July 15, 2013

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
USA

Dear President Obama,

It is with great dismay that the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations learns about the huge number of women and children being exploited in the Philippines. Presently, there are up to 400,000 women and 100,000 children that are being exploited by the United States military. Not only is this crime happening in the Philippines, but is has been going on in South Korea since 1945. Over a million women have been exploited.

World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations has been actively involved in informing the public of this horrific crime and is instrumental in bringing about changes to help the victims and strengthen the penalties for the perpetrators. We call upon the United States government to enforce Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice on “patronizing a prostitute” and to affirm its commitment to combating the demand for commercial sex that fuels human trafficking.

We anticipate your taking action on this issue.

Sincerely,

Irene Orysia Sushko, C.M. Orysia Sopinka-Chwaluk
President WFUWO Secretary

Cc:

The Hon. Chuck Hagel,
Secretary of Defence
1400 Defence Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Ambassador – At – Large
Louis CdeBaca
US Department of State
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
1800 G NW, Washington, DC 20520