Table of Contents
I. Introduction
Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals. Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery.
--President George W. Bush, January 2006
Trafficking in persons (?TIP?) is a regrettably widespread form of modern-day slavery. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders each year. More than 80 percent of these victims are women and girls, and 70 percent of them are forced into sexual servitude. Furthermore, one estimate claims that between 14,500 and 17,500 victims may be trafficked into the United States each year, although that figure may be overstated. In response, the United States has led the world in the fight against this terrible crime.
The centerpiece of U.S. government efforts to eliminate trafficking in persons is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (?TVPA?), Pub. L. 106-386, signed into law on October 28, 2000. It enhanced three aspects of federal government activity to combat trafficking in persons: it provided for a range of new protections and assistance for victims of trafficking in persons; it expanded the crimes and enhanced the penalties available to federal investigators and prosecutors pursuing traffickers; and it expanded U.S. activities internationally to prevent victims from being trafficked in the first place.
Specifically, the TVPA:
- Provided for victim assistance in the United States by making trafficking victims eligible for federally-funded or -administered health and other benefits and services; mandated U.S. government protections for victims of trafficking and, where applicable, their families; outlined protections from removal, including T non-immigrant status for trafficking victims over the age of 18 who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking (victims under 18 are not required to cooperate in order to receive immigration benefits); and allowed T non-immigrant status holders to adjust to permanent resident status;
- Created new crimes and enhanced penalties for existing crimes, including forced labor, trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud or coercion, and unlawful conduct with respect to documents; criminalized attempts to engage in these behaviors; and provided for mandatory restitution and forfeiture;
- Provided for assistance to foreign countries in drafting laws to prohibit and punish acts of trafficking and strengthen investigation and prosecution of traffickers; created programs to assist victims; and expanded U.S. government exchange and international visitor programs focused on trafficking in persons; and
- Created the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to coordinate the U.S. government's anti-trafficking efforts. The TVPA directed the Task Force, among other activities, to: 1) measure and evaluate progress of the United States and other countries in the areas of trafficking prevention, protection, and assistance to victims; 2) expand interagency procedures to collect and organize data; 3) engage in efforts to facilitate cooperation among countries; 4) examine the role of the international sex tourism industry; and 5) engage in consultation and advocacy with governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act of 2003 (?TVPRA?), Pub. L. 108-193, signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2003, reauthorized the TVPA and added responsibilities to the U.S. Government's anti-trafficking portfolio. In particular, the TVPRA mandated new information campaigns to combat sex tourism, added some refinements to the federal criminal law, and created a new civil action that allows trafficking victims to sue their traffickers in federal district court. In addition, the TVPRA requires a report from the Attorney General to Congress to be submitted to Congress every year. This report was mandated to provide information on the following U.S. government activities to combat trafficking in persons:
- The number of persons in the United States who received benefits or other services under section 107(b) of the TVPA in connection with programs or activities funded or administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, the Board of the Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, and other appropriate federal agencies during the previous Fiscal Year;
- The number of persons who had been granted ?continued presence? in the United States under TVPA section 107(c)(3) during the previous Fiscal Year; ? The number of persons who applied for, had been granted, or had been denied T non-immigrant status or otherwise provided status under section 101(a)(15)(T)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. ? 1101(a)(15)(T)(i)) during the previous Fiscal Year;
- The number of persons who were charged or convicted under one or more of sections 1581, 1583, 1584, 1589, 1590, 1591, 1592, or 1594 of title 18, United States Code, during the previous Fiscal Year, and the sentences imposed against each such person;
- The amount, recipient, and purpose of each grant issued by any federal agency to carry out the purposes of sections 106 and 107 of the Act, or section 134 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, during the previous Fiscal Year;
- The nature of training conducted pursuant to section 107(c)(4) during the previous Fiscal Year; and
- The activities undertaken by the Senior Policy Operating Group (?SPOG?) on Trafficking in Persons to carry out its responsibilities under section 105(f) of the TVPRA during the previous Fiscal Year.
This report, the third required under the TVPRA, is submitted to Congress in compliance with that directive. It details U.S. government activities to combat TIP during Fiscal Year 2005 (?FY05?), with a focus on the categories above.
II. Benefits and Services Given Domestically to Trafficking Victims
The success of U.S. government efforts to combat trafficking in persons domestically hinges on pursuing a victim-centered approach. All U.S. government agencies are therefore committed to providing victims access to the services and benefits provided by the TVPA. Because government benefits are typically tied to a person's immigration status, the TVPA created a mechanism for allowing certain non-citizens who were trafficking victims access to benefits and services from which they might otherwise be barred. Under sections 107(b)(1) and (b)(2) of the TVPA, various federal agencies must extend some of their existing benefits to trafficking victims and are authorized to provide grants to effectuate such assistance. This section reviews the activities of the Department of Health and Human Services (?HHS?), the Department of Justice (?DOJ?), the Department of Homeland Security (?DHS?), the Department of State (?DOS?), the Department of Labor (?DOL?) and the Legal Services Corporation (?LSC?) to implement sections 107(b) and 107(c) of the TVPA.
A. Department of Health and Human Services
1. Certifications and Letters of Eligibility
The TVPA authorizes the ?certification? of adult victims to receive certain federally- funded or -administered benefits and services, such as cash assistance, medical care, food stamps, and housing. Victims who are minors receive ?letters of eligibility? for the same types of services. In FY05, HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (?ORR?) in the Administration for Children and Families issued 196 certifications to adults and 34 eligibility letters to minors, for a total of 230.
These certifications and eligibility letters, combined with the 163 letters issued in Fiscal Year 2004 (?FY04?), the 151 letters issued in Fiscal Year 2003 (?FY03?), the 99 letters issued in Fiscal Year 2002 (?FY02?) and the 198 letters issued in Fiscal Year 2001 (?FY01?), bring to 841 the total number of letters issued during the first five fiscal years in which the program has operated.
The FY05 letters were sent to victims or their representatives in 19 states. The largest concentrations were in California, New York, and Texas . In FY05, the countries of origin for reported victims were Cambodia, Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Chad, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Western Samoa . The highest populations of victims originated in Korea (23.5%), Thailand (11.7%), Peru (10.0%), and Mexico (9.6%).
2. Service Grants
ORR has utilized discretionary grants to create a network of service organizations available to assist victims of a trafficking. In this endeavor, ORR has collaborated closely with DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime (?OVC?), which also awards grants to provide services to victims of trafficking (described below). ORR and OVC meet regularly to review the status of the national service delivery mechanism. In the case of minors who are victims of trafficking, the policy of HHS is to enroll them in the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program in order to provide them care and services (even though they are not refugees as defined in statute). This enrollment can be accomplished very rapidly, usually within 24 hours of ORR being made aware of a victim. Participation in the program is voluntary for the victims.
Since the inception of its trafficking program in FY01, ORR has awarded discretionary grants to 28 organizations. (See chart on next page for a representative list.) The FY01 grants provided $1.25 million in funding to eight organizations for an eighteen-month period that ended in March 2003. The purpose of these grants was to assist victims and promote awareness of trafficking by hosting training and media activities. In FY02 and FY03, all trafficking grant awards were for a one-year period, renewable annually for an additional two years.
ORR awarded these service grants in two categories. Category One grants fund projects that raise awareness of trafficking in persons and/or provide case management and direct services to victims.2 Category One grant projects include establishing nationwide networks of non-governmental organizations and service providers. Category Two grants fund technical assistance projects that provide training and technical expertise to law enforcement agencies, social service providers, faith-based organizations, and professional associations.
In FY05, ORR did not award any new Category One or Category Two grants; rather, it awarded only Street Outreach grants (discussed below in Section VI.D.2, Training and Outreach, Department of Health and Human Services Public Awareness Campaign and Outreach Grants). To complete the final year of direct services, approximately $3.2 million was granted to the FY03 grantees in FY05.
B. Department of Justice
OVC funds a total of 25 direct services projects for victims, as well as one project that provides technical assistance to OVC trafficking grantees, and one that focuses on building shelter capacity for trafficking victims across the nation.
During Calendar Year 2005 (OVC's reporting period), OVC's grantees provided services to 692 victims. Some victims were served by more than one service provider. This occurs when large numbers of victims are identified in a single raid or episode and the local service provider does not have the capacity to provide ongoing services to large numbers of victims.
Examples of OVC grantees include the International Institute of Connecticut, which provides comprehensive services to pre-certified victims identified in the state of Connecticut, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, which is working with the Los Angeles Anti-Trafficking Task Force to build effective community service networks to identify victims and respond to their needs, and the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, which works with community partners in the San Francisco Bay area, such as the Asian Women's Shelter, the Donaldina Cameron House, and Narika (an organization committed to ending domestic violence) to provide services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate to pre-certified trafficking victims.
