Obama Administration Accomplishments on Combating Trafficking in Persons as of February 2011

President’s Interagency Task Force & Senior Policy Operating Group

• On February 3, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chaired the first meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (PITF) under the Obama Administration. The task force focused on three notable areas: the need for an increase in actionable intelligence, full implementation of the Federal Acquisition Regulation requiring a prohibition on human trafficking and the procurement of commercial sex in U.S. government contracts, and expanding anti-trafficking work into broader agency efforts. Together, the task force released a joint statement of commitment to action (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/02/136458.htm).
• The Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG) met in March, June, and September and became more efficient in its operations, with active committees, new business focused on coordination issues, and advance briefing materials.
• PITF and SPOG invited the participation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Department of the Interior. While these agencies have always been federal partners in anti-trafficking efforts, their inclusion has helped to expand federal coordination, such as in the areas of forced labor in imported agricultural goods, civil enforcement within the workplace with attention to trafficking and sexual violence, and support of anti-trafficking efforts in U.S. insular areas.
• Three revitalized committees advanced substantive areas of the SPOG’s work: Research & Data focusing on statistics and data collection, Grantmaking documenting promising practices of federal grantees, and Public Affairs coordinating public affairs messaging.
• ODNI convened an ad hoc working group on intelligence to discuss ways to strengthen collection and dissemination of actionable intelligence.
• The Department of Homeland Security and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission co-chaired a temporary working group on implementation of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to combat modern slavery and its contributing factors like the demand for commercial sex. The group is developing core training for the federal acquisition workforce to be adopted by all agencies and deployed at the Federal Acquisition Institute.
• The SPOG continually examined the implementation status of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 so that each agency could continue to move forward and coordinate where possible and required.
• The SPOG surveyed all member agencies for trainings currently conducted and is developing a platform to share training resources, thereby increasing efficiency and collaboration.
• SPOG member agencies shared information on technology solutions to trafficking issues and are partnering with private sector partners to engage and create unique initiatives.
• With participation of SPOG member agencies, the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, for the first time, included a ranking and full country narrative for the United States. It generated significant press, foreign government interest, and praise from the NGO community, advancing U.S. diplomatic efforts on human trafficking worldwide. Moreover, it was accomplished with full transparency and the input of civil society through a call for information in the Federal Register.
• SPOG member agencies continued to share funding opportunities and grant awards to inform funding decisions and ensure they are not duplicative but are instead strategic and smart.

Department of State

• Secretary Clinton released the Tenth Anniversary Trafficking in Persons Report covering 177 countries, including the first-ever U.S. ranking and narrative. Since 2000, the Report has encouraged the enactment of anti-trafficking laws in over 120 countries, increased the numbers of victims identified and traffickers facing justice, and prodded recalcitrant governments to take their first significant anti-trafficking steps, planting the seeds for sustained political commitment to protection, prevention, and prosecution.
• The Department responded quickly to the earthquake in Haiti through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, internal leadership, and rapid deployment of resources – both $1.04 million in anti-trafficking funds and $5.5 million in supplemental appropriations – to strengthen Haitian institutional and civil society capacity to respond to modern slavery.
• The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons conducted two fair and transparent competitive grant reviews to support grassroots prevention, prosecution, and protection projects worldwide. During Fiscal Year 2010, the Office made $33.37 million in awards to 98 projects in 51 countries. As of January 2011, $74 million has been allocated to 211 projects in 76 countries addressing both sex and labor trafficking, including projects focusing on areas such as child sex tourism, demand reduction, debt bondage, and child labor.
• The Department augmented its ongoing work to help protect domestic workers of foreign diplomats in the United States and hold those diplomats accountable for the treatment of their workers, including implementing a system to track allegations of abuse and for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and attorneys to report cases, and meeting with foreign government officials and NGOs to learn about and consider additional protections.
• The Bureau of Diplomatic Security began the process of developing an anti-trafficking unit at its headquarters to support its field offices, increase participation in task forces, centralize case referrals and offer training, particularly on interviewing and supporting victims of human trafficking.
• The Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, together with the Department of Defense, engaged in a multi-stakeholder initiative to develop the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. Private security companies that sign the Code commit to uphold a number of principles related to company policies and the conduct of personnel, including commitments not to engage in human trafficking and to report any instances of human trafficking they discover to the competent authorities. To date, approximately 70 private security companies have signed the Code, including many that contract with the U.S. government.
• The Bureau of Consular Affairs distributes at all visa issuing posts a “know your rights” brochure – developed by State in consultation with the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Labor and NGOs – to recipients of visas in certain visa classes vulnerable to trafficking. The brochure has generated nearly 1,000 calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline.
• The Department also advanced successful multilateral policy, including the development of a victim-centered OAS Regional Plan of Action, adoption of a comprehensive trafficking in persons decision at the United Nation’s Transnational Organized Crime Convention’s Conference of the Parties, and protection of the primacy of the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol in a Global Plan of Action developed at the UN level.

