Brown clarifies safe haven regs

A non-profit anti-human trafficking organization is hoping to bring about 30 forced prostitution victims as tourists into the Commonwealth before the end of this month.

David J. Sablan, president of the United States International Mission Saipan, said yesterday that his group was working with the Attorney General’s Office to have the human trafficking victims enter the CNMI through the Visitor Entry Permit process.

Proposed regulations that would allow the entry of such victims on a Safe Haven Entry Permit are not expected to be adopted earlier than Christmas Day.

Attorney General Pamela S. Brown said the AGO would make a decision on the victims coming in as tourists in a few days.

She disclosed that the purpose of this effort was to allow renowned filmmaker Leonard Gast to create a documentary on the rescue of the Vietnamese victims from brothels in Cambodia and their escape to Thailand and then the CNMI.

Gast is the director of the award-winning boxing documentary “When We Were Kings.”

Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah will also be involved in the film project, Brown said.

“Everything will be on video, except the identities of the children. This is not a fly-by-night operation. This is being done because it’s the right thing to do,” Brown said.

The AGO is currently promulgating regulations to make the CNMI a safe haven for international victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, particularly ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia.

“The Attorney General finds that the proximity of the CNMI to Southeast Asia and its plenary power over immigration provides a useful tool in fighting the global problem of human trafficking and forced labor,” the AGO states in a public notice.

“This regulation is intended to allow approved non-profit charitable corporations to establish a safe, healthy environment for victims while carefully continuing to monitor the entry of aliens into the Commonwealth,” the agency added.

According to the proposed regulations, the Safe Haven Entry Permit will be limited to children aged 8 to 16, who will be sponsored by a non-profit entity dedicated to rescuing victims of human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Initial permits would be issued for a 90-day period, but they may be renewed indefinitely at the attorney general’s discretion. A holder of such permit may eventually transfer to foreign student immigration status if he or she meets requirements.

The AGO will accept public comments on the proposed regulations until Dec. 25.

(Editor’s Note: Follow-up stories on the proposed Safe Haven Entry Permit regulations would be published on Monday.)