A list of all OVC funded projects can be found on the OVC website at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/help/traffickingmatrix.htm.
C. Department of Homeland Security
With funding from OVC, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (?ICE?) Victim-Witness Assistance Program operates a Federal Crime Victim Assistance Fund (?Fund?). The Fund is available to assist Special Agents in Charge (?SACs?) with emergency services for victims of crime, including trafficking and related crimes. In FY05, ICE utilized the Fund to provide emergency housing, food, and incidentals for 17 Korean victims of sex trafficking in San Francisco, California, 10 Honduran victims (including juveniles) of sex trafficking in Newark, New Jersey, four Ukrainian victims of sex trafficking in Detroit, Michigan, three victims in Baltimore, Maryland, numerous Mexican victims of sex trafficking in New York City and Newark, and a Mexican victim of sex trafficking in Tampa, Florida; clothing and personal items for a victim rescued from a home in Colorado where she had been kept captive; health assessments for two child victims in Boston, Massachusetts; costs associated with the Center for Disease Control's tuberculosis testing for victims in San Francisco; and food for 100 potential victims in San Francisco . These funds are essential to fill a current gap in services for victims of trafficking until they can be safely transferred to NGOs.
Other services DHS provides to victims include supplying clothing, translators, and other items. For example, rescued victims frequently have only the clothing they are wearing when rescued. ICE has therefore prepared packets of clothing and essential hygiene items that are sent to field offices for investigations when large numbers of victims are to be rescued. Among other things, victim assistance staff must also be prepared to provide appropriate translation services, culturally appropriate food, and clothing. In one case, ICE arranged for a Catholic priest to provide mass for victims at a secure location because the traffickers had not allowed the victims to attend church.
Victims who have children pose unique problems. If children are rescued with the parents, victim assistance staff must be prepared to provide services to children ? including keeping them occupied while their parents are being interviewed. For example, in an ICE case on Long Island, ICE had custody of almost a dozen children ranging from nine months to 17 years old. ICE collected toys and games from ICE staff to give to the children. ICE has also dealt with issues of family reunification. For example, in another case in New York State, children of trafficking victims were held by members of the offenders' families in Mexico . ICE agents and victim assistance staff worked with federal prosecutors, DOS, and the International Organization for Migration's (?IOM?) Family Reunification Project to bring the children to the United States to rejoin their mothers.
D. Department of State
DOS's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (?PRM?) launched the Return, Reintegration, and Family Reunification Program for Victims of Trafficking in the United States in 2005, which reunites eligible family members with trafficked persons in the United States and assists victims who want to return to their home country. This project was developed at PRM's request as part of the U.S. government's efforts in support of the TVPA. PRM's implementing partner, the IOM, works collaboratively with NGOs, law enforcement agencies, the faith-based community, and U.S. government agencies in order to assist the families of identified victims. After receiving a T visa, trafficked persons can bring their eligible family members to the United States, as provided for by the TVPA. The IOM may provide financial and logistical support for travel of immediate family members through pre-departure assistance with travel documents, transportation arrangements, airport assistance, and escorts for children. For trafficked persons who do not wish to avail themselves of the T-visa benefits to remain in the United States, the program works to ensure safe return and reintegration assistance back to home communities. This may include pre-departure assistance, travel documentation, transportation, and reception upon arrival by IOM partners on the ground, when possible. Reintegration assistance may be provided through NGO partners to mitigate the chances of re-trafficking and may include: temporary shelter, health care, training and education, small grants for income-generating activities, etc. As of March 2006, this program assisted three trafficking victims who wished to return to their country of origin, and facilitated the family reunification of 24 family members with victims in the United States.
E. Department of Labor
DOL's One-Stop Career Centers provide employment and training services ? notably job search assistance, career counseling, and occupational skills training ? to victims of trafficking in accordance with guidance issued by the Employment and Training Administration (?ETA)? after the passage of the TVPA. In addition to informing the career centers about federal resources for victims of trafficking, the guidance notes that no state may deny services available to victims of severe forms of trafficking based on their immigration status. Any such services are provided directly by state and local grantees to trafficking victims, however, and ETA does not collect information on the extent to which such services are offered or utilized by trafficking victims.
DOL's Job Corps program also provides useful job training opportunities that are available to trafficking victims.
F. Legal Services Corporation
LSC is a private, non-profit corporation established by Congress which funds legal aid programs around the nation to help poor Americans gain access to the civil justice system. Under section 107(b) of the TVPA, LSC must make legal assistance available to trafficking victims, who often need assistance with immigration and other matters. LSC has issued guidance to all LSC program directors describing the LSC's obligations to provide legal services to trafficking victims. The current guidance is available at: http://www.rin.lsc.gov/Reference%20Materials/Refrmats/Progltrs/Progltr05- 2.pdf
In FY05, eleven LSC grantees assisted 141 trafficking victims, as shown in the chart below.
| LSC Grantees | # of Persons Served |
|---|---|
| Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles | 83* |
| Colorado Legal Services | 21 |
| Legal Aid Society of Mid- New York | 18 |
| Georgia Legal Services | 5 |
| Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services | 5 |
| Southern Arizona Legal Aid | 3 |
| Northwest Justice Project | 2 |
| Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma | 2 |
| Virginia Legal Aid Society | 1 |
| Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas | 1 |
| Nevada Legal Services | 1 |
| TOTAL | 141 |
*plus 127 ?derivative applicants,? i.e. family members of those trafficked.
III. Immigration Benefits for Trafficking Victims
Trafficking victims in the United States are eligible to receive two types of immigration relief?Continued Presence (?CP?) and T nonimmigrant status, also known as a ?T visa.? The Parole and Humanitarian Assistance Branch (?PHAB?), within ICE's Office of International Affairs, grants CP and DHS's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (?CIS?) awards T visas. DHS provides copies of these awards to the HHS, which issues the certification under section 107 (b) of the TVPA as described above.
?Continued Presence? is a term of art referring to parole to be legally present in the United States granted to trafficking victims in accordance with Section 107(c)(3) of the TVPA. Pursuant to 28 C.F.R. 1103, DHS has the authority to grant CP to victims of severe forms of trafficking who are potential witnesses in the investigation or prosecution. CP must be requested by a federal law enforcement agency on behalf of the potential witness. CP requests are reviewed and, when warranted, authorized by the PHAB, pursuant to authority delegated to it by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
When the PHAB authorizes CP, the approved application is forwarded to the Vermont Service Center (?VSC?) within CIS for production of an employment authorization document and an I-94, Arrival/Departure Record. CP is initially authorized for a period of one year; however, an extension (re-parole) of CP may be authorized for a longer period if the investigation is ongoing.
In FY05, the PHAB received 160 requests for CP. Of these, 158 requests were granted and two requests were withdrawn by the requesting federal law enforcement agencies because there was insufficient evidence to substantiate that the individuals were trafficking victims. ICE also received 92 requests for extensions to existing CP, and all the extensions were granted. The majority of extensions represent an ICE investigation in Long Island involving Peruvian victims of forced labor.
| Requests for CP in FY05 | Number Awarded | Number Withdrawn | Countries Represented | Countries with the Highest Number of Victims | Cities with the Most CP Requests |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160 | 158 | 2 | 29 | Korea, Peru, and Honduras | New York San Francisco Newark |
| Request for Extensions 92 | Extensions Authorized 92 | Peru | New York |
Victims may also petition CIS to receive a T visa, a status available to victims over the age of 18 who have complied with reasonable requests for assistance in the investigation and prosecution of acts of trafficking. Victims who receive T nonimmigrant status may remain in the United States for three years, and then may apply for lawful permanent residency subject to certain statutory criteria.3 See the chart below for numbers of persons who applied for, who were granted, and who were denied T visas in FY05.
Number of persons who applied for, were granted, or were denied a T visa:
| FY05 | |
| Victims | |
| Applied | 229 |
| Approved* | 112 |
| Denied** | 213 |
| Family of Victims | |
| Applied | 124 |
| Approved* | 114 |
| Denied** | 18 |
* Some approvals are from prior fiscal year(s) filings.
** Some applicants have been denied twice (i.e., filed once, were denied, filed again).
It should be noted that 170 denials stemmed from one case in which it was determined that the applicants were not victims of trafficking as defined in the TVPA statute.
IV. Investigations and Prosecutions
A. Investigations
Federal investigations of trafficking in persons are undertaken by Federal Bureau of Investigation (?FBI?) agents and ICE agents.
1. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Special agents in the Civil Rights Unit (?CRU?) at FBI Headquarters and in field offices around the country investigate trafficking in the United States . FBI Legal Attaches at U.S. embassies around the world support investigations with international links. In addition, FBI agents in the CRU coordinate with agents in the Organized Crime and Crimes Against Children Units to ensure that cases initially identified as smuggling cases, Internet crimes against children, and/or sex tourism are also identified for potential human trafficking elements.
