today delivered more than 5,000 “Abolition Pledge” postcards, signed by Willow Creek Community Church members, to the office of Illinois Senator Richard Durbin. The postcards urge the Senator to ask President Obama to support strong anti-trafficking and anti-slavery diplomacy and foreign policies, to provide generous funding for the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP), and to support U.S. trade legislation that encourages governments and producers to eliminate forced labor and child labor from exports to the U.S. IJM met with Senator Durbin’s entire foreign policy team to discuss the recommendations, which were well received.

IJM Vice President of Government Relations Holly Burkhalter displays some of the more than 5,000 Abolition Postcards from Willow Creek Community Church congregants before delivering them to the Senator’s office.

Senator Durbin, who chairs a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights in the Law, is the author of two significant provisions in the recently-enacted Trafficking Victims Protection Act, signed into law by President Bush on December 23, 2008. Durbin’s “Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act” allows federal prosecutors to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes committed abroad if perpetrators are found in the U.S. The Senator also authored another major provision, the “Child Soldier Prevention Act,” which provides diplomatic tools to encourage governments to disarm and rehabilitate child soldiers.

Holly Burkhalter, IJM’s Vice President for Government Relations, stated, “It seems clear from the 5,000 postcards IJM delivered to Senator Richard Durbin from Willow Creek Community Church that men and women in Illinois care tremendously about modern-day slavery and trafficking. Those concerns are well represented in Washington by Senator Durbin, who is one of the Senate’s most active and effective leaders on international human rights, and on slavery and trafficking in particular.”

International Justice Mission provides free legal assistance to victims of slavery, trafficking, sexual violence and property expropriation in Southeast and South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In addition, IJM educates and mobilizes churches and the Christian community in the United States to respond to violent oppression of the poor around the world.

 
[ Back ]