Department of Defense

• The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD {P&R}) developed a core awareness interactive multimedia training module to educate all military and DOD civilian personnel. The training was updated in 2010 and is mandatory for all members of DOD.
• DOD Inspector General (IG) submitted a report to Congress January 15, 2010, on DOD’s Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) contracting efforts. IG Recommendations:
  • The Standard Procurement System should be modified so that the mandatory Combating Trafficking in Persons clause prohibiting the procurement of commercial sex cannot be removed during solicitation or contract document build.
  • The DOD law enforcement community should proactively share trafficking convictions information with contracting offices.
  • Relevant contract quality assurance plans should include combating trafficking in persons considerations. Actions are being taken to implement IG recommendations.
• DOD IG continues to conduct evaluations of DOD overall efforts regarding trafficking. The second of a three part series of evaluations regarding DOD contracts within U.S. Central Command was completed in December 2010.
• The OUSD for Personnel and Readiness maintains DOD instructions for implementing statutory requirements and recommended suggestions to the DOD Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) program. The instruction is directive in nature, states the DOD TIP policy, assigns responsibilities, and seeks to reduce demand by increasing awareness and deterring activities by DOD military, civilian, and contract personnel that support or facilitate trafficking in persons. It was revised in 2010 requiring DOD Components to report training on trafficking.
• A DOD CTIP website http://ctip.defense.gov displays information regarding training, events, and links to other agencies’ trafficking websites.
• Public Service Announcements (PSA) regarding combating commercial sex and labor trafficking are broadcast on the American Forces network and the Pentagon Channel.
• The Defense Incident-Based Reporting System (DIBRS) Manual was revised to incorporate the FBI’s new Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Human Trafficking Offense Codes that address commercial sex acts and involuntary servitude, allowing DOD to obtain data on criminal incidents reported by the Military Services.
• DOD continues to participate in governmental task forces and non-governmental conferences, panels, and seminars that involve combating trafficking:
  • Federal Agency Task Force on Missing and Exploited Children (ongoing quarterly)
  • Sexual Assault Advisory Council Subcommittee on Research (ongoing quarterly)
  • Senior Policy Operating Group for Trafficking in Persons (ongoing quarterly)
  • President’s Interagency Task Force for Trafficking in Persons (annually)
  • DOS Foreign Exchange Program Briefings (ongoing, periodic)
  • NATO Officers Orientation Course, National Defense University (ongoing, periodic)
  • DOD CTIP Presentation to Georgetown Law School Students (annually)
  • Several request for presentations/training throughout the year from various agencies within or outside of DOD.