On August 30, 2005, the FBI began its Human Trafficking Initiative. The initiative involved the FBI's field offices determining, via a threat assessment, the existence and scope of the trafficking problem in their region; participating in an anti- trafficking task force; establishing and maintaining relationships with local NGOs and community organizations; conducting victim-centered investigations; and reporting significant case developments to the CRU.
In FY05, the FBI opened 146 trafficking investigations and made 48 arrests.
In addition, the FBI continued to combat child prostitution in the United States through the Innocence Lost Initiative. In June of 2003, the FBI, in partnership with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (?CEOS?) of DOJ's Criminal Division and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (?NCMEC?), implemented the ?Innocence Lost National Initiative? to address the growing problem of child prostitution. Initially, the FBI identified 14 field offices with a high incidence of child prostitution. In FY05 and through the first quarter of FY06, an additional 10 field offices were identified as areas in which these criminal enterprises were operating. As of September 30, 2005, the Innocence Lost Initiative resulted in 139 open investigations (67 in 2004 and 72 in 2005), 505 arrests (118 in 2004 and 387 in 2005), 60 complaints (11 in 2004 and 49 in 2005), 70 indictments (26 in 2004 and 44 in 2005), and 67 convictions (22 in 2004 and 45 in 2005).
2. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Within ICE, oversight of the enforcement of trafficking cases lies with the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit (?HSTU?) in the Office of Investigations. The responsibility for human trafficking investigations themselves is under the purview of ICE domestic field offices and attach? offices overseas. In addition, the Cyber Crimes Center is responsible for worldwide oversight and management of child sex tourism investigations. Also, the Financial and Trade Investigation Division systematically follows the trail of illicit monies of trafficking organizations. The Asset Identification Removal Group targets the finances and assets of trafficking organizations and focuses on civil asset forfeiture. The Law Enforcement Support Center serves as a national enforcement operations center and provides information on the status and identities of aliens. This allows ICE to rapidly arrest and maintain custody of potential traffickers under immigration charges while further investigations are being completed.
In FY05, ICE opened 274 human trafficking investigations, which consisted of 86 investigations of forced labor and 188 investigations of commercial sexual exploitation. ICE made 101 arrests, 85 for sex trafficking and 16 for forced labor.
ICE is also actively involved in investigating the sexual exploitation of children overseas. Operation Predator is ICE's comprehensive initiative to safeguard children from foreign national sex offenders, international sex tourists, Internet child pornographers, and human traffickers. Since 2003, the initiative has resulted in more than 7,000 arrests - an average of more than eight arrests per day. In FY05, ICE made 2,380 Operation Predator arrests. Operation Predator has an important international component as leads developed by domestic ICE offices are shared with ICE Attach? offices overseas and foreign law enforcement for action. Leads shared with foreign authorities have resulted in more than 1,000 arrests overseas. With regard to sex tourism, since the PROTECT Act was enacted in 2003, ICE has conducted over 190 investigations of U.S. citizens traveling abroad for the purpose of sexually exploiting children. In FY05, ICE agents arrested 15 individuals for child sex tourism violations.
3. Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center
DOJ, DHS, and DOS, along with other government agencies, staff the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center (?the Center?). The Center combines federal agency representatives from the prosecutorial, law enforcement, policy, intelligence, diplomatic and consular arenas to work together on a full time basis to attempt to curtail human smuggling and trafficking in the United States and worldwide. The Center facilitates broad dissemination of intelligence and drafts strategic assessments on matters related to illicit travel, including human trafficking.
During FY05, the Center also assisted in successful criminal investigations. In the summer of 2005, staff at the Center met with a prosecutor and law enforcement officers in the Eastern District of Virginia to discuss information that had surfaced with respect to an American citizen who had purportedly engaged in sex tourism in China . The Center conducted analysis on a portion of the evidence and provided additional information related to the suspect. In part due to the information supplied by the Center, the suspect entered a guilty plea to sex tourism-related charges. (Details of the case, including the name of the defendant, cannot be provided as it is currently under seal.)
The Center has also assumed a coordinating role with DOJ's Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions relating to a trafficking investigation in the District of New Jersey. Prosecutors from the Criminal Division's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section and the Civil Rights Division have teamed together with some direction and information provided by the staff at the Center in an effort to continue the pursuit of traffickers on the East Coast. In addition, the Center has provided other sex trafficking/tourism information to the CEOS.
4. Department of Labor
Law enforcement efforts to investigate trafficking in persons also include those of DOL, which continues to increase its emphasis on compliance with labor standards laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, in low-wage industries like garment manufacturing and agriculture. DOL civil law enforcement responsibilities relating to trafficking are carried out by the Wage and Hour Division (?WHD?) with the support of the Office of the Solicitor. WHD investigators interview workers and assess situations where workers may have been intimidated, threatened, or held against their will. WHD investigators also review payroll records and inspect migrant farm worker housing. Additionally, criminal enforcement agents from DOL's Office of the Inspector General have worked with their FBI and ICE counterparts on a growing number of criminal investigations, particularly those involving organized crime groups.
B. Prosecutions
The Criminal Section of DOJ's Civil Rights Division, in collaboration with U.S. Attorneys' Offices nationwide, has principal responsibility for prosecuting human trafficking crimes, except for cases involving trafficking in children, which is a specialization of CEOS.
In FY05, the Civil Rights Division and United States Attorneys' Offices initiated prosecutions against 95 defendants, 87 percent of whom were charged with violations under the TVPA. More than twice the number of defendants were charged in 2005 than had been prosecuted in 2004, the highest number prosecuted in a single year.
The following two charts list the numbers of defendants charged, prosecuted, and convicted of trafficking offenses and offenses under the TVPA since FY01. Defendants charged in FY05 with a trafficking offense are not necessarily the same defendants convicted and sentenced in FY05. (These figures do not include CEOS prosecutions of child trafficking and sex tourism.)
| All Trafficking Prosecutions | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases Filed | |||||
| Total | 10 | 10 | 11 | 26 | 34 |
| Sex | 4 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 26 |
| Defendants Charged | |||||
| Total | 38 | 41 | 27 | 47 | 95 |
| Sex | 26 | 27 | 21 | 40 | 75 |
| Convictions | |||||
| Total | 23 | 28 | 21 | 33 | 35 |
| Sex | 15 | 23 | 16 | 30 | 25 |
The chart below describes the number of defendants charged, prosecuted, and convicted of trafficking offenses and offenses under the TVPA only since FY01. (Defendants charged in FY 2005 with a trafficking offense are not necessarily the same defendants convicted and sentenced in FY 2005.)
| TVPA Prosecutions | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Cases Filed | 5 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 27 |
| Sex | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 19 |
| Total Defendants Charged | 11 | 21 | 26 | 24 | 83 |
| Sex | 6 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 64 |
| Total Convictions | 5 | 6 | 18 | 15 | 26 |
| Sex | 3 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 18 |
In addition to these trafficking cases, since the passage of the PROTECT Act in April 2003, which facilitated the prosecution of sex tourism cases, there have been approximately 50 sex tourism indictments/complaints and at least 29 convictions. There are roughly 60 active investigations. Descriptions of sex tourism cases prosecuted in 2005 are included in the section below.
In order to present data regarding sentences, DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics reviewed the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (?AOUSC?) criminal case database to make a preliminary calculation of the average length of sentence for cases completed in FY05 that involved the trafficking offenses of 18 U.S.C. ?? 1581 (peonage), 1583 (enticement for slavery), 1584 (sale into involuntary servitude), 1589 (forced labor), 1590 (trafficking with respect to peonage/slavery/involuntary servitude/forced labor), 1591 (sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud or coercion), 1592 (unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of trafficking), and 1594 (general provisions). This calculation differs from the case statistics presented in the preceding charts, because the AOUSC database tracks the statutes involved in a court case rather than the underlying facts of each case. As a result, the AOUSC database search was unable to determine sentences in trafficking prosecutions in which defendants pleaded guilty to non-trafficking offenses such as immigration violations or visa fraud. In addition, the AOUSC database chronicles only the top five offenses charged, and not the full scope of charges brought.
Of the 25 defendants convicted of one the statutes listed in the TVRPA as required to be reported by the Attorney General, 23 received a prison-only term, one received both prison and supervised release, and one received a probation-only sentence. The average prison term imposed for the 23 defendants was 103 months and prison terms ranged from 14-270 months. Ten received a prison sentence from 1-5 years, five received terms from 5-10 years, and eight received a prison term of more than 10 years. One defendant received a probation-only term of 12 months and one defendant received a split sentence of 37 months prison and 36 months probation.
