Human trafficking is repugnant. It’s a form of slavery where the trafficker uses force, fraud, or threats to make victims take part in commercial sex or forced labor. Trafficking affects thousands of people in the US every year.
It’s a form of crime that Joe Biden really hates. And the Biden administration has taken many steps to stop it.
The White House recently summarized the work being done. Some of these efforts are ongoing; others are new.
First step: increasing awareness. We need to be able to spot trafficking before we can fight it!
The Department of Labor is investing more resources in identifying forced labor and child labor risks in the products that are part of our everyday lives to ensure that we avoid importing those goods into the United States.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will publish the National Human Trafficking Prevention Framework with violence prevention strategies and approaches for communities to stop human trafficking before it occurs, reduce its impact, and prevent it from recurring.
The Department of State (State) will launch a training resource that focuses on how to conduct trauma-informed interviews and conversations for personnel at our embassies and consulates who may interview or converse with survivors of human trafficking.
Second step: protection. This involves both preventing this crime and caring for its survivors.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will select a Senior Victim-Centered Approach Official to further institutionalize victim identification and support capacity across the Department. DHS will also launch an online application and processing system for U.S. law enforcement nationwide to expedite and expand its ability to request Continued Presence for human trafficking victims.
State will launch a new foreign assistance program, the Partnership to Prevent (P2P) Human Trafficking. This new program, like the Child Protection Compact Partnerships, will fund multi-year commitments developed jointly by the United States and selected partner countries. These document shared objectives to advance national and local level efforts to effectively prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers, and provide trauma-informed care for survivors.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will support foreign governments and civil society efforts to combat human trafficking with survivor-centered approaches.
HHS will continue to connect thousands of survivors of human trafficking to housing, health, and other critical services through a national network of community-based organizations.
The third big step: prosecution. The Biden administration is targeting traffickers at home and overseas.
The Department of Treasury will hold traffickers accountable by working with interagency partners to develop targeted sanctions to disrupt human trafficking activities. Since December 2022, Treasury has designated 23 persons for conduct related to human trafficking, including for serious human rights abuse aboard People’s Republic of China-flagged distant water fishing vessels, and for systemic and pervasive sex trafficking activity.
The Department of the Interior will continue to work with the United States Attorneys’ Offices and state law enforcement officials to establish standard law enforcement response protocols throughout Indian Country. This year, the Department will also be completing a cloud-based Solution Trust Accountability Tracker (STAT). STAT catalogues information on missing persons, murder, and human trafficking cases relating to Native American and Alaska Native victims.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will continue bringing high-impact sex trafficking and labor trafficking prosecutions in partnership with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners.
In addition, DOJ will launch a Human Trafficking Strategic Initiative of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. It will mobilize additional federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in investigations involving transnational organized and gang-related human trafficking threats.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden has done so much more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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These posts are written by GoodNewsRoundup (Goodie),
edited by Matilda Briggs, and supported by 2thanks and WolverineForTJatAW
as well as several other notable Kossacks.
As with all good things, it takes a village.