Department of Justice

• Prosecutions
• Initiated a record number of human trafficking prosecutions involving forced labor and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, including prosecutions of unprecedented scope, impact, and complexity.
  • Brought largest human trafficking case in U.S. history against members of multinational conspiracy charged with exploiting hundreds of Thai agricultural workers across multiple states.
  • Convicted ten defendants in connection with multi-national organized criminal network that engaged in human trafficking and fraud in foreign labor contracting charges, exploiting guestworkers from multiple countries for forced labor in 14 states.
  • Secured longest sentence in U.S. history in a single-victim forced labor case, sentencing trafficker to 20-year prison term for holding Nigerian domestic servant in forced labor for over eight years.
  • Secured conviction and 37-year sentence against sex trafficker who used threats, violence, and manipulation of addictive drugs to compel U.S. citizen teens into prostitution in Maryland.
  • Secured conviction and 20-year sentence against sex trafficker who used threats and violence to compel young U.S. citizen women into prostitution in Hawaii.
  • Continued to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children through the Innocence Lost National Initiative. Since its inception in 2003, the 39 Innocence Lost task forces and working groups have recovered over 1,200 children and led to over 600 convictions in state and federal court, according to FBI statistics.
• Coordination
  • Launched Human Trafficking Enhanced Enforcement Initiative to strengthen coordination, both within DOJ and among federal law enforcement agencies.
  • Within DOJ, enacted internal coordination protocols enhancing coordination among United States Attorney’s Offices, the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, to strengthen victim identification and prosecution efforts in child and adult sex trafficking cases, disseminate guidance, and facilitate increased engagement of Department’s human trafficking subject matter experts in early stages of investigation and prosecution.
  • Within the interagency, collaborated with the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor through Federal Enforcement Working Group to enhance coordination among federal prosecutors and federal agents through launch of pilot interagency Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams) to develop and implement coordinated interagency investigation and prosecution strategy.
  • Advanced U.S.-Mexico Human Trafficking Bilateral Enforcement Initiative, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and Mexican law enforcement counterparts, to develop high-impact bilateral investigations and prosecutions to dismantle international human trafficking networks, resulting in landmark indictments charging members of sex trafficking networks under both U.S. and Mexican law.
• Outreach, Training, and Capacity Building
  • Developed Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force Strategy and Operations e-Guide to provide continually updated resources and guidance to enhance efficacy of task force operations nationwide.
  • Held National Conference on Human Trafficking to exchange cutting-edge expertise in human trafficking investigation, prosecution, victim assistance, and prevention to task force members, federal, state, and local law enforcement, government agencies, and non-governmental victim assistance organizations.
  • Organized Pacific Regional Conference on Human Trafficking to bring together over 300 federal, state, and local law enforcement and non-governmental victim assistance providers from U.S. territories and their counterparts in foreign governments across the Pacific region to enhance capacity to combat human trafficking regionally.
  • Promulgated Model State Criminal Provisions on Pimping, Pandering, and Prostitution pursuant to Section 225 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to serve as a resource to state and local jurisdictions to facilitate effective state and local enforcement of laws criminalizing pimping, pandering, prostitution, and commercial sex.
  • Conducted 38 Trafficking in Persons programs to build prosecutorial capacity in 13 countries, and organized programs for over 180 foreign visitors to participate in training programs with DOJ’s human trafficking experts.
• Victim Assistance
  • Funded Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking, bringing together law enforcement and victim service grantees to combat sex and labor trafficking of all victims, foreign and domestic, adult and minor.
  • Launched demonstration projects to provide comprehensive trafficking victim services to domestic minor victims of sex and labor trafficking, and to conduct study to evaluate efficacy.
  • Funded the ongoing efforts of programs across the United States to provide comprehensive services to foreign national victims of human trafficking.

Department of Agriculture

• During the past year, USDA’s Consultative Group to Eliminate the Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor in Imported Agricultural Products developed recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture regarding guidelines to reduce the likelihood that agricultural products imported into the United States are produced with the use of child or forced labor. This group was established pursuant to Section 3205 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The group represents a diverse set of government, private sector, academic, and non-governmental organization entities.
• On December 21, 2010, the Consultative Group presented its recommendations to Secretary Vilsack. Within one year following receipt of these recommendations, the Secretary of Agriculture is mandated to release guidelines for a voluntary initiative to enable entities to address issues raised by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. At the end of January 2011 USDA reported to Congress the recommendations, which are available at http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/Child_labor/Childlabor.asp.

