The U.S. 2021 Federal Human Trafficking Report shows an increase in criminal forced labour cases
The Human Trafficking Institute publishes its annual report with new interactive features, the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region seeks signatories to its G7 letter, and the UK’s first Rwanda deportation flight fails to take off.
Findings from The Human Trafficking Institute’s 2021 Federal Human Trafficking Report show a 22 per cent increase in the number of criminal forced labour cases in the U.S. since 2020, with foreign nationals making up 93 per cent of identified victims in new forced labour cases. However, the number of new human trafficking cases filed overall, the majority of which were sex trafficking cases, decreased by 22 per cent, with the number of defendants charged falling by 37 per cent since 2017. Federal Courts convicted 96 per cent of defendants in sex trafficking cases and on average defendants were given prison terms of 13 years and four months, the highest average sentence imposed in human trafficking cases since the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.
The Federal Human Trafficking Report provides an exhaustive review of human trafficking cases in the United States Federal Courts System; it captures, disaggregates and verifies raw data, and organizes it in order to transform individual data points into information and insight. Thus the Report is intended to serve as a resource and a tool for prosecutors, investigators and practitioners in their efforts to combat human trafficking – although it should be noted that it is neither an indicator of the prevalence of human trafficking in the U.S. nor a reflection of the investigations and prosecutions that take place at the state level, outside the Federal Court System.
In the past five years, the Report has captured specific data points from thousands of human trafficking cases filed since the TVPA was enacted. Because of the breadth of data available, the 2021 Report shifts focus from providing information on pending active cases, and instead focuses primarily on new cases filed. This shift is intended to eliminate data from older pending cases that would skew new trends. This year, the Report also began streamlining relevant information for easy year-on-year comparison and analysis, providing additional case highlights on nuanced areas of human trafficking, and highlighting best practices specifically as they relate to maintaining a victim-centered approach.
Some of the new data points featured include information regarding the involvement of task forces in investigations, locations where victims are commonly recruited, how victims are transported, pre-existing relationships between traffickers and victims prior to recruitment, and methods through which human trafficking cases are referred to law enforcement.
A new and exciting development for the 2021 Report is the creation of interactive features. The information published in the Report each year is only a small representation of the amount of data contained within the Report database; this year, an interactive feature allows readers more access to the database, allowing them to explore information beyond that provided in the published Report. Readers can now manipulate filters within certain sections to view more specific and narrowly tailored information. These features can be accessed through the digital version of the 2021 Report provided at data.traffickinginstitute.org.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
Please consider signing the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region’s letter to G7 leaders before 22 June at 12pm ET, in advance of the annual G7 Leaders’ Summit on 26-28 June. Join us in urging G7 leaders to adopt concrete measures, including import bans, to combat forced labour and other grave human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim peoples of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, perpetrated by the government of China.
A new report by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice in the UK, and Material Research, investigates the increased manufacturing of PVC (polyvinyl chloride or vinyl) through state-sponsored labour transfers in China’s Uyghur Region, and the routes by which the resulting building materials make their way into international markets.
The first deportation flight of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was abandoned after a dramatic 11th-hour intervention from the European Court of Human Rights last week. However, the UK government insisted it was only a “temporary setback”.
Changing migration patterns mean that more Nepalis are now traveling to western Europe via dangerous illegal routes in the hope of obtaining residence in Portugal. Recent policy changes allow any migrant worker to obtain regularization in Portugal as long as they follow due process once they cross its border, irrespective of the means or route they used to get there. As a result, the number of migrants entering Portugal from countries like Nepal has increased significantly in recent years.
And, the growing demand for cheap labour in Portugal has created opportunities for migrant workers – but has also increased the risks of exploitation and human trafficking. Last week, GRETA experts called on Portuguese authorities to do more to tackle the problem.
This recent podcast episode from Business Fights Poverty discusses how best to support migrant workers; what businesses need to do to adhere to the new EU directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence; and why language barriers or low literacy shouldn’t put a stop to the training of workers.
According to this news story, Vietnamese migrants face record-high recruitment fees – the equivalent of three to four years’ wages in Vietnam – after taking on jobs serving global supply chains. Many have migrated to East Asian countries to work for suppliers of major Western brands, paying exorbitant fees to do so, in the hope of securing a brighter future for their families.
The Freedom Fund is seeking a Senior Program Manager responsible for the overall management of its Corporate Accountability programs, as well as technical assistance (TA) providers to 1) support the development of child-led advocacy approaches to support the rights of child domestic workers (CDWs) in Ethiopia and 2) to support the design and development of an intervention to engage children of those employing child domestic workers.
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