C. Examples of Cases
Cases investigated, prosecuted, and concluded in FY05 include the following:
United States v. Babaev ( New York ). In July 2005, Alex Babaev and Asgar Mammedov pled guilty to sex trafficking for bringing young women from Azerbaijan into the United States to work as prostitutes in New York between March 2003 and March 2004. The men kept the women in prostitution through threats and force, including beatings and rapes, and threats against their families in the Caucasus region. Mammadov was sentenced in December 2005 to ten years of incarceration and ordered to pay $325,000 in restitution to his victims. In early 2006, Babaev was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration.
United States v. Boehm, et. al. ( Alaska ). On March 19, 2004, an 18-count indictment was returned against Josef F. Boehm, charging him with conspiring commit sex trafficking of children, possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Boehm pled guilty on November 22, 2004, to child sex trafficking and drug charges. As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit his residence and also to provide $1.2 million in a trust fund for the future benefit of the victims. Boehm was sentenced on May 10, 2005, to 11 years and 3 months of incarceration to be followed by five years' supervised release.
United States v. Maksimenko ( Michigan ). Following the escape of several exotic dancers who sought the assistance of federal law enforcement, Aleksandr Maksimenko and Michail Aronov were indicted in February 2005 on charges of forced labor. The defendants had recruited Russian and Ukranian women to travel to the United States and held them in a condition of servitude in strip clubs in southeastern Michigan . At least nine women were held by the defendants since 2001 through threats, force, and rape. On September 8, 2005, Aronov pled guilty to conspiracy to violate commit slavery, immigration violations, and money laundering. As part of his guilty plea, Aronov agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 in proceeds of his crimes. Maksimenko's wife, mother, and stepmother pled guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice in the wake of the men's arrest.
United States v. Medrano ( New Jersey ). In July 2005, a 31-count indictment was returned against Luisa Medrano and nine others. They had lured Honduran women and young girls from small villages with promises of employment as waitresses and then forced them to work at bars in Union City, New Jersey . After rescue, the women stated that they were beaten, their families had been threatened in Honduras and they were subjected to forced abortions. Investigative efforts resulted in the rescue of nineteen Honduran females, six of whom were juveniles as young as 14 years of age. In June 2005, the government of Honduras, in collaboration with ICE, arrested four other persons, charging them under Honduran law with human smuggling and trafficking. All the women and girls have been relocated and are receiving services.
United States v. Zavala and Ibanez ( New York ). On November 5, 2004, defendants Mariluz Zavala and Jorge Ibanez pled guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor, document servitude, and recruiting, harboring, transporting, and housing undocumented workers; engaging in extortionate credit transactions; and transferring false alien registration cards. Between June 1, 1999, and June 21, 2004, Zavala and Ibanez orchestrated a scheme to illegally obtain visas for Peruvian aliens seeking to come into the United States . The defendants charged the aliens a smuggling fee ranging from $6,000 to $13,000. By confiscating their passports and threatening to turn them over to authorities, the defendants compelled the aliens to perform work for them and other employers. The defendants kept most of their paychecks, leaving the aliens with approximately $50 or less per week on which to live and support their families. More than 60 Peruvian illegal aliens, including 13 children, who were living in cramped and squalid conditions, were granted continued presence and are receiving services through a non-governmental organization. As part of their guilty pleas, the defendants agreed to forfeit a residence valued at $175,000 and bank accounts containing approximately $30,000 generated through their crimes. On November 9, 2005, Zavala was sentenced to 15 years of incarceration. Ibanez's sentencing was pending as of the preparation of this report.
United States v. Salazar ( Texas ). Six defendants were charged with conspiring to traffic young Mexican women and girls into prostitution. The defendants allegedly lured young Mexican girls and women into the United States under false pretenses then forced them into prostitution, using physical violence and threats to maintain strict control over them. Four of the six defendants have pled guilty to conspiring to commit sex trafficking. Trial for defendant Ivan Salazar is currently set for November 2006. The alleged ringleader, Gerardo Salazar, remains a fugitive.
Richard Arthur Schmidt (Philippines/Cambodia). On May 25, 2005, Richard Arthur Schmidt was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by supervised release for life in connection with his July 8, 2004, guilty plea for molestation of underage boys in the Philippines and in Cambodia . Schmidt had previously been convicted three times of child sex crimes in Maryland, but had been released from prison in 2000 after serving 13 years of an 18-year sentence. In December 2003, ICE agents in Bangkok learned that Schmidt had been subsequently arrested in the Philippines and Cambodia for sexually molesting underage boys. ICE agents worked with Cambodia to get Schmidt expelled from Cambodia and transferred into U.S. custody.
United States v. Sims ( Georgia ). On February 4, 2004, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia indicted Maurice Sims on six counts, including kidnapping, violations of the TVPA, and transporting a minor in interstate commerce for criminal sexual activity. He had transported a 16 year-old girl from El Dorado, Arkansas to Atlanta, Georgia for purposes of prostitution and en route beat and raped the girl. A superseding indictment was returned March 2, 2004 adding three counts of obstruction of justice. On September 20, 2004, Sims was convicted following a jury trial, and on December 15, 2004 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
United States v. Okhotina ( California ). In January 2003, Alana Okhotina smuggled her eighteen year old niece into the United States from Russia and forced her to work as a prostitute to repay her smuggling debt. The defendant threatened to kill the victim and her family if she did not comply and told her that she would be arrested if she went to the police because she was here in the United States illegally. On December 6, 2005, Okhotina entered a guilty plea to trafficking into slavery. Okhotina's sentencing was pending as of the preparation of this report.
United States v. Kaufman ( Kansas ). For nearly 20 years, beginning in 1986 and lasting through October 2004, the defendants Arlan and Linda Kaufman engaged in a conspiracy to hold mentally ill residents in involuntary servitude and forced labor in ?The Kaufman House,? a residential treatment group home. The defendants forced the victims to perform labor and services for the defendants's entertainment and benefit, including engaging in nudity and sexually explicit acts. On November 7, 2005, the Kaufmans were convicted by a jury of numerous crimes, including conspiracy, involuntary servitude, forced labor, and multiple health care fraud counts. Arlen Kaufman was sentenced to 30 years of incarceration, and Linda Kaufman was sentenced to seven years of incarceration.
United States v. Komala and United States v. Gouw (Virginia). Defendant Harjanto Komala was charged with conspiring to recruit juvenile females to engage in a commercial sex act and defendant Hans Gouw was charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, immigration fraud, identification document fraud and money laundering. On April 26, 2005, the defendants pled guilty to the charges. The defendants admitted to plotting to recruit young Indonesian women and teenage girls to come to the United States to work as prostitutes and nude dancers. The women and teenage girls would not have been allowed to leave the employment for at least a year, would have had their documents confiscated and would have been closely monitored while living in a house under the control of Gouw, the ringleader. On May 27, 2005, defendant Komala was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and the judge ordered the forfeiture of $50,000. On September 9, 2005, defendant Gouw was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.\
V. International Grants to Combat Trafficking
In FY05, the U.S. government spent approximately $95 million to fund 266 programs in 101 countries to support foreign government and NGO efforts to combat human trafficking. This is an increase of 16 percent in international programs funding over FY04 and a 27 percent increase over FY03 funding. The 2005 funding increase can partly be explained by the one-time Presidential Anti-Trafficking Initiative, which transferred almost $50 million into eight countries: Brazil, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. Programs are supported by DOS and DOL and the U.S. Agency for International Development (?USAID?). A full list of programs is attached as the Appendix to this Report. Examples of such programs are the following:
- In Sierra Leone, a grant from USAID established an interagency partnership to raise awareness of gender-based violence and torture, including issues of sexual violence and trafficking and to improve access to quality mental health care for victims.
- In Cambodia, with USAID's assistance, the IOM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Women's Affairs, conducted information campaigns in 18 provinces to raise awareness of the dangers of trafficking. The IOM has also fostered village-based community information networks, similar to ?neighbourhood watch? programs in the United States, to fight trafficking.
- In Albania, USAID supports the Terre des hommes Transnational Action against Child Trafficking project. This comprehensive child-trafficking program is focused on identifying at-risk children, providing social and educational assistance to families, reintegrating trafficked children, and monitoring and coordinating.
- In Mongolia, DOL supported the proposed National Subprogram to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. This project aims to strengthen the policy response for national action against the worst forms of child labor and to provide services to children withdrawn from or at risk of entering exploitative labor situations. This project has a component to address commercial sexual exploitation of children, particularly children who have run away from home and are found in urban areas and towns. The project will withdraw children from commercial sexual exploitation and provide rehabilitation and reintegration services.
- In Sierra Leone and Liberia, DOL provided funding for a project that assists children who are victims of, or at-risk of, trafficking from rural to urban areas for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor in diamond mines. The project will remove children from the worst forms of child labor, strengthen and link national and local systems for monitoring and supporting education and eliminating exploitive child labor, and assist local partners with developing individual child-tracking and project-monitoring systems, including self- evaluation tools.