Department of Labor

• The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has been participating in a Federal Enforcement Working Group (FEWG) with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE), and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). As part of the FEWG, WHD is participating in the development and implementation of a Pilot Federal Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Program to ensure that federal enforcement agencies develop and implement a coordinated, comprehensive strategy to proactively identify and assist human trafficking victims; develop victim-centered, multi-disciplinary human trafficking investigations; and produce high-impact human trafficking prosecutions resulting in the conviction of traffickers, the dismantling of trafficking organizations, and the forfeiture of proceeds and instrumentalities of trafficking offenses.
• On May 4, 2010, DOL entered into a revised Joint Declaration, followed by revised Letters of Arrangement with the Mexican Embassy and Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, updating 2004 arrangements between the two countries. The updated arrangements aim to ensure that Mexican workers in the United States are informed about their labor rights through information sharing, outreach, education, training, and exchange of best practices. Such information can assist vulnerable workers, including those who may have been trafficked. DOL is also expanding the program to include partnerships with embassies from Central America and the Caribbean. On December 2, 2010, ambassadors from nine Central American and Caribbean countries met with Secretary Solis to learn about the program and potential areas for partnership.
• On December 15, 2010, DOL released three reports on child labor and/or forced labor in foreign countries, including the ninth annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. In addition, DOL released an update to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, which identifies 128 goods from 70 countries that ILAB has reason to believe are produced by forced labor, child labor or both, in violation of international standards. Finally, DOL released a proposed revision to the current List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor pursuant to Executive Order 13126 of 1999, which includes 29 products from 21 countries. All three reports include information on persons trafficked into situations of severe labor exploitation, such as forced labor, servitude, or debt bondage.
• On March 15, 2010, a final rule became effective regarding the Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Aliens in the United States. This regulation strengthens protections for agricultural guest workers, a group at risk for trafficking, and U.S. workers performing the same work for the employer by: reinstating requirements that employers provide documentation as part of their application; reinstating the methodology used to compute wage rates; and strengthening transportation safety requirements. These regulations further seek to avoid exploitation of workers by prohibiting foreign recruiters from charging workers certain fees. These regulations also strengthen the ability to ban employers who have committed violations of the agricultural program from filing future applications for similar guestworker visas.
• DOL’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was involved in investigating a case (Giant Labor Solutions) that led to the government seeking over $6 million dollars in fraudulent profits via asset forfeiture. The investigation disclosed a Eurasian organized criminal enterprise that conspired and filed fraudulent labor applications that permitted over 1,150 illegal foreigners to enter the United States on work visas. The exploitation and intimidation of these foreign workers through fear, threats of deportation, and other adverse immigration consequences subjected them to conditions of servitude.

