Defining Human Trafficking
Under federal law (22 USC § 7102), "severe forms of trafficking in persons" include sex and labor trafficking. Both refer to the "recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person." More specifically:
- Sex trafficking involves commercial sex acts that are either induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or that victimize youth younger than 18.
- Labor trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to recruit victims and subject them to "involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000[1] asserts a three-pronged approach to address human trafficking: prevention, protection, and prosecution. The TVPA established the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office) and the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (the Task Force) to help coordinate antitrafficking efforts.
The cabinet-level Task Force comprises 20 federal agencies. Under the Act, Task Force responsibilities include:
- Measuring and evaluating U.S. and international progress in preventing trafficking, assisting and protecting victims, and prosecuting traffickers.
- Expanding interagency procedures for collecting and organizing data and respecting victim confidentiality.
- Helping facilitate cooperation between victims’ countries of origin, the countries they traversed, and the destination countries where they were trafficked.
- Examining the role played by the international "sex tourism" industry in human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and children worldwide.
- Consulting and advocating with governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and others to monitor and combat human trafficking.
The TIP Office's Trafficking in Persons Report—the world's most comprehensive resource on governmental antitrafficking efforts—is used by the Federal Government to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It reflects the United States' commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue.
Department of Justice Efforts to Fight Trafficking and Assist Victims
Justice Department components work together to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, expand outreach and training efforts, and support victims. The Department's Office for Civil Rights, Criminal Division, and Office of Justice Programs (OJP) each play an important role in these efforts, with support from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys' offices.
Within OJP, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) helps connect survivors with local programs, helplines, compensation programs, and other resources. These include the OVC Directory of Crime Victim Services, an online database searchable by type of crime and the services organizations provide.
OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) supports the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC programs include a 24-hour missing children's hotline, the CyberTipline for reports of online child sexual exploitation, and the Child Victim Identification program, which helps authorities identify children depicted in sexual abuse materials.
OJJDP also supports the early-warning AMBER Alert program, a voluntary network devoted to the safe recovery of missing and abducted children. Network partners include law enforcement, state transportation agencies, broadcasters, the wireless industry, Internet service providers, and others.
Additional Resources
The following websites provide additional information and resources:
- The Justice Department's Human Trafficking webpage includes links to its National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking report and to press releases detailing Department efforts to combat human trafficking.
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) leads and supports systems to prevent trafficking and protect victims, helping them rebuild their lives and strengthen their health and well-being.
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Blue Campaign works with law enforcement, government agencies, and nongovernmental and private organizations to raise public awareness and fight human trafficking.
- FBI's Violent Crimes Against Children program identifies and rescues child victims, and works to reduce children's vulnerability to in-person and online sexual exploitation and abuse.
- The President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking meets annually and coordinates federal efforts to combat human trafficking.
[1]The TVPA was first enacted in 2000 and reauthorized in 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2022.