- In Morocco, DOS provided funding to a project by the NGO Bayti to rescue and rehabilitate child maids, provide them with education or vocational training and attempt reintegration with their families. The project included a residential shelter facility and drop-in center, where victims do not stay for extended periods of time but rather have access to out-patient-like services.
- In Madagascar, DOS provided funding to Catholic Relief Services to provide assistance to victims of, and those at risk for, exploitation through sex trafficking and sex tourism. Assistance includes counseling, vocational and educational opportunities, and legal assistance. In addition, Catholic Relief Services and UNICEF will partner with the Ministries of Population, Tourism, and Education to conduct an in-depth study of sex and labor trafficking in Madagascar and launch a nationwide public awareness campaign.
- In Uganda, DOS provided funding to the International Rescue Committee (?IRC?) to enhance reunification and follow up interventions for trafficking victims abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda . IRC will accompany former abductees and ensure their safety during reunification with a team of social workers. The social workers will collaborate with families and communities to ensure reunification and reintegration for formerly abducted children and young adults.
- With DOS support, the IOM Global Assistance Fund has helped 418 trafficking victims return home form various parts of the world. The program provides global referral, assessment and rapid assistance to trafficked persons. Assistance packages include pre- and post-return help as well as tailored reintegration support. IOM field offices throughout the world are implementing this project with oversight and overall project management by the Counter-Trafficking Service at IOM headquarters.
VI. Training and Outreach
A. Domestic Law Enforcement Training
1. Department of Justice
a. Civil Rights Division
In FY05, the Civil Rights Division continued to build upon the July 2004 national conference that brought together federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to establish anti-trafficking task forces throughout the United States. In February 2005, in Houston, Texas, Civil Rights Division attorneys participated in training sponsored by DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance for state and local law enforcement using the national curriculum on human trafficking developed in FY04. The training brought together multi-disciplinary teams from 20 anti-trafficking task forces. In addition, in FY05 the Office of Justice Programs (?OJP?) provided funding to establish new anti-trafficking task forces in Anchorage, Alaska; Lee County, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; New York City, New York; Multnomah County, Oregon; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the State of Colorado. In all, DOJ has formed, and funded with $13 million, 32 task forces in 21 states and territories. (A full list of task force grants is included in the Appendix to this report.) This funding is primarily intended lead to the identification and rescue of more victims of human trafficking, by providing for support staff, training programs, interpreter/translator services, and liaisons with U.S. Attorneys's Offices and other agencies concerned with the identification and rescue of trafficking victims.
The Civil Rights Division has supplemented task force training with a ?train the trainer? curriculum that is available to the task forces through the 27 locations of the Office of Community Oriented Policing's Regional Community Policing Institutes. This training is designed to improve the skills of each component of the trafficking team, and it provides advice on interagency collaboration. Task force training emphasizes proactive investigations, victim safety and restoration, and the importance of conducting investigations across state and international borders.
In addition, Civil Rights Division attorneys and victim-witness staff conducted more than seventy training programs for federal and local law enforcement agencies, non-governmental and health care organizations, business leaders and legal practitioners in Boston, Massachusetts; Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; San Diego, California; Little Rock, Arkansas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; San Francisco, California; and Montgomery County, Maryland. Also, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys' Office of Legal Education hosted several comprehensive training sessions for federal agents, prosecutors, and victim-witness coordinators at DOJ's National Advocacy Center. The Civil Rights Division also actively participates in human trafficking training at U.S. Attorneys' Offices and as part of the regular curricula of the FBI, ICE, and DOS's Diplomatic Security Service.
Another important DOJ initiative in FY05 was the promotion of the Model State Anti-Trafficking Statute. The Civil Rights Division and the Office of Legal Policy wrote the statute, based on the TVPA and the lessons learned through DOJ's trafficking prosecutions. The model statute seeks to expand anti-trafficking authority to the states in order to harness the almost one million state and local law enforcement officers who might come into contact with trafficking victims. It was presented at the July 2004 conference, and the U.S. Senate subsequently passed a resolution endorsing the statute and encouraging states to adopt it. In FY05, Attorney General Gonzales wrote to the governors and legislative leaders of all 50 states and U.S. territories and commonwealths to encourage them to adopt the model law in order to promote enforcement uniformity and as part of a national strategy to combat human trafficking.
Finally, the Civil Rights Division's victim-witness staff contributed a chapter on human trafficking victims as part of the 2005 revision to the Attorney General's Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance. Civil Rights Division staff also trained federal victim coordinators and attorneys on those Guidelines.
b. Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
CEOS conducted its annual Advanced Child Exploitation course for federal prosecutors and agents at the National Advocacy Center in March 2005. In addition to covering topics relevant to the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation crimes involving the internet, the course included training on addressing the needs of child prostitution victims as well as effectively investigating and prosecuting child prostitution cases. (In 2004, CEOS's annual training course included additional instruction on child prostitution and sex trafficking cases.) Further, in conjunction with the Innocence Lost Initiative, CEOS partnered with both the FBI and NCMEC to develop an intensive week- long training seminar, held at and sponsored by NCMEC, solely dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of cases involving child prostitution. The ongoing program brings state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers to NCMEC, where the group is trained together. Although the pilot training program occurred during 2003, there were additional training programs in 2004 and 2005 with approximately 350 key personnel trained by the end of 2005. This training has extended into 2006.
Other examples of CEOS's efforts to train domestic law enforcement concerning human trafficking include: training FBI agents working on the Innocence Lost Initiative at a conference in Las Vegas in March 2005; training FBI agents on child exploitation crimes in general, including sex tourism and child prostitution at Quantico in June 2005; and presenting training as part of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Conference in Miami concerning the Innocence Lost Initiative and child sex trafficking in August 2005.
CEOS also provides numerous publications to prosecutors across the country, including a quarterly newsletter it prepares and distributes to each U.S. Attorney's Office which provides practical tips as well as analyses of the most current legal issues and cases. In FY05, many articles in the quarterly newsletter focused on sex trafficking cases. For example, articles covered the jurisdictional reach of 18 U.S.C. ? 1591 (October 2004), a case study of a successful child prostitution investigation and prosecution involving drug trafficking offenses (January 2005), and whether sex tourism cases can be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. ?2423(c) if the offender has traveled outside the United States before the enactment of the statute (April 2005).
CEOS attorneys also participated in the development of the 2005 revision to the Attorney General's Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, most notably with respect to the chapter on guidelines for child victims and witnesses. Additionally, CEOS attorneys trained federal prosecutors and victim witness coordinators on those guidelines.
Finally, a CEOS attorney presented at a Civil Rights Division trafficking conference in Miami, Florida in August 2005. The conference gathered law enforcement agents for training and information sharing on topics related to international and domestic human trafficking. The CEOS presentation provided background information about the Innocence Lost Initiative along with case examples to highlight investigative tactics and prosecution strategies.
c. Federal Bureau of Investigation
During FY05, at the request the Civil Rights Division, FBI participated in training of federal, state and local investigators, prosecutors and non-government organizations, and victim advocacy groups in the following cities: Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Columbia, St. Louis, El Paso, Philadelphia, New Haven, Orlando, Knoxville, Tampa, Chicago, Charlotte, Salt Lake City and Newark.
In addition, training on trafficking was given to new special agents of the FBI at the FBI National Academy and to FBI supervisory special agents from 54 field offices at a civil rights training conference held in Orlando, Florida in May 2005, and all special agents in field offices specializing in civil rights were given training in advanced human trafficking investigation, prosecution procedures, and best practices from June through September 2005. Finally, FBI special agents assigned as legal attaches to more than 30 various foreign country posts were given anti-trafficking training.
2. Department of Homeland Security
Three components of DHS conducted anti-TIP training either for their own officers or for state and local law enforcement officers in FY05.
a. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
In FY05, ICE participated in a groundbreaking federal initiative to provide train- the-trainer sessions to state police trainers, provided specific training sessions for federal law enforcement agents from other agencies, and continued in-service training for all ICE agents. In addition, ICE provides specific training to state law enforcement officers.
As noted above, OJP funded the development of a train-the-trainer curriculum in FY04. ICE staff assisted in drafting the curriculum, and the ICE Victim-Witness Coordinator was an instructor for first train-the-trainer course based on that curriculum, held in November 2004. ICE also provided training to participants at the February 2005 Houston, Texas human trafficking task force conference described above. In addition, ICE conducted training on human trafficking and provision of victim services at statewide conferences of NGOs and federal and state law enforcement in Oregon in January 2005, in New Hampshire in July 2005, and in Alaska in July 2005.
