Rubio slams human-rights violators as 'grotesque'

On Human Rights Day, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) criticized human-rights violators who allow modern-day slavery and countries that deny religious freedoms.

“What’s important today is to take a moment and realize that the cause of human rights is not a partisan cause ... it’s a human cause,” Rubio said on the floor Monday. “Human trafficking and slavery is real.”

Rubio called on the Senate to strengthen human-rights protections within the United States when it reauthorizes the Human Trafficking Protection Act. He said he hopes that bill is brought to the floor for a vote by the end of this year or early next year.

Rubio said the United States grants waivers to some of the “worst” human right’s violators.

“I hope we’ll look at that process legislatively as to why we’re granting these waivers,” Rubio said. 

Rubio called out several countries for their violations of religious freedoms, including China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran.

Rubio added that human-rights violations are happening within the United States as well. He said he wants more senators to join him in writing another letter to the newspaper Village Voice, a publication he said advertises for sex slaves within the United States. 

Rubio called the practice “disgusting and grotesque” and said the paper should stop profiting from human slavery.

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