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![handle is hein.crs/govejhi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gressiona Rese r h Service
Informning Ih legisIlive debae since 1914
Updated November 4, 2022
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.) defined
severe forms of trafficking in persons to include sex
trafficking induced by force, fraud, or coercion; child sex
trafficking (under 18 years of age); or forced labor
trafficking. The latter involves the recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person-induced
by force, fraud, or coercion-for the purpose of subjecting
that person, adult or child, 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 a form of human trafficking. (For
information on the CSPA and how U.S. policy addresses
child soldiers, see CRS In Focus IF10901, Child Soldiers
Prevention Act: Security Assistance Restrictions.)
How has Congress responded?
For nearly two decades, the cornerstone legislative vehicle
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),
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.
* Section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2464),
as amended by the Trade and Development Act of 2000
(P.L. 106-200), which requires an annual report by the
Labor Department on the worst forms of child labor.
* Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act,
Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA; P.L. 112-239), which
expands provisions in the TVPA to prevent trafficking
in federal procurement, including by military contractors
engaged in overseas contingency operations. (The End
Human Trafficking in Government Contracts Act of
2022 [P.L. 117-211] further amends these provisions.)
* International Megan's Law to Prevent Child
Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through
Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders (P.L.
114-119), which seeks to prevent child sexual
exploitation abroad by outbound U.S. sex offenders.
* Section 910 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade
Enforcement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-125), which
eliminated the so-called consumptive demand
exception to Section 307 of the Tariff Act.
* Section 321 of the Countering America's Adversaries
Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA, P.L. 115-44), which
amended the North Korea Sanctions and Policy
Enhancement Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9241 et seq.) to
require sanctions on foreign persons employing North
Korean labor and to create a rebuttable presumption that
goods mined, produced, or manufactured by North
Korean labor are prohibited from importation pursuant
to Section 307 of the Tariff Act.
* Provisions in the NDAA for 2020 (P.L. 116-92) to
combat human trafficking in seafood supply chains
(§§3561-3563) and human trafficking-related illicit
financing (§§7151-7155).
* The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (P.L. 117-78),
which among other provisions creates 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 Department'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](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govejhi0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)