What Is Trafficking in Persons?
To report suspected cases of trafficking or worker exploitation, call The Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line at 1-888-428-7581 (voice and TTY). This complaint line, maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice, is toll free and offers foreign language translation services.
These Web sites provide information on trafficking in persons, including
victim support and protection services, prosecutorial and law enforcement
strategies, and educational resources.
In 2000, Congress enacted the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which authorized the provision of
a number of benefits and services now available to victims of trafficking.
Under this legislation, OVC received government funds to support the development
or enhancement of victim service programs for alien victims trafficked
into or within the United States who require emergency services. These
services may include:
- Shelter.
- Case management.
- Interpretation services.
- Medical care.
- Dental care.
- Crisis counseling.
- Legal/immigration assistance.
- Criminal Justice System advocacy.
- Job training.
- Transportion.
OVC services are intended to assist victims between the period of time
they are encountered by law enforcement, and when they are "certified"
to receive other benefits through the Department of Health and Human Services.
This period of time is referred to as "precertification."
In FY 2003, OVC made its first grant awards under the Services for Human Trafficking Victims Discretionary Grant Program. Grantees within this program provide victims of sex and labor trafficking with comprehensive or specialized services in locations throughout the United States.
Attorney General Guidelines
for Victim and Witness Assistance (May 2005)
Victims of severe
forms of trafficking are eligible for services and benefits available to
federal victims of crime.
Guidelines for Department of Justice personnel on how to treat crime
victims and witnesses based on the federal victims' rights laws and Department
policy.
Available to federal victim service providers only.
Needs
Assessment for Service Providers and Trafficking Victims (2003)
Prepared by Caliber Associates for the National Institute of Justice,
OJP, U.S. Department of Justice, it is the first-ever assessment on the
needs of trafficking victims and the domestic service providers who work
with them. The report, complete with survey instruments and focus group
protocols, should help educate the field at large on meeting the specialized
and complex needs of trafficking victims.
Victims of Trafficking: Far From Home and Helpless (video) (August
2000)
This 17.5-minute video (NCJ 182334) introduces issues in trafficking and
case studies of victims of forced prostitution, forced labor, and indentured
servitude that serve to highlight the different forms of trafficking and
how to recognize victims. The video covers victim referral services, problems
associated with trafficking and slavery, how to treat the victims, the
importance of agency partnerships, and developing a case against a defendant.
Available to federal victim service providers only.
NCJRS Criminal Justice Library
Additional resources about trafficking in persons are available through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) criminal justice library.
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The Campaign
to Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking,
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
ACF offers Rescue & Restore, a public awareness Web site to combat human trafficking, and a referral hotline, 1-888-373-7888, that connects victims with NGOs in their local area. The Rescue & Restore Campaign website offers outreach kits to educate and assist health care providers, social service providers, and law enforcement officers in their efforts to identify and help victims of trafficking.
Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section (CEOS), U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division
CEOS works to combat incidences of child exploitation and trafficking
of women and children. Issues under the CEOS umbrella include child pornography,
illegal interstate or international transportation of women and children,
international parental abduction, computer-related exploitation of children,
and child victimization on federal and Indian lands.
Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
The Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit corporation established by Congress in 1974. LSC makes grants to independent local programs across the country to provide civil legal services to Americans without considerable financial means. The TVPA granted the LSC the responsibility to extend program services to those eligible for T and U Visas.
The Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State
The Center is a joint venture of participating agencies, which include the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other governmental agencies. This Office provides critical resources for the fight against trafficking by assisting in the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts around the world and in the U.S. This Office also has the responsibility for drafting the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which discusses the actions that countries, including the U.S., have taken to combat trafficking in persons in that year.
The Center has also published
an informational fact sheet that clarifies some of these issues:
Distinctions Between Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking (January 2005)
(PDF 805
kb).
This Web site offers links to—
Office of Refugee Resettlement
(ORR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
ORR helps refugees and other special populations (such as adult victims of severe forms of trafficking) obtain economic and social self-sufficiency in the United States. ORR is responsible for certifying adult victims of human trafficking so that they may receive federally funded benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. More information about ORR benefits and services to victims of human trafficking is located on their Web site.
Office of Women in Development
(WID), United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
USAID's WID program supports the education of girls and fosters economic
and political opportunities for women. These programs help create conditions
that lessen the vulnerability of women and children to traffickers. USAID
also funds direct anti-trafficking programs, which are described in more
detail in Trafficking
in Persons: USAID's Response.
