U.S. Senator Bob Corker and Congressman Marsha Blackburn will be in Chattanooga Friday for a discussion with Second Life Tennessee on what organizations in Tennessee are doing to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.
trafficking
WHEN: Friday, October 12
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. ET
Note: Corker, Blackburn, and leadership from Second Life Tennessee will be available to media around 10:40 a.m.
ET following a private discussion.
WHERE: EPB Building
10 West M.L. King Boulevard
Board Room, 7th floor
Chattanooga, Tennessee
BACKGROUND:
Throughout his Senate tenure, Corker has been a leader in Congress in efforts to end modern slavery at home and abroad. He was an original cosponsor of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), legislation to target online sex trafficking domestically by providing victims the opportunity to seek justice against websites, such as Backpage, that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking and allowing law enforcement officials to take action against these websites. He also proposed a bold, bipartisan initiative to end modern slavery worldwide. Now operating as the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS), the initiative is designed to leverage limited foreign aid dollars and galvanize tremendous support and investment from the public sector, philanthropic organizations and the private sector to fund projects and organizations around the world working to end modern day slavery where it is most prevalent. With support from the Trump administration, the United States made a $25 million contribution to the fund in 2017, which was soon after matched by the United Kingdom.
Blackburn continues to be involved in the fight against human trafficking and remains committed to protecting the safety and security of Tennesseans and Americans everywhere. She was an original cosponsor of FOSTA, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, in the House, which was eventually combined with SESTA and signed into law by President Trump earlier this year. Blackburn believes the protections granted to tech companies made sense in the early days of the internet – when websites were hardly more than message boards – but now that the industry has matured, it’s time to reassess whether that is still practical. While Backpage has finally been shut down, the congressman believes there is still much more work to be done at home and abroad.
Second Life Tennessee is a non-profit organization focused on fighting modern slavery and human trafficking in southeast Tennessee through prevention, policy, and survivor services.