Human Trafficking - A Violation of Human Rights
By Liz Wing on 05/12/2010 @ 05:28 PM
Today I attended a presentation by the Center for American Progress about Human Trafficking and the work that is being done to halt the act around the world.
12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor. About half of them are women and girls. Human trafficking is a $31.6 billion industry.
The U.S. took action on human trafficking in 2000 when Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. That legislation established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department (the office that Ambassador Luis CdeBaca heads.) It also requires an annual assessment of "severe forms of trafficking in persons" and governments' efforts to assess them.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making a new bold step this year in the fight against human trafficking. For the first time ever, the annual Trafficking in Persons Report will include a rating of the U.S. response to trafficking. After all, the U.S. should lead by example.
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca (Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Department of State) was the Keynote speaker of this presentation.
He has done work on combating human trafficking for decades and is very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic. He stated that human trafficking is "a human rights abuse. It’s a byproduct of conflict. A threat to national security, public health and democracy. It’s a labor; a migration issue."
He announced that the State Department would be releasing the annual report on human trafficking this June:
"One of the key tools that the United States uses is the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which Secretary of State Clinton will release in June. The report is a diagnostic tool. It’s based on the minimum standards to combat trafficking that Congress articulated in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act – the TVPA. Countries are assessed, and sorted into clusters or Tiers as we call them." (The U.S. will be rated alongside other countries in this report for the first time ever.)
The Report is an assessment of how the countries are doing. It is a smart power tool that leads to greater partnerships and encourages countries to do more to combat human trafficking.
Partnerships between government agencies and NGO's have proven to make great strides in ending human trafficking. We hope that more corporations will get involved in the work.
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Department of State
Holly Burkhalter, Vice President of Government Relations, International Justice Mission
Neha Misra, Senior Specialist, Migration and Human Trafficking, Solidarity Center
John Norris, Executive Director, Enough
We will post an update on the report when it comes out this June.
To read and watch the full speech, please click here.
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