Trafficking in
Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force (TPWETF), U.S. Department of
Justice Civil Rights Division
TPWETF works to prevent trafficking in persons and worker exploitation throughout the United States and investigates and prosecutes cases when such violations occur. The TPWETF has created a complaint line (1-888-428-7581) for callers who wish to make a report of trafficking in persons and worker exploitation.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
The USCIS within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers this Web page of federal agency links to information about the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, implementation of the law, and victim benefits and services.
The U.S. Department of Justice Trafficking in Persons Information Web site
This Web site provides links to the Attorney General's Annual Report to Congress on U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Women's Bureau, U.S.
Department of Labor
The Women's Bureau promotes profitable employment opportunities for women
and advocates skills development, improvements in working conditions,
and equitable employment standards, policies, and programs. Bureau publications
include Trafficking
in Persons: A Guide For Non-Governmental Organizations 2002.
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International Information Programs: Human Smuggling and Trafficking, U.S. Department of State
This comprehensive Web site provides updates on antitrafficking activities and initiatives around the world, fact sheets, transcripts of relevant U.S. Congressional testimony, and links to other governmental and nongovernmental organizations that address trafficking. U.S. Department of State publications and resources include—
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
The ILO is a specialized United Nations agency that works to mandate minimum standards of basic labor rights. The ILO operates the "Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labor," which spearheads ILO activities on forced labor and trafficking. United Nations Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings
Programme efforts to end trafficking in persons include helping policymakers and practitioners collect and assess data; promoting public awareness; training law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges; strengthening victim and witness support; and encouraging national and international collaboration to design effective strategies against trafficking in persons.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
The WHO is the specialized United Nations health agency. In 2003, WHO published a guide entitled "WHO Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Interviewing Trafficked Women" (PDF 131 kb).
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Action
to Counter Trafficking (ACT), U.S. Association for International Migration
The ACT project provides community outreach and education and offers social
service providers training, networking, and financial and technical expertise
to combat trafficking in the United States.
Anti-Slavery International (ASI)
ASI works to end slavery and related abuses, including trafficking in
persons and forced prostitution, focusing on the rights of people who
are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, notably women, children,
migrant workers, and indigenous peoples.
Free the Slaves
This nonprofit organization works to end slavery worldwide. Their Web
site offers resources for education, taking action, and reference books
and links to related organizations and legal issues.
Freedom Network (USA)
The Freedom Network develops local and national networks in the U.S. and
links to international networks to carry out its mission of empowering
trafficked and enslaved persons. Mission objectives include raising public
awareness and advocating for victims at all levels (local or international).
Human
Rights Watch (HRW) Campaign Against the Trafficking of Women and Girls
HRW works to protect the human rights of people around the world and campaigns
against trafficking. The Web site provides research reports and other
publications, news and current events, and strategies for organizational
and individual activism.
International Organization for Migration
(IOM)
This international organization works with migrants and governments to
provide humane responses to migration challenges.
IOM's activities range from providing training to officials, aid to migrants in distress, to measures to counter trafficking in persons. IOM has received funding through the U.S. Department of State to provide assistance to victims of human trafficking who are identified within the U.S. and who wish to be repatriated back to their home countries. For more information, call 202-862-1826.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC)
The IRC provides assistance to refugees, displaced persons and others fleeing persecution and violent
conflict throughout the world. Often one of the first agencies on the scene of an emergency, the IRC
delivers critical medical and public health services, food, and shelter. Once a crisis stabilizes, it provides
education, training, economic assistance and, if necessary, resettlement assistance.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program
This organization works in coordination with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide services to victims of trafficking under the age of 18. Victims receive foster care placement and other benefits and services.
The Protection
Project
The Protection Project gathers and disseminates information about worldwide
trafficking in persons, focusing on national and international laws, legal
cases, and implications of trafficking in other areas of U.S. and international
foreign policy. The project is a 5-year research project based at the
School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington,
D.C.
Safe Horizon
Safe Horizon's mission is to provide support, prevent violence, and promote
justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families, and communities.
Safe Horizon's
program to assist victims and survivors of human trafficking helps
deliver intensive case management, shelter, legal services, and mental
health care to survivors of trafficking.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program
This organization works in coordination with Lutheran Immigration Relief Services and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide services for victims of trafficking who are under the age of 18. Victims receive placement in foster care setting and other services and benefits. USCCB also administers funding to organizations to provide case management and other services to adult victims of trafficking. For more information, download their presentation titled "Training Guide to Assist Trafficked Persons" (PDF 2.10 mb).
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