Department of Health and Human Services

• Certifications and Eligibility Letters completed in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010:
  • Certifications: 449
  • Eligibility Letters: 92
  • Eligibility for Interim Assistance: 12
• As of December 31, 2010, funds administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS/ORR) supported 110 agencies in 130 locations to provide case management services to victims of trafficking and their family members.
• HHS/ORR funding assisted 966 trafficking victims and family members to receive case management services during FY 2010.
• HHS distributed 720,733 Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking public awareness campaign materials (posters, brochures, etc.) in FY 2010.
• The HHS-funded National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) received 11,381 calls and 753 emails in FY 2010.
• HHS continues full implementation of Section 212(a)(2) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which requires the HHS Secretary to promptly determine if an alien child in the United States who may be a victim of trafficking is eligible for interim assistance. The HHS Secretary delegated authority to implement this provision to the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families who further delegated it to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. This means that ORR screened approximately 8,300 unaccompanied alien children during FY 2010 for trafficking.
• ORR issued State Letter 10-05 that outlines and describes the process by which an individual may request eligibility for federally funded assistance for an alien child who may have been subjected to human trafficking (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/policy/sl10-05.htm).
• ORR’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATIP) has two Child Protection Specialists dedicated to reviewing requests and facilitating the prompt delivery of assistance to eligible children. Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, ATIP Child Protection Specialists have conducted training and outreach activities regarding services for foreign child trafficking victims including:
  • A training at the Human Trafficking and Exploitation of Children in the United States conference sponsored by Loyola University in Chicago, IL, which was attended by immigration attorneys, health and social service providers, federal law enforcement, and child welfare representatives, among others;
  • Two special trainings for new Immigration and Customs Enforcement Victim Assistance Coordinators on working with foreign born minor victims of trafficking;
  • A presentation on special considerations in identifying and serving foreign child victims of trafficking to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) affiliates. ORR currently has two grants with LIRS. One grant includes the provision of both long-term foster care for unaccompanied alien children and digital fingerprinting services for sponsor background checks. The other grant is for provision of follow-up services for unaccompanied alien children following their release from ORR care and custody; and
  • A training at the ORR Consultation in June 2010 on the challenges of serving child trafficking victims. The Consultation was attended by refugees, State Refugee Coordinators and health coordinators, refugee service organizations, and ethnic self-help organizations.
• On September 30, 2010, the HHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF) awarded a three-year $799,333 grant to Polaris Project, a Washington, DC-based anti-trafficking organization, to operate the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC). NHTRC is a dedicated, toll-free, U.S. national telephone hotline (1-888-3737-888) that provides emergency assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. Polaris Project has been operating the hotline since December 2007. The NHTRC provides service referrals for victims, passes on tips to law enforcement agents, and provides information and training on human trafficking. The NHTRC will develop online training modules on human trafficking issues that will be available on its website (http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org).
• During FY 2010, ATIP conducted four WebEx trainings on domestic minor sex trafficking, leveraging resources to serve victims, emerging outcomes of the HHS Per Capita services contract, and the Trauma Resiliency Model. Nearly 350 people participated in Shared Hope International's training on “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: How to Identify and Respond to America’s Prostituted Youth,” and over 260 people participated in ACF's Family Youth Services Bureau's training on “Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs: Resources for Conducting Outreach and Providing Services to Trafficked Children and Youth.” Participants included social service providers, federal and local law enforcement, academic researchers, state officials, and representatives from international entities.
• In addition to the work conducted by ORR, ACF’s Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) funds the Street Outreach Program (SOP) to provide critical services to U.S. runaway and homeless and street youth who have been subjected to, or are at risk of being subjected to, sexual abuse, prostitution, or sexual exploitation.
  • In FY 2010, FYSB awarded a total of $16.5 million to 157 SOP programs.
  • Between October 1, 2009, and September 30, 2010, SOPs reached over 838,414 youth and young adults up to age 21 and distributed 514,755 health and hygiene products.

Department of Education

• The immediate goal is to provide school districts with expanded services to address child trafficking.
• The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools consolidated and augmented its existing work around child safety to build a more comprehensive program to educate school districts about trafficking and commercially sexually exploited children. This strategy included:
  • A fact sheet that describes how human trafficking affects schools, the signs that school staff should be aware of, and how to report incidents of trafficking (http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/factsheet.html);
  • A web page to provide districts with up-to-date information and consolidated resources relevant to child trafficking (http://rems.ed.gov/index.php?page=resources_Additional&section=1i1);
  • Identifying what school districts are doing that is considered effective in addressing the trafficking problem, including utilizing the OSDFS listserv to solicit ideas about what is working;
  • Planning for a webinar series created in collaboration with grantees already working on issues of child trafficking;
  • Active participation in the Missing and Exploited Children Federal Working Group sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Senior Policy Operating Group; and the Department of Justice External Strategy Working Group;
  • Planning 2011 conference sessions similar to the presentations on trafficking given at the 2009 OSDFS National Conference; (http://www.osdfsnationalconference.com/Presentations/115.%20Morning%20Plenary%20I.%20Luis%20CdeBaca.pdf);
  • Presented Department of Homeland Security training on trafficking to chiefs of school police from 40 of the largest jurisdictions in November 2010; and
  • Assisted Grossmont Union High School District (San Diego, CA) in the development of a 90-minute program to teach school staff about identifying commercially sexually exploited children and what to do when they are identified.

