After nearly four years at the U.S. Department of State, I have submitted my resignation to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice effective December 15, 2006. In the new year, I will join the faculty of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
It has been a great honor to serve as the first ambassador-at-large combating trafficking in persons and to chair the Senior Policy Operating Group. It has been a privilege to help nurture the 21st century abolitionist movement and to help define a leading role for the United States in this noble effort.
Under the compassionate, visionary leadership of President George W. Bush, we have spotlighted the issue of slavery around the world through the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. We have engaged with governments from Japan to Jamaica, from Belize to Bangladesh, to bring about improved law enforcement, victim protection, and prevention of this hideous crime.
This link to Time magazine is just one example of how the TIP Report has helped stimulate foreign government action to confront the hideous reality of human trafficking and sexual exploitation: http://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,8816,1543174,00.html
This work has been deeply rewarding and only effective thanks to your partnership in the cause. We have accelerated momentum against TIP as a government because we have worked in concert with private citizens, non-government organizations, businesses, media, and state and local officials to throw traffickers in jail and rescue and restore victims. Without your commitment, bravery, and good counsel, little would have been achieved on behalf of victims. Please accept my personal thanks for your assistance and encouragement.
This struggle is far from over, and I will continue in this fight with you from my new post.
I am confident in the President’s anti-slavery leadership, and that of Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky, as the effort to end human trafficking moves ahead. The President said it best when he declared in his second inaugural address, “No one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.”
Sincerely Yours,
Ambassador John R. Miller, Director
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
U.S. Department of State
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