Finally, training of ICE agents continued in 2005. Hundreds of ICE agents were trained using the Division of Training's internal Intranet-based training course, ?Stop Trafficking,? which consists of training that covers the relevant statutes, conducting investigations, identifying and interviewing victims, and providing victim assistance and protections. (By publication of this report, all ICE agents will have been trained through this course.) Second, all new ICE agents receive a two-hour block of instruction on human trafficking at the basic course taught at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Third, in September 2005, ICE staff and federal prosecutors provided information about federal investigations and prosecutorial aspects of human trafficking to VSC T-visa adjudicators. Finally, ICE's SAC in Puerto Rico invited ICE Headquarters Victim-Witness Program staff to train all agents in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on human trafficking and victim assistance responsibilities.
ICE training for other law enforcement agencies included ICE Victim-Witness Staff's one-day training for all officers and detectives from Montgomery County, Maryland, in June 2005 and training for FBI staff on the difference between smuggling and trafficking and procedures for interviewing large numbers of potential witnesses, as well as lessons learned from several joint ICE/FBI investigations. In addition, ICE staff provided training on the impact of human trafficking on juveniles in the United States for the National Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council in September 2005.
b. Customs and Border Protection
In FY05, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (?CBP?) provided training to all incoming CBP law enforcement personnel regarding how to identify and respond to cases of human trafficking. The training taught CBP law enforcement personnel how to identify victims and perpetrators of human trafficking and provided information about the non-immigrant visa classifications available to allow victims of human trafficking to remain in the United States to facilitate prosecution of human traffickers and/or protect the victims from extreme hardships they may experience if removed from the United States. A mandatory immigration law review course provided similar training for CBP agents and officers already deployed to the field.
c. Citizenship and Immigration Services
CIS has offered ongoing and advanced training to its personnel on identifying trafficking victims and on the statutory requirements to provide such victims with information regarding available services and assistance. T-visa adjudicators, officers from the Administrative Appeals Office, Asylum Officers, Supervisory Asylum Officers, and Immigration Information Officers all received in-person instruction on victim identification through a series of training courses involving CIS personnel, as well as federal law enforcement officials. Additional CIS personnel were trained using the ?Stop Trafficking? web-based course described above.
In FY05, CIS participated in several training sessions hosted by other federal agencies to provide training to service providers and law enforcement officers on immigration relief for crime victims, including the eligibility requirements for T nonimmigrant status, training regarding human trafficking, and continued presence. Examples of training sessions in which CIS has participated include presentations at the Trafficking Grantees Meeting co-sponsored by OVC and ORR, the Fourth National Symposium on Victims of Federal Crime offered by OVC, and the DHS Seminar for Victim-Witness Coordinators.
Furthermore, CIS held advanced training for its T visa adjudicators and Administrative Appeals Office officers. The training covered substantive training on human trafficking, T visa eligibility requirements and waivers of inadmissibility, as well as training on the psychological dynamics of trafficking, trafficking prosecutions, and cultural awareness. In addition to CIS personnel, speakers featured representatives of local law enforcement, federal law enforcement agencies, and national advocacy groups.
B. International Law Enforcement Training
1. Department of Justice
a. Civil Rights Division
In FY05, the Civil Rights Division continued to provide training and technical assistance to foreign officials both in the United States and abroad. In Washington, D.C., Civil Rights Division personnel met with officials from Japan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Taiwan, Guinea, Poland, China, Kenya, and Macedonia. Civil Rights Division personnel also traveled on outreach missions to Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Austria, Mexico, India, Tanzania, Thailand, Germany, and El Salvador. Civil Rights Division attorneys also have been called upon to assist in the drafting of national anti-trafficking legislation in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Mexico. Finally, Civil Rights Division attorneys are detailed to Moldova and Colombia to assist the host governments in their efforts to combat human trafficking.
In September 2005, DOJ's team implementing President Bush's $50 million initiative to combat trafficking that was announced at the U.N. General Assembly in September 2003 made a ?best practices? presentation to the Mexican government. This well-received presentation resulted in a Letter of Agreement between the United States and Mexico that, in turn, led to an implementation plan that will exchange intelligence and produce collaborative efforts to combat trafficking through Central America, Mexico, and the United States.
b. Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
During FY05, CEOS attorneys engaged in significant efforts to train international law enforcement to address child sex trafficking effectively. CEOS attorneys presented training at least 14 times overseas in such countries as Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Suriname, Honduras, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Indonesia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia. Many of these training efforts are further described in the OPDAT/ICITAP section of this report.
In addition to CEOS's providing training overseas, it also provided training to foreign officials concerning child sex trafficking when those officials were in Washington, D.C. In FY05, CEOS provided training to officials or NGO representatives from Japan, Colombia, Italy, Ukraine, Thailand, Costa Rica, Guinea, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, a delegation with representatives from 21 countries, Russia, Brazil, Senegal, Germany, and Austria.
c. Federal Bureau of Investigation
During FY05, FBI conducted training in Washington, D.C., for visiting officials from Australia, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Suriname, and the United Kingdom, and for a contingent of representatives from more than 31 different countries, including South Africa, Senegal, Sweden, the Dominican Republic, and Israel.
d. OPDAT/ICITAP
i. Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training
DOJ's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (?OPDAT?) strengthens foreign criminal justice institutions and enhances the administration of justice abroad. With funding provided by DOS and USAID, OPDAT prepares foreign counterparts to cooperate more fully and effectively with the United States in combating transnational crimes, including human trafficking, by encouraging legislative and judicial reform in countries with inadequate laws, by improving the skills of foreign prosecutors and judges, and by promoting the rule of law and regard for human rights.
In FY05, OPDAT conducted 62 anti-TIP programs in 19 countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Nicaragua, Panama, Romania, Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, Suriname, and Thailand.
Highlights of these programs include the following:
- In late October 2004, OPDAT worked with Surinamese prosecutors and others to develop an anti-trafficking in persons operations manual for prosecutors and investigators and an information sheet for border officials. In April 2005, OPDAT provided assistance to prosecutors, police, foreign affairs officials, and NGO service providers on how to implement the TIP manual. In July 2005, Suriname ? for the first time in eight years ? successfully prosecuted a human trafficking case. The defendant was a high-level public official. Two more human trafficking arrests followed shortly, one in December 2005 and the other in February 2006.
- In Russia, in June 2005, OPDAT worked closely with the Russian Parliament to conduct a program to train Russian prosecutors, law enforcement, local government officials and NGOs on the effective use of Russia 's new anti- trafficking in persons and witness protection legislation. This was one in a series of eight regional anti-TIP programs implemented by the DOJ/OPDAT Resident Legal Advisor in cooperation with Russian officials.
- In September 2005, OPDAT conducted a program on child exploitation and pornography on the Internet for 50 investigators and prosecutors from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. OPDAT called on experts from CEOS, FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California, and ICE's Cyber Crimes Center to discuss American and Russian legislation addressing trafficking and child pornography on the Internet, the importance of assistance and support to victims, international cooperation in child trafficking/Internet pornography cases, and a case study of a successful transnational child pornography prosecution.
ii. International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program
DOJ's International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (?ICITAP?) is involved in outreach to, and training of, foreign law enforcement officials on methods to combat trafficking in persons. ICITAP activities focus on the development of police forces and the improvement of capabilities of existing police forces in emerging democracies. During FY05, ICITAP operated TIP programs in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Macedonia, and Ukraine.
For example, in Indonesia, ICITAP provided training designed to raise the proficiency of the Indonesia National Police (?INP?)'s investigative capacity through the designation of five pilot sites to combat trafficking. The pilot sites, established to determine the types of additional equipment and training necessary to investigate trafficking in Indonesia, have provided the model for future satellites. In addition, ICITAP trained more than 80 INP officers in extensive anti-trafficking techniques and strategies. Six officers from the Indonesian Department of Immigration and six investigators from the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration also received this intensive training.
iii. Joint ICITAP/OPDAT Programs
In Costa Rica, ICITAP and OPDAT continued their partnership in the development of an anti-child sexual exploitation program. In January 2005, OPDAT and ICITAP conducted their second and third phases of the program, during which instructors trained during the first phase trained other Costa Rican police and prosecutors. In addition, ICITAP and OPDAT called upon the expertise of CEOS to train Costa Rican cybercrime investigators on how to track perpetrators and purveyors of child pornography on the Internet. In April 2005, OPDAT teamed with an FBI child forensics interviewer, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a juvenile court judge to present the final phase of the program?how to properly and effectively interview child and adolescent victims of child exploitation?to 40 Costa Rican judges, prosecutors, investigators, social workers, NGO representatives, and psychologists. In September 2005, ICITAP presented a case management course that focused on police and prosecutors working together on a specific case. As a result, Costa Rican police and prosecutors signed an agreement to work more collaboratively on such cases. The Government of El Salvador sent four of its investigators to receive this training in Costa Rica, as well.