Department of Homeland Security

• In July 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the Blue Campaign – a first-of-its-kind campaign to coordinate and enhance the Department’s anti-human trafficking activities. The Blue Campaign harnesses and leverages the varied authorities and resources of the Department of Homeland Security to deter human trafficking by increasing awareness, protecting victims, and contributing to a robust criminal justice response. The campaign is led by an innovative cross-component steering committee comprised of representatives from 17 operational and support components from across DHS. The 2010 accomplishments included:
• Expanded training for state, local, and international partners
  • The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) developed and disseminated an interactive web-based training course for state, local, campus, and tribal law enforcement on human trafficking. FLETC, with support from the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, also began developing a second web-based human trafficking course for DHS personnel.
  • ICE trained over 35,000 law enforcement, non-governmental organizations, and foreign officials about human trafficking, including regional trainings in Guatemala, Austria, Malaysia, Suriname, Jordan, Bahamas, El Salvador, and Egypt (FY 2010).
• New domestic and international public awareness campaigns
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) No Te Engañes (Don’t Be Fooled) campaign ran in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. The awareness campaign, which included television, radio, and print media, informs potential migrants of the dangers of human trafficking and how to avoid becoming a victim.
  • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Hidden in Plain Sight print media campaign featured newspaper advertisements in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, and Thai. The campaign was printed in 50 newspapers across the United States whose total readership was an estimated five million people.
• Increased investigations
  • ICE initiated 651 cases with a nexus to trafficking in persons, representing their highest number of cases initiated to date in this enforcement category. Additionally, ICE human trafficking investigations resulted in 300 criminal arrests, 151 indictments, 144 convictions, and $3.2 million in seizures (FY 2010).
  • The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), working with local and state law enforcement officials as well as DHS partner agencies, developed innovative ways to bridge information and intelligence sharing gaps in identifying, investigating, and prosecuting human trafficking cases within the maritime jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard. The CGIS has also established two Special Operations Groups (SOG) in Miami and Key West, Florida for the specific purpose of proactively identifying, investigating, and prosecuting human and narcotics trafficking organizations and individuals.
• Improved victim protection
  • ICE increased the number of full-time Victim Assistance Coordinators to 18 – the highest number to date. ICE also created a first-of-its-kind Continued Presence Pamphlet to increase awareness about temporary immigration relief available to trafficking victims.
  • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached the annual statutory cap of 10,000 U visas (not including eligible family members) approved for victims of violent crime, including human trafficking. USCIS also granted T nonimmigrant status to 796 victims of human trafficking and their families – the highest number granted since the creation of the T visa program in 2002.
  • CBP disseminated new “shoe cards” and “tear cards” to potential human trafficking victims. The discreet, multi-lingual cards contain information about human trafficking and the number for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.
  • USCIS published a pamphlet entitled “Immigration Options for Victims of Crimes” for law enforcement, healthcare providers, and others who may encounter human trafficking victims to raise awareness about victim identification and available forms of immigration relief.
• Enhanced partnerships
  • The Blue Campaign hosted stakeholder meetings in July and December 2010, with over 100 participants from non-governmental, state, local, and private sector organizations. The stakeholder meetings facilitated targeted outreach efforts including engagement with emergency management and medical professionals, as well as an interagency workshop at the Ecuadorian Embassy for consulate officers from across the United States.
  • The Private Sector Office developed a virtual toolkit of the Department’s anti-human trafficking resources for distribution to businesses across the nation. The toolkit was distributed to thousands of employers, including those in the lodging, transportation, entertainment, agricultural, manufacturing, and construction industries.
  • DHS created a consolidated web page to serve as a one-stop resource for partners and stakeholders seeking information on human trafficking and the Department’s role in combating it. The webpage includes resource libraries for victims, concerned citizens, law enforcement, community organizations, and the private sector. Visitors to the webpage can sign up for the Daily Human Trafficking and Smuggling Report issued by the DHS Open Source Enterprise.
  • ICE is collaborating with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Labor (DOL) on a nationwide Human Trafficking Enhanced Enforcement Initiative designed to streamline federal criminal investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking offenses. The initiative was developed through interagency collaboration among DHS, DOJ, and DOL to streamline rapidly expanding human trafficking enforcement efforts. As part of the initiative, ICE will participate on specialized joint investigative Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams) in select districts around the country. The ACTeams will be comprised of federal prosecutors and federal agents from multiple federal enforcement agencies, who will implement a strategic action plan to combat indentified human trafficking threats. The ACTeams will focus on developing criminal human trafficking investigations and prosecutions to protect the rights of human trafficking victims, bring traffickers to justice, and dismantle human trafficking networks.
  • ICE hosted the NGO Liaison Working Group, which brings together NGO partners involved in combating modern slavery and other exploitation-related crimes to discuss common challenges and share recent developments in each organization’s work.

