ATEST endorses U.S. bills reauthorizing anti-trafficking laws and protections
Anti-trafficking coalition ATEST endorses U.S. victim protection bills, a French manufacturer faces charges of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in Syria, and a judicial hearing will be the first of its kind to consider modern slavery in the UK’s supply chain.
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) has announced its endorsement of four bills that will reauthorize the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The bills each address different components of U.S. anti-trafficking policy and will progress government efforts to combat labour and sex trafficking inside the U.S. and around the world. The TVPA, first passed in 2000, is one of the world’s most ambitious and comprehensive anti-trafficking laws and outlines the architecture for a whole-of-government approach.
The bills, by order of their introduction in Congress this year, are the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, the Abolish Human Trafficking Reauthorization Act, the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, and the International Trafficking Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act. Together, they will reauthorize hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on anti-trafficking programs over the next five years throughout the federal government, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, Labor, Justice, Homeland Security, Transportation, Education, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Some programs will receive much-needed increases.
According to ATEST, the bills will also strengthen U.S. anti-trafficking efforts through key policy provisions, including:
• Expansion to include a focus on both labour and sex trafficking, including the creation of labour trafficking investigation teams at the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and funding to enforce the U.S. prohibition on importing goods tainted by forced or child labour.
• The integration of counter-trafficking strategies into all foreign aid programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and a provision to ensure the U.S. champions the inclusion of trafficking assessments and mitigation in loans to countries with weak anti-trafficking track records.
• Mandatory anti-trafficking training for all federal employees, prohibition of retaliation against a trafficking survivor or witnesses in a trafficking case, and creation of multidisciplinary teams at the FBI to ensure proper support services are available during investigations.
• The continuation of the toll-free National Human Trafficking Hotline and the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which provides expertise to federal agencies from survivor-advocates.
• The easing of barriers to ensure survivors can get identification documents, and new rules to ensure traffickers can’t avoid paying damages to survivors by filing for bankruptcy.
ATEST, a U.S.-based coalition that advocates for solutions to prevent and end all forms of human trafficking and modern slavery around the world, also highlights instances in the four bills where provisions overlap, and where funding authorization levels are inconsistent. It urges Congress to enact higher authorization levels to ensure programs are fully resourced and asks congressional committees to consider including additional provisions from the ATEST Recommendations for 2021 Trafficking Victims Protection Act Reauthorization.
These provisions include: strengthening the regulation of foreign labour recruiters, increasing transparency and further improving enforcement of regulations prohibiting trafficking in government contracts, reforming T-visa (visas issued to trafficking victims) standards, and comprehensively addressing the nexus between human trafficking and gender-based violence.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
Last Wednesday, a French court issued a precedent-setting ruling that will allow Lafarge, a French industrial manufacturer and one of its largest companies, to be charged with aiding and abetting crimes against humanity after it was accused of financing terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, while operating in Syria during the country’s civil war. The ruling follows a complaint submitted by ECCHR, Sherpa and 11 former Syrian Lafarge employees in 2016, and is the first time that a company, as a legal entity, has been charged with complicity in crimes against humanity.
This new research discusses human trafficking activities and practices in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban’s takeover, and this briefing note discusses the potential implications and impact of various actors’ policies, intentions and perspectives on both the continuing humanitarian crises and specifically on Afghan human trafficking. It argues that humanitarian assistance should be prioritized and recommends that stakeholders pursue a pragmatic approach that places human lives at its center, in order to prevent exacerbating the humanitarian crises, vulnerability to trafficking, and further loss of life.
FIFA should earmark at least US$440m to provide remedy for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have suffered human rights abuses in Qatar during preparations for the 2022 World Cup, Amnesty International said in a new report last week. In an open letter accompanying the report, Amnesty International and a coalition of human rights organizations, unions and fan groups urged FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, to work with Qatar to establish a comprehensive remediation program.
A UK non-profit group has been granted permission by the High Court to challenge the government’s continued use of Supermax Corp Bhd as an approved supplier of disposable gloves for its National Health Service workers, despite allegations of forced labour in the Supermax workforce, in the first case of its kind to consider the presence of modern slavery in the UK’s supply chain.
A Thai police officer has said that the U.S. wants Thai government agencies to work together as “Team Thailand” to more effectively tackle human-trafficking issues. The officer was part of a delegation that visited Washington in May to defend Thailand’s efforts to fight human trafficking and forced labour after it was downgraded by the U.S. from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watchlist in last year’s TIP Report.
Tomorrow, the International Institute for Environment and Development invites you to join a webinar to discuss a new report detailing the extent and impact of climate change on distress migration and human trafficking. This launch event will share the findings from the report and feature a panel discussion with real-life experiences of how climate impacts are resulting in forced labour, bonded labour, debt bondage and exploitative working conditions.
The Freedom Fund is expanding its existing Tariff Act Legal Fund through a second round of grant funding and is accepting proposals until 10 June. It is particularly interested in receiving applications from groups based in the Global South, or partnerships between international and local groups. Together with the Human Trafficking Legal Center, we are hosting an informal call about the Tariff Act on Thursday. Please register to join!
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