In Azerbaijan, in FY05, OPDAT's and ICITAP's joint efforts, in conjunction with assistance from the Civil Rights Division, the IOM, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the U.S. Embassy in Baku, led to the drafting and passage of Azerbaijan 's first anti-TIP law in late June 2005 and the development of a standardized recruitment and testing mechanism for the selection of officers for a specialized TIP unit, including a full background check and financial disclosure. The law codifies important protections for victims of trafficking, such as decriminalization of victims' offenses committed under coercion or intimidation. It also allows the use of pseudonyms to protect the identity of trafficking victims and provides for financial assistance and shelter for them.
2. Department of Homeland Security
ICE provides training and outreach through direct contact with foreign officials by ICE Attach?s abroad. One of ICE's most important international training missions is providing law enforcement training at the International Law Enforcement Academies (?ILEA?). The HSTU developed human trafficking training modules, which are part of the permanent curricula for the ILEAs in Bangkok, Budapest, and Latin America. ICE staff provided nine human trafficking training sessions at the ILEAs for 361 law enforcement personnel from 28 countries. Training modules included: investigation methodologies in human trafficking cases; human trafficking indicators; global networks; victim interviews; victim services; and task force methodology. Officials from the following countries attended: Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, China, Macao, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador.
The ICE Cyber Crimes Center also participated in ILEA training by conducting child sex tourism investigations training classes at the ILEAs in Bangkok, Thailand and Budapest, Hungry. ICE Cyber Crimes Center staff provided information to foreign law enforcement officers/agents about the provisions of the PROTECT Act of 2003 relating to U.S. citizens traveling abroad to sexually exploit children. ICE is working with the government of Mexico as part of the DOS program and has provided training to the Mexican Federal Preventive Police (?PFP?) on child sex tourism investigations and ICE's ability to assist in their investigations. ICE is assisting the PFP with establishing its own Child Exploitation Unit modeled after the ICE Cyber Crimes Center and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Cyber Crimes Center is currently developing a computer forensic training course for foreign law enforcement that will be provided to Government of Mexico when it is completed.
ICE staff also responded to requests for specific training and outreach. In October 2004, ICE staff provided a presentation at a trafficking conference hosted by the Organization of American States. And, at the Forfeiting the Proceeds of Human Trafficking Conference, also held in October 2004, in Prague, Czech Republic, ICE staff served as faculty at a conference on asset forfeiture and money laundering in trafficking cases. Countries participating included Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro (with participation of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo), Romania, and the United States.
ICE also provided briefings for foreign dignitaries who visited the United States. In FY05, ICE personnel provided 16 training sessions for foreign teams of visitors from 64 countries. Visitors represented the following countries: Albania, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, People's Republic of China, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Togo, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela. ICE staff discussed the following topics: the TVPA, smuggling and trafficking investigations, child sex tourism and child exploitation, victim assistance, and options for immigration relief.
As part of the President's $50 million initiative to combat trafficking, ICE is providing technical assistance in training and on-site law enforcement expertise through the ICE Attache offices in Brazil and India. For Mexico, in December 2005, an ICE Project Coordinator arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to serve a one-year temporary detail to the project. The Project Coordinator has initiated regular meetings between ICE and the PFP in order to implement the initiative and to define Mexican training, technical assistance, and equipment needs. The ICE Project Coordinator has been a conduit between Mexican federal and state law enforcement officials to establish a dialog among the various Mexican law enforcement agencies who have jurisdiction or authority regarding TIP violations.
Through these projects, ICE anticipates the development of cooperative investigative efforts between Mexican, Brazilian, and Indian law enforcement that will lead to successful prosecution of TIP violations, both in those countries and in the United States.
3. Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center
In June 2005, the Center sponsored a bilateral meeting between U.S. and Russian prosecutors and law enforcement officers which focused on transnational human trafficking. The two-day event occurred in Washington and allowed both sides to explore respective TIP legislation and other issues. Delegates from the United States included representatives from DOJ's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, CEOS, the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, the Office of International Affairs, and OPDAT, along with FBI, ICE, and DOS's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The second meeting, which is again being organized by the Center, is planned for mid-2006.
4. Department of State
With PRM support, the IOM has developed the Counter-Trafficking Training Modules series in response to the need for practical, ?how to? training materials for NGOs, government officials (including law enforcement), and other IOM partners engaged in counter-trafficking activities around the world. Designed to enhance understanding of some of the key elements necessary in building a comprehensive counter-trafficking strategy, the Modules series provides an introduction to essential components of a comprehensive counter-trafficking response, and is being translated into several languages. The Modules trainings were developed through a participatory, field- based approach involving IOM missions around the world. Topics include: Information Campaigns, Return and Reintegration Assistance, and Victim Identification and Interviewing Techniques. Some of the training modules were piloted in the Caribbean, Asia, and Southern Africa.
C. Outreach to Nongovernmental Organizations
1. Department of Homeland Security
ICE victim assistance staff provided training on human trafficking at a national conference sponsored by the National Center for Victims of Crime in June 2005. There were over 1,000 participants representing victim services agencies throughout the nation. And in October 2005, ICE staff joined with Catholic Charities to provide a one-day training session on trafficking at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition, ICE and NGOs such as World Vision have established partnerships to enhance the effectiveness of ICE's child sex tourism investigations program. ICE has worked closely with World Vision, which is running public service announcements paid for by DOS and HHS to educate the tourism industry and international traveling public on the child sex tourism issue.
2. Department of Health and Human Services
In FY05, HHS participated in more than 25 speaking engagements before NGOs and other public service organizations, including: health care organizations, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians; social services organizations, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; ethnic affinity organizations, such as the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Ethiopian Development Community Council; child welfare organizations, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; law enforcement organizations, such as the National Sheriffs' Association; and the legal community, such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
D. Department of Health and Human Services Public Awareness Campaign and Outreach Grants
1. Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking Public Awareness Campaign
FY05 encompassed months seven through eighteen of the HHS public awareness campaign, Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking. The second year of the campaign targeted intermediaries ? those persons or entities who are most likely to come into contact with victims, such as: local law enforcement officials (particularly vice squads); social service providers; health care professionals; faith-based organizations; domestic violence groups; ethnic organizations; refugee assistance professionals; homeless assistance professionals; drug rehabilitation organizations; child protective services officials; juvenile court officials; educational organizations; and legal assistance organizations. Outreach efforts included development of local coalitions, local and national media outreach, distribution of original campaign materials, and development of national partnerships.
As a measure of success of the campaign, nearly 4000 calls were made to the campaign hotline through September 30, 2005 resulting in more than 120 case leads to law enforcement and nearly 20 percent of calls referred to local organizations for help to potential victims. In addition, local and national media outreach efforts have resulted in more than 173.3 million media impressions.
a. Local Coalitions
By the end of FY05, HHS anti-trafficking coalitions had been established in 17 cities. These coalitions enlist local community organizations in the task of combating trafficking within their communities; more than 900 local and national organizations have formally partnered with the Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking public awareness campaign. The purpose of these coalitions is to disseminate information on the trafficking, to train appropriate organizations of intermediaries, and to otherwise galvanize the community to identify and rescue victims.
The campaign's ten launches in FY05? Chicago, Las Vegas, Long Island, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Portland, St. Louis, and Seattle ?generated a significant amount of media coverage, resulting in increased community awareness of trafficking and services available for victims.
By September 30, 2005, media impressions surrounding Year Two launches totaled more than 22.5 million. To ensure maximum coverage of HHS's efforts to assist trafficking victims and on-the-ground efforts to identify victims in launch cities, HHS showcased the efforts of local coalition members and available resources for victims. By working with local coalition partners prior to launch, HHS was better equipped to provide media with market-specific information about human trafficking, as well as local resources to tap for interviews or additional information.
