HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/govenmd0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
* Con gressionaI Resear h Service
Informning Ih legisIative debate sin ce 1914
S
Updated November 16, 2023
Human Trafficking and U.S. Foreign Policy: An Introduction
What is human trafficking?
Human trafficking (also known as trafficking in persons)
refers to the subjection of men, women, or children to
exploitative conditions that may be tantamount to modern-
day slavery. From a foreign policy perspective, human
trafficking can be viewed as a human rights problem, a
manifestation of transnational organized crime, and a
violation of core international labor standards. Human
trafficking also raises economic development, international
migration, and global governance and security issues, and
disproportionately victimizes vulnerable populations.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA;
Division A of P.L. 106-386; 22 U.S.C. §7101 et seq.)
defines severe forms of trafficking in persons to include
* sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced
by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person
induced to perform such act is under age 18; or
* the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or
obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the
use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of
subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt
bondage, or slavery.
The recruitment or use of child soldiers, as defined in the
Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA, Title IV of
P.L. 110-457; 22 U.S.C. §2370c et seq.), is also considered
a form of human trafficking. (For information on the CSPA,
see CRS In Focus IF10901, Child Soldiers Prevention Act:
Security Assistance Restrictions.)
H ow has Congress responded?
For nearly two decades, the cornerstone legislation to
address international human trafficking has been the TVPA,
as reauthorized and/or amended most notably in 2003 (P.L.
108-193), 2005 (P.L. 109-164), 2008 (P.L. 110-457), 2013
(P.L. 113-4), and 2019 (P.L. 115-425; P.L. 115-427).
The TVPA established numerous key elements of the U.S.
foreign policy response to human trafficking, including the
State Department's Office to Combat and Monitor
Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office), interagency entities to
coordinate anti-trafficking policies across U.S. agencies,
authorities to provide anti-trafficking foreign aid, and the
requirement for the State Department to annually publish
reports on trafficking in persons (known as the TIP Report).
Both U.S. policy, through the TVPA, and international law
(e.g., the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children),
broadly view anti-trafficking responses as encompassing
efforts to protect victims, prosecute traffickers, and prevent
opportunities for traffickers to exploit (known as the 3Ps).
In addition to the TVPA and funding anti-trafficking
programs through regular appropriations, Congress has
shaped U.S. policy to combat international human
trafficking through a range of legislative provisions focused
on discrete aspects of this issue. In chronological order,
selected key statutes include the following:
* Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
§ 1307), which prohibits the importation of foreign
goods made wholly or in part by forced labor.
* Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act,
Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA; P.L. 112-239), which
expanded provisions in the TVPA to prevent trafficking
in the federal procurement context. (The End Human
Trafficking in Government Contracts Act of 2022 [P.L.
117-211] further amended these provisions.)
* Section 910 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade
Enforcement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-125), which
eliminated an exception to the forced labor import ban
under Section 307 of the Tariff Act that had allowed
imports if the level of U.S. domestic production of such
products did not meet U.S. consumptive demands.
* Section 1298 of the NDAA for FY2017 (P.L. 114-328),
which authorized transformational international
assistance projects to combat modern slavery (see
The Program to End Modern Slavery below).
* Section 321 of the Countering America's Adversaries
Through Sanctions Act (P.L. 115-44), which amended
the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act
(P.L. 114-122) to require sanctions on foreign persons
employing North Korean laborers and to create a
rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or
manufactured by such labor are prohibited from
importation pursuant to Section 307 of the Tariff Act.
* P.L. 117-78, commonly referred to as the Uyghur
Forced Labor Prevention Act, which among other
provisions created a rebuttable presumption that goods
mined, produced, or manufactured in China's Xinjiang
region, or by certain Xinjiang-related entities, are
prohibited from importation pursuant to Section 307 of
the Tariff Act.
What is the State Departmen's role?
The State Department leads federal efforts to combat
human trafficking. The Secretary of State chairs the
President's Interagency Task Force (PITF) to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons, which met most recently in
February 2023. The Director of the TIP Office chairs the
Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG), a working-level
interagency entity to coordinate federal responses. The TIP
Office also administers international anti-trafficking grant
programs and prepares the annual TIP Report.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govenmd0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)