Submitted by the Olympia World Affairs Council
Honoring decades of commitment to international issues on behalf of Thurston County voters, the Olympia World Affairs Council will bestow its “Global Connect” award this year on Senator Karen Fraser (D-Thurston County). Fraser will be formally presented with the award at the Council’s annual reception, held this year at the Indian Summer Golf and Country Club on May 15.
“Senator Fraser’s involvement in global women’s issues and environmental concerns, along with her leadership in establishing sister-city and sister-state relationships, made her a natural choice for the award this year,” said Donna Hamilton, outgoing OWAC president and a former American diplomat. “Her nomination was unanimously supported by our board. She has been extraordinarily effective as an international representative for our region.”
One of Fraser’s signature pieces of legislation this year makes it a felony for one person to coerce another to provide unpaid or cheap labor, including sex services, by withholding the victim’s international travel documents. Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed her bill to combat this frequent aspect of the crime of international human trafficking. The law takes effect in June 2014.
“I hope the new law serves as both a deterrent and penalty for those guilty of these life-destroying crimes,” said Fraser. This new law is the latest of several pieces of state legislation Fraser has championed over the years to prevent and punish human trafficking, which is a top U.S. foreign policy priority.
The nature of the Pacific coast connection between Washington state and Japan has been important to Fraser over the years, and exquisitely lettered Japanese awards decorate a wall in her legislative office. A founding member of the Olympia-Yashiro/Kato sister city relationship in 1980, she has also been active in the Washington-Hyogo sister state relationship, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Exchanges of students, faculty, officials, and citizens between Olympia and Hyogo over the years have built bridges of friendship and business relationships that have benefited both communities.
At a Port of Olympia commission meeting last summer, Fraser was pleasantly struck by how welcoming residents were toward a visit by a delegation from Hyogo seeking to initiate a sister marina relationship between the Shin-Nishinomia Yacht Harbor, in Hyogo Prefecture, and the Port’s Swantown Marina, in Olympia.
“The other agenda items at the meeting involved serious and controversial issues, with quite a few members of the public present for them,” Fraser said. “Yet the public present for these other agenda items were gracious to our Japanese delegation, even breaking into spontaneous applause about the proposed marina relationship.”
A Thurston County resident for 47 years, Fraser believes the region places great emphasis on international issues and engagement. As an adjunct faculty member at The Evergreen State College for many years, she sees students as a positive factor in that engagement.
“Evergreen and St. Martins are both top contributors, per capita, to the Peace Corps,” said Fraser. “We have many international students at South Puget Sound Community College, as well as an active port. I think people here care about the bigger picture.”
Fraser will give remarks at the Olympia World Affairs Council event May 15, where she will tell the story of her own journey as a citizen legislator learning that our mutual human obligation to each other does not stop at the border.
“I like to visualize the earth from the moon, a small blue globe in space,” she said. “We’re all in this together. “