b. Local and National Media Outreach
In addition to media outreach efforts in advance of city launch events, HHS worked with media in different regions to encourage coverage of local coalition and campaign-related activities. HHS generated media interest and coverage via local activities and angles, such as in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, where HHS's public affairs team contacted local wire, print, and broadcast reporters prior to task force training events in order to raise awareness about human trafficking and to garner coverage of the events. Media were particularly interested in profiling victims, and HHS's public affairs team worked with intermediaries and local organizations to help identify victims who would be willing to tell their stories on a national level. These efforts resulted in two Associated Press news briefs, an interview for Dr. Wade Horn, HHS Assistant Secretary for the Administration of Children and Families, with the Tucson Citizen, a radio piece on KJZZ-FM (NPR ? Phoenix ) and two television segments on KPNX-TV (NBC ? Phoenix ) and KPHO-TV (CBS ? Phoenix ). Similarly, in July 2005, the Illinois Rescue & Restore coalition, in conjunction with HHS, hosted a series of regional action team meetings in Elgin, River Forest, and Springfield, Ill. In support of these meetings, HHS's public affairs team conducted local media outreach to journalists throughout the state resulting in coverage by the Associated Press and articles in the local Beacon News, Elgin Daily Herald, and Courier News newspapers. Similar efforts garnered coverage of the training held in Yakima, Washington, on August 2005, including an article in El Sol de Yakima, and broadcast reports on KAPP-TV (ABC ? Yakima ), KNDO-TV (NBC ? Yakima ), KGW-TV (NBC ? Spokane ) and Northwest Public Radio, an affiliate station of the Northwest News Network, which operates throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
The HHS public affairs team also explored additional national media angles and capitalized on celebrity partnerships with, for example, singer Ricky Martin, to help raise awareness of human trafficking. HHS worked with Mr. Martin to produce television public service announcements (?PSAs?) in English and Spanish that were distributed to more than 150 stations across the country including national networks, cable news networks, cable entertainment networks and 15 campaign target markets. In addition, English and Spanish radio PSAs were distributed via satellite to more than 300 stations across the country. Distribution of the Ricky Martin PSAs garnered more than 66 million radio PSA placements and 750,000 impressions for television placements both in English and Spanish media. The English radio PSA aired a total of 1,605 times in nine of the nation's top-10 media markets and in 48 of the top 50. In addition, the Spanish radio PSA generated a total 167 airings in seven of the nation's top-10 media markets and in 28 of the top 50 markets. The television and radio PSAs were both played in seven of the top-10 markets throughout the county with total media impressions estimated to be more than 67 million.
In August 2005, HHS distributed a press release and pitched key national and Hispanic media outlets on the Rescue & Restore partnership with the Ricky Martin Foundation that generated extensive media coverage, with print and broadcast stories in more than 30 news outlets, including the Associated Press, People en Espanol, Telemundo, Univision, Yahoo! En Espanol, Washington Hispanic, and El Diario.
c. Original Campaign Materials
Nearly one million Rescue & Restore materials?posters, brochures, fact sheets, and cards with tips on identifying victims?were distributed through the campaign's more than 900 national and local partners. The materials can be previewed on the HHS website, www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking.
In addition, HHS produced a 10-minute video to help train intermediaries on how to recognize cases of human trafficking and learn how to initiate support services for those victims. The video showcases trafficking experts and victims in an effort to shed light on trafficking, as well as the resources available to help victims rebuild their lives.
The video was distributed via mailing in August 2005 to the then-more than 800 Rescue & Restore coalition members across the country. It is also promoted via the campaign website, Rescue & Restore training sessions, booth exhibits and speaking engagements, as well as in campaign mailings to media and intermediary groups.
To further increase awareness of the campaign and to drive more individuals to the Rescue & Restore Web site, the website address www.rescueandrestore.org was incorporated into campaign materials (such as the Ricky Martin PSA), where appropriate, and provided target audiences with a campaign resource that could be easily remembered. Given the security measures in place surrounding any government Web site, www.rescueandrestore.org serves simply as a placeholder site that directs visitors to the official campaign site, www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking, for more information.
The number of visitors to the Rescue & Restore website in FY05 tripled over the previous year.
d. National Partners
In FY05, HHS focused on the expansion of current national partnerships and the development of new relationships to increase the level of awareness among these intermediary groups.
- HHS provided speakers to participate in law enforcement trainings and internal staff meetings to educate National Center for Missing & Exploited Children staff on the issue of human trafficking.
- HHS secured a partnership with recording artist Natalie Grant and worked with her on a human trafficking-focused radio PSA for distribution to mainstream and Christian music stations.
- HHS developed articles for publications of the National Consumer League, American Medical Association, National Association of School Nurses, Forensic Nurse Association, American College of Emergency Physicians, and the National Association of Urban Hospitals. Additionally, HHS secured interest from the National Sheriffs' Association that resulted in an HHS presentation at the association's mid-winter conference and annual conference.
- Other notable national organizations joining Rescue & Restore as national partners include World Relief, the National Immigration Law Center, Assembly of God Charities, the Protection Project of Johns Hopkins University, and Tibet House.
2. Street Outreach
In FY05 ORR awarded 18 grants for street outreach to organizations to help them identify victims of trafficking among populations among whom they are already operating. Because they are engaged in current outreach, the groups have expertise on those populations and have built a level of trust among them. Some of the vulnerable population groups to which the grantees provide outreach are homeless and at-risk youth, girls exploited through commercial sex, migrant farm workers, prostitutes, and women exploited by forced labor in beauty parlors and nail salons.
Grantees include public, private for-profit (although HHS funds may not be paid as profit), and private nonprofit organizations, including faith-based organizations. Grantees qualify for the street outreach grant whether or not their current activities pertain to trafficking. The grants support direct, person-to-person contact, information sharing, counseling and other communication between agents of the grant recipient and members of a specified target population.
E. DOS Outreach to Foreign Governments
DOS's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons issued its annual Trafficking in Persons Report in June 2005. The report is the U.S. government's principal diplomatic tool used to engage foreign governments on the subject. It rates countries in tiers according to their efforts to combat trafficking and is used by DOS to encourage reform of laws and practices in order to more effectively combat trafficking. It also includes detailed information on U.S. Government policy covering prostitution, child sex tourism, child soldiers, involuntary servitude, and corruption in order to demonstrate U.S. commitment and to promote effective change. In 2005, the report was expanded from rating 131 foreign governments to 142 foreign governments.
Text Box: Recipients of Street Outreach Grants
Catholic Charities, Inc. City of Homestead Good Shepherd Corporation of Atlanta Crisis House, Inc. Refugee Women's Alliance Breaking Free, Inc. Catholic Social Services of Central and Northern Arizona Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc. Girls Educational & Mentoring Services West Care Nevada, Inc. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Georgia Legal Services Program, Inc. The Salvation Army Rural Opportunities, Inc. The Door - A Center of Alternatives, Inc. Colorado Legal Services Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
VII. Senior Policy Operating Group
Congress authorized the creation of the SPOG in the TVPRA of 2003 to coordinate the international implementation of the TVPA and address emerging interagency policy, grants, and planning issues. The SPOG reports to the President's Interagency Trafficking Task Force and is chaired by the director of DOS's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (?G/TIP?).
The SPOG meets quarterly and includes representatives from the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Defense, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and most recently, the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. The Office of Management and Budget, the National Security Council, and the Department of Education also participate in SPOG meetings. In FY05, the President's Interagency Task Force met once and the SPOG met three times. Several subcommittees have been established underneath the SPOG to further its work. The Subcommittee on Regulations is chaired by the Department of Justice. G/TIP chairs the Subcommittees on Grant-Making, Research, and Public Affairs. These subcommittees met or teleconferenced regularly during FY05.
The work of the SPOG helped identify some weaknesses in interagency coordination. For example, in FY05, in an effort to better link TIP and HIV/AIDS policies, the SPOG initiated involvement of the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator in SPOG activities. Due to concerns over the treatment of internally trafficked TIP victims, the SPOG created a Subcommittee on Domestic Trafficking in Persons led by the HHS Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families. The SPOG Subcommittee on Public Affairs improved coordination efforts on domestic media by identifying media strategies. The SPOG Subcommittee on TIP Research helped convene an international seminar on TIP research and compile a matrix of all U.S. government-funded TIP research projects for FY02 to FY05 to show where research has been conducted and identify gaps. This document is posted on G/TIP's web at www.state.gov/g/tip. In FY05, DOS also promulgated a rule in the Federal Register on Sharing of Information and Coordination of Activities to reinforce the current mechanism for effective exchange of information on agency policies and programs. This rule implements Section 105 of the TVPA, as amended by the TVPRA.
The SPOG also continued its coordination of the President's $50 million initiative to combat trafficking. As described earlier, this multi-agency effort provided funding through DOS, DOJ, DOL, HHS, DHS, and USAID to eight foreign countries? Brazil, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.
VIII. Conclusion
As this report has detailed, U.S. government departments and agencies provide trafficking victims with a range of social services, both directly and through grantees; vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking cases; and provide training, outreach, and assistance to domestic and international law enforcement and non-government organizations. The United States is aided by the modern tools created by the TVPA to address this ancient evil with a renewed and intensified vigor.
In his first policy address as Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales called trafficking ?one of the most pernicious moral evils in the world today.? As Attorney General Gonzales stated, ?This abomination does not exist only in other lands; it exists right here, on our shores. Today its victims are usually aliens, many of them women and children, smuggled into our country and held in bondage, treated as commodities, stripped of their humanity.?
The U.S. government is committed to combating this moral evil with all the resources available to it. The fight against human trafficking is one of our highest priorities for ensuring justice in the United States and around the world.
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