Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act may not be renewed

Flesh Mound · Sep 7, 2012

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, known as TVPRA or S. 1301, is a bill that was originality signed in 2000. It's a bipartisan effort by the US government to fight human trafficking, and since it's inception has been renewed every 3 years to add improvements to the bill. However, the current iteration of the bill expired on October 1st, 2011 and has yet to be renewed, and with the current congressional session approaching an end, there's a chance that the bill might actually die.

This is a big deal considering the impact of the bill. There are more than 27 million slaves worldwide, and more than 14500 people are trafficked into the US every year, half of them forced to work in the sex industry. Many states lack necessary laws and provisions to effectively fight trafficking on their own (see graphic below). The TVPRA has been absolutely vital in fighting trafficking, both in the US and abroad.

From World Vision:

What is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)?
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act is the cornerstone of US policies to fight modern day slavery. It is the largest piece of human rights legislation to ever pass the U.S. Congress. It comprehensively addresses the domestic and international dimensions of human trafficking. Every three years the law is updated in order to make improvements, fill critical gaps, and cope with the changing nature of human trafficking and the changing tactics of traffickers. In the current legislation to renew the law, Congress added several important improvements, including the Child Protection Compact Act, which would help eradicate the exploitation of children for slave labor or commercial sex in developing countries by offering additional resources and training for law enforcement, protection of survivors, and deterrence through apprehension and prosecution of traffickers.

How has the law been effective?
The TVPRA created many helpful structures and tools for the federal, state, and local government to combat modern day slavery and encourage others to do likewise in partnership with non-governmental organizations. The TVPRA created the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which funds projects internationally to combat human trafficking, and releases the Trafficking in Persons report which is the only annual global report that documents the efforts of governments to combat trafficking. This report has been effective in motivating governments to do more to combat modern day slavery in their territory. It is a powerful diplomacy and advocacy tool.

Domestically the law has been effective in establishing a national hotline to report suspected cases of trafficking and increasing awareness about what trafficking is, what it can look like, and how to report it. The National Human Trafficking Hotline has received almost 45,000 calls since December 2007. Through the TVPRA, 40 taskforces have been created across the country. These taskforces opened over 2,000 cases of suspected trafficking between 2008 and 2010.

What’s at stake?
When the TVPRA expired on October 1, 2011 the U.S. fight against human trafficking was placed on hold. Politicking delayed progress, on what is normally, a bi-partisan bill. Though the laws stay on the books without a current, authorized law the programs, taskforces, and projects do not have to receive any funding from Congress. The implications of this failure are enormous. This means that Congress could fund them but is not mandated to, leaving the crucial programs and structures that make up the US fight against trafficking at risk of defunding.
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How does it work?

Prevention
• Creates an Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons within the State Department, which is required to report on and rank countries’ efforts to combat trafficking. The President may impose sanctions on countries that fail to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and that are not making significant efforts to do so.
• Creates public awareness and information programs, and international economic development programs to assist potential victims.
• Creates partnerships to attempt to prevent goods made by slave labor from entering the country

Protection
• Expands the types of technical assistance that can be provided to foreign countries, including police training to protect survivors of human trafficking.
• Requires the Department of Labor to provide a list of goods that it has reason to believe have been made with forced labor or child labor.
• Provides the T Visa for foreign victims of trafficking in the U.S. allowing them protection and access to services in exchange for cooperation with law enforcement

Prosecution
• Makes human trafficking a federal crime with severe penalties.
• Creates new crimes of forced labor; trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; or sex trafficking of children; and unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of trafficking. Attempts to engage in these acts are also criminalized.
• Mandates that restitution be paid to victims

Key International Provisions of the TVPA Reauthorizations
• Requires the U.S. government to terminate contracts with overseas contractors who engage in sex trafficking or commercial sex, or who use forced labor.
• Addresses sex tourism with prevention programs.
• Expands federal criminal jurisdiction to trafficking offenses committed abroad, meaning the alleged offender can be tried in the U.S. whether or not the crime was committed in the U.S. (“The Protect Act.”)
• Requires the U.S. to cut military aid to any country that uses children in their national army or government-supported militias.
• Requires that countries ranked on the Tier II Watch List for more than two years receive the same sanctions as countries ranked on Tier III.
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Not only has the bill been very effective, but it's also incredibly cheap. The newest iteration authorizes $130 million dollars over three years. In one week, the war on drugs costs as much as the TVPRA does in one year.

What can be done?
call or mail your local senator and urge them to pass the TVPRA. POPVOX makes this very easy. Just go here: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr2830
More info and resoruces can be found on ACT:S http://www.worldvisionacts.org/challenges/the-last-stand-urge-congress-to-fight-modern-day-slavery

additional info:
You can track the bills prognosis on Govtrack: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2830

List of countries complying with TVRA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/data...rafficking-state-department-country-ranks-map

local trafficking laws:

Polaris Project Ranking System

Tier 1: State has passed significant laws to combat human trafficking, and should continue to take steps to improve and implement its laws.
Tier 2 : State has passed numerous laws to combat human trafficking, and should take more steps to improve and implement its laws.
Tier 3 : State has made nominal efforts to pass laws to combat human trafficking, and should take major steps to improve and implement its laws.
Tier 4 : These states have not made nominal efforts to enact a basic legal framework to combat human trafficking, and should actively work to improve their laws.
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Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act may not be renewed

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