United States Agency for International Development

• In 2010, USAID continued to strengthen its internal structures and capacity to more effectively combat trafficking in persons.
• Training:
  • In February, USAID designed and delivered a two and a half day training workshop on trafficking in persons and gender based violence. Twenty-five Agency employees from missions in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America attended the training, which was conducted in Washington, DC. The training focused on identifying human trafficking in the field and developing effective programs to address it.
  • In April, USAID developed a two-hour trafficking training module and incorporated it into the Agency’s gender integration training for Agency staff at missions in Tanzania, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic.
  • In December, the Agency developed a two and a half day regional trafficking training for mission staff and other USG employees in the field, the first of which was held in Guatemala City in February 2011. Thirty-seven participants attended, representing several USAID missions (Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti), U.S. embassies (Guatemala and Honduras), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and implementing partner organizations. Three Guatemalan government employees from the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Human Trafficking also participated.
  • USAID/Timor-Leste incorporated trafficking into its Mission training sessions for USAID staff.
  • The Agency completed the initial draft of its Field Guide to Combat Trafficking in Persons designed to provide technical guidance to mission personnel on the design, implementation, and evaluation of anti-trafficking programming. The guide is a practical tool built around prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership.
• Compliance: In compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the anti-trafficking clause, which prohibits the purchase of commercial sex and use of forced labor, was incorporated into contract templates in USAID’s Global Acquisition and Assistance System.
• Data:
  • USAID updated and expanded its analytical database designed to improve transparency and strengthen intra-agency and interagency coordination on U.S. assistance to combat trafficking. The database includes all USG anti-trafficking assistance from 2001 through 2009 and shows funding countries, types of anti-trafficking assistance, agencies, and implementers.
  • In 2010, USAID collected the results of its four year project in Uzbekistan: 2,547 victims were provided with assistance, 68,440 people in nine regions of the country received consultations via hotlines, and 44,137 people were reached through anti-trafficking awareness-raising efforts.
• Assessments: USAID conducted a trafficking assessment in Vietnam documenting the scope and nature of sex and labor trafficking within each country and providing recommendations for stakeholders.
• Highlights of 2010 USAID programming include:
  • Greater emphasis on comprehensive programming to addresses all “3Ps” – Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection. For example, in Nepal the Agency launched a five year $6.8 million project to strengthen protection of sex and labor and trafficking victims, increase law enforcement capacity to combat trafficking, and improve anti-trafficking awareness raising efforts.
  • Increased focus on combating trafficking through technology. The Agency partnered with NetHope and the Demi and Ashton Foundation to support design and implementation of mobile and other technology innovations to combat labor and sex trafficking in Russia – effectively turning the tools used by today’s traffickers against them.
  • A pledge of $8 million for continued support for MTV-EXIT’s Asia regional anti- trafficking awareness campaign and expansion of it to Timor-Leste. The campaign targets youth whose behavior creates demand for sex and labor trafficking and youth most at risk of being trafficked. To date, this project has reached approximately 7.5 million viewers throughout Asia Pacific and South Asia.
  • Continued efforts to increase the capacity of the Government of Mexico to address labor and sex trafficking. As a result of USAID support, 3,725 Mexican government officials received specialized trafficking training in 2010.
  • The launch of a $2 million project in Kosovo to increase the quality, variety and duration of social integration services available to sex trafficking victims, increase civil society activities to prevent sex trafficking, and reduce factors that increase vulnerabilities to sex trafficking.
• In February 2011, the USAID Administrator launched the Agency’s new Counter Trafficking Code of Conduct which holds Agency employees to the highest ethical standards with regard to trafficking.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

On January 19, 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission conducted a meeting entitled “Human Trafficking and Forced Labor” in order to educate and inform the public about the problem of labor trafficking and the EEOC’s role in combating the problem. The meeting provided a public forum for participants to lay out the current state of the problem, challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to EEOC Commissioners and staff for how to improve its work in this area. The meeting included testimony from Ambassador CdeBaca, federal government officials, representatives of community and advocacy groups, and a worker victimized by modern slavery. Text of the witnesses’ written testimony may be accessed at http://eeoc.gov/eeoc/meetings/1-19-11/index.cfm.