NCJ Number
205999
Date Published
August 2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This August 2003 Assessment of U.S. Activities To Combat Trafficking in Persons reviews U.S. legislative and executive branches' activities to improve U.S. protections for and assistance to victims trafficked into the United States, to increase successful investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, and to augment international activities to combat trafficking, followed by recommendations for improvement.
Abstract
The U.S. Government estimates that 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked annually into the United States. Although the scope of this crime is wide and varied, it typically involves victims entrapped in commercial sexual exploitation such as prostitution and pornography, or labor exploitation in "sweatshops" and construction and agricultural settings. Additional forms of forced labor and abuse are domestic servitude and forced marriages. The U.S. Congress enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) to provide for a range of new protections and assistance for victims of trafficking; it expanded the crimes and enhanced the penalties available to Federal investigators and prosecutors in trafficking cases; and it increased U.S. activities internationally in preventing victims from being trafficked from source countries. The executive branch has committed itself to countering trafficking in persons through identifying, protecting, and assisting those victims exploited by traffickers; enforcing U.S. laws against those who traffic in persons; raising awareness domestically and abroad about human trafficking and how it can be eradicated; reducing the vulnerability of individuals to trafficking through increased education, economic opportunity, and the protection and promotion of human rights; working with nongovernmental organizations; and using diplomatic and foreign policy tools to encourage other nations, the United Nations, and other multilateral institutions to work with the United States to combat trafficking, draft and enforce laws against trafficking, and hold accountable those involved in it. Recommendations include determining whether comprehensive services are being provided in the appropriate geographical locations, reassessing repatriation efforts for trafficking victims, assessing whether eligibility standards for immigration benefits are appropriate for trafficking victims, continued outreach efforts to inform the public about trafficking, continued training for Federal investigators and prosecutors, continued outreach efforts for State and local law enforcement officers, support for public-private partnerships in the international arena to integrate at-risk populations into the community and workforce, improved relevant information on trafficking in persons, and the ratification of the United Nations protocol on trafficking in persons.