SR164

WHEREAS, the negative impacts of a large military presence extend beyond carbon footprint, environmental degradation, water contamination, and housing competition to also include gender‑based violence against women and children at scale; and

WHEREAS, Hawai‘i is the most densely militarized state in the United States; and

WHEREAS, according to The New Republic, the United States military is the world's largest employer and second largest employer in Hawai‘i, and it is an industry with unique aggravating factors for sex trafficking; and

WHEREAS, there are approximately 40,000 active duty military agents stationed in Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, more than two-thirds of military personnel are male, and the majority of military service members are white; and

WHEREAS, across all branches of the United States military, men are more likely than women to be officers; and

WHEREAS, over eighty percent of sex traffickers, sex buyers, fatal domestic violence perpetrators, rapists, child pornography consumers, and online child sexual predators are men; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office's Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military Fiscal Year 2021, published in 2022, concluded that there has been an overall growth in an unhealthy military environment on sexual violence and found an increase in sexual assault perpetrated by military members against civilians and military members; and

WHEREAS, the sex trade is a historical creature that began with the onset of Western colonization in Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, according to Holoi ā nalo Wāhine ‘Ōiwi: Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force Report (Part 1), the United States military played a direct role in creating a sex trade, including prostitution and sex trafficking as systemic occurrences in Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, according to a historic placard on Hotel Street in Honolulu, "the United States military and Honolulu Police Department previously ran the brothel industry" in Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, according to the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe Office of the Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, the United States military is consistently a substantial contributor to fueling sex trafficking and sexual exploitation through the practice of buying sex; and

WHEREAS, according to child pornography watchdog Internet Crimes Against Children Child Online Protective Services, the United States Department of Defense's network consistently ranks in the top tier of internet service providers for trafficking child pornography and is ranked 19th of nearly 3,000 networks surveyed in 2018; and

WHEREAS, the military impact on women and children in Hawai‘i is an open secret that has not been directly addressed or prioritized by state government beyond the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women and Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and

WHEREAS, the United States Indo-Pacific Command submits an annual report on human trafficking to the Combatting Trafficking in Persons Management Office of the United States Department of Defense, but these reports are not public or available to state government, local victim assistance service providers, Native Hawaiian organizations, or gender equality advocates; and

WHEREAS, twenty-five percent of child sexual predators arrested for arranging sex with a thirteen-year old online on Oahu in 2019 and thirty percent of arrests in January 2023 through Operation Keiki Shield were active duty military; and

WHEREAS, none of the thirty-two active duty military personnel arrested for soliciting sex from a twelve-to fifteen- year-old child online through Operation Keiki Shield since 2019 have been women; and

WHEREAS, sex trafficking is a form of recruitment of vulnerable people into the sex trade that is a causal factor for missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls; and

WHEREAS, the United States Army Schofield Barracks is the only domestic military base in the United States that is conducting proactive investigations into sex trafficking, but these efforts are embryonic; and

WHEREAS, seventy-three percent of child sex trafficking victims in Hawai‘i were sexually abused as minors; and

WHEREAS, the Domestic Violence Action Center identified 200 military batterers in fiscal year 2022 and served 109 military victims of domestic violence without any compensation for these services from the United States Department of Defense; and

WHEREAS, in January 2023, United States Senator Mazie Hirono convened a public roundtable to bring attention to the crisis of missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls and expressed concern about the inadequate military response; and

WHEREAS, Hale Kipa leadership testified at a January 2023 roundtable that United States military personnel and tourists are the majority of perpetrators commercially sexually exploiting at-risk youth served by the agency; and

WHEREAS, the majority of sex trafficking victims in Hawai‘i are Native Hawaiian women and girls; and

WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women has been leading state government efforts to expose and address the connection between the military and sex trafficking since 2018; and

WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, Native Hawaiian organizations, and community advocates do not have ready access to data critical to implementing sex trafficking prevention; and

WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women can assist in developing an anti-trafficking response that is gender transformative and victim-centered; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the United States Indo-Pacific Command is urged to:

(1) Issue a public statement committing to zero tolerance for sex buying, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material consumption, and child sexual exploitation by United States Indo-Pacific Command personnel;

(2) Share gender-based violence prevalence data with the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Taskforce; and

(3) Implement an anti-commercial sexual exploitation program aimed at informing military personnel, including through the placement of posters and signage in visible areas, at all Hawai‘i military installations of the consequences for sex buying and holding sex buyers accountable; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of Hawai‘i's Congressional delegation are requested to submit an amendment to the next National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Department of Defense to submit an annual report on efforts to combat commercial sexual exploitation, including sex buying, and non-commercial sexual exploitation, including child sexual abuse, by service members to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, each member of Hawai‘i's Congressional delegation, the Chairperson of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees, Executive Director of the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, and Executive Director of Kamāwaelualani.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

United States Indo-Pacific Command; Anti-commercial Sexual Exploitation Campaign

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	164
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII