WUNRN
CALL FOR INFORMATION FOR 2011 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS REPORT
U.S. Department of State - Office to Monitor & Combat
Trafficking in Persons
For Submissions on Foreign Countries: tipreport@state.gov
For Submissions on the US: tipreportUS@state.gov
CALL FOR INFORMATION - 2011 TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS REPORT
Submissions must be received by the
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons by 5 p.m. on February 15, 2011.
Dear friends
and partners in the fight against modern slavery,
As you are working on the front
lines to combat human
trafficking, you possess critical information about the efforts of foreign governments and the U.S. government
to address this issue – both
the positive and the negative.
Your observations would be incredibly useful to
the Department of State as we prepare to draft the 2011 Trafficking in
Persons Report (TIP
Report). I urge you to participate in strengthening the
Report by responding to
this call for information. All of the details, including the deadline, can be found below.
I also invite you to submit your
organization’s public awareness campaign materials, such as trafficking-related
photos, billboards, posters, or murals, that
have been developed or disseminated over the last year. These may be
featured (with credit) in the 2011 TIP Report. Please submit these in high resolution (1 MB or more)
digital image files.
Additionally, we continue to learn about events
supporting National
Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month here in the United
States. I applaud your efforts not only to push for greater public
awareness, but
also to move people to act
within their realms of influence.
Thank you for your continued commitment.
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca
Background: The TIP Report is the most
comprehensive worldwide report on foreign
governments’ efforts to combat trafficking in persons. It represents
an updated, global look at the nature and scope of trafficking in persons and
the broad range of government actions to confront and eliminate it. The U.S. Government uses the TIP
Report to engage in public diplomacy to encourage partnership in creating
and implementing laws and policies to combat trafficking and to target
resources on prevention, protection and prosecution programs. Worldwide, the report is used
by international organizations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental
organizations alike as a tool to examine where resources are most needed.
Freeing victims,
preventing trafficking, and bringing traffickers to justice are the
ultimate goals of the
report and of the U.S.
government’s anti-human trafficking policy.
The Department prepares the TIP Report using information
from across the U.S.
Government, U.S. embassies,
foreign government officials, nongovernmental and international organizations,
published reports, and research trips to every region.
The TIP Report focuses
on concrete actions
that governments take to fight trafficking in persons, including prosecutions,
convictions, and prison sentences for traffickers, as well as victim protection measures and prevention
efforts. Each TIP
Report narrative also
includes a section on recommendations. These recommendations are then
used to assist in
measuring progress from one year to the next and in determining whether governments comply with the minimum
standards to eliminate trafficking in persons or are making significant efforts to do so.
Scope: The Department of State requests information on
the degree to which the
United States and foreign governments complied in the year 2010 with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons (“minimum standards”) that
are prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (“TVPA”). This information
will assist in the preparation of the 2011
Trafficking in Persons Report that the Department will submit to appropriate committees in the U.S. Congress on countries’ level of compliance
with the minimum standards. Submissions should include, but need not be limited to,
answering the questions in the Information Sought section below. Only
those questions for which the submitter has direct professional experience
should be answered and that experience should be noted. For any critique
or deficiency described, please provide a recommendation to remedy it.
Submissions may include written narratives that answer
the questions presented below,
research, studies, statistics, fieldwork, training materials, evaluations,
assessments, and
other relevant evidence of local, state, and
federal government efforts. To the extent possible, precise dates should
be included.
Where applicable, written narratives providing factual information
should provide citations to sources and copies of the source material should be
provided. If possible, send electronic copies of the entire submission,
including source material. If primary sources are utilized, such as
research studies, interviews, direct observations, or other sources of
quantitative or qualitative data, details on the research or data-gathering
methodology should be provided. The Department does not include in the
Report, and is
therefore not seeking,
information on prostitution, human smuggling, visa fraud, or
child abuse,
unless such conduct occurs in the context of human trafficking.
Dates:
Submissions must be received by the Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons by 5 p.m. on February 15, 2011. Written submissions and
supporting documentation may be
submitted by the following methods:
·
Email (preferred): tipreport@state.gov for submissions related to foreign
governments and tipreportUS@state.gov for submissions related to the
United States.
·
Fax:
202-312-9637
·
Mail, Express Delivery, Hand Delivery, and Messenger Service: U.S.
Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 1800
G Street, NW, Suite 2148, Washington, DC 20520. Please note that
materials submitted by mail may be delayed due to security screenings.
Confidentiality: Please provide the name, phone
number, and email address of a single point of contact for any submission.
It is Department practice not to identify in the TIP Report information
concerning sources in order to safeguard those sources. Please note,
however, that any information submitted to the Department may be releasable
pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act or other
applicable law. When applicable, portions of submissions relevant to
efforts by other U.S. government agencies may be shared with those agencies.
Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards
1. How have trafficking methods changed
in the past 12 months? e.g. Are there victims from new countries of origin? Is
internal trafficking or child trafficking increasing? Has sex trafficking
changed from brothels to private apartments? Is labor trafficking now occurring
in additional types of industries or agricultural operations? Is forced begging
a problem?
2. In what ways has the government’s
efforts to combat trafficking in persons changed in the past year? What new
laws, regulations, policies and implementation strategies exist? e.g.
substantive criminal laws and procedures, mechanisms for civil remedies,
victim-witness security generally and in relation to court proceedings.
3. Please provide observations
regarding the implementation of existing laws and procedures.
4.
Is the government
equally vigorous in pursuing labor trafficking and sex trafficking?
5. Are the anti-trafficking laws and sentences
strict enough to reflect the nature of the crime? Are sex trafficking sentences
commensurate with rape sentences?
6. Do government officials understand the nature of trafficking? If not, please provide examples of misconceptions or misunderstandings.
7. Do judges appear appropriately
knowledgeable and sensitized to trafficking cases? What sentences have courts
imposed upon traffickers? How common are suspended sentences and prison time of
less than one year for convicted traffickers?
8. Please provide observations
regarding the efforts of police and prosecutors to pursue trafficking
cases.
9. Are government officials (including
law enforcement) complicit in human trafficking by, for example, profiting
from, taking bribes, or receiving sexual services for allowing it to continue?
Are government officials operating trafficking rings or activities? If so, have
these government officials been subject to an investigation and/or prosecution?
What punishments have been imposed?
10. Has
the government vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced
nationals of the country deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other
similar mission who engage in or facilitate trafficking?
11. Has the government investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced organized crime groups that are involved in trafficking?
12. Is the country a source of sex tourists and, if so, what are their destination countries? Is the country a destination for sex tourists and, if so, what are their source countries?
13. If the recruitment and use of child
soldiers is a problem in the country, please describe instances of conscription
of persons under the age of 18 into governmental armed forces; voluntary
recruitment of any person under 15 into governmental armed forces; the extent
to which any person under 18 took a direct part in hostilities as a member of
governmental armed force; and recruitment of persons under 18 by armed groups
distinct from those of the government armed forces. Describe trends
toward improvement of the aforementioned practices, including steps and
programs the government undertook. Conversely, describe the continued or
increased tolerance of such practices. If the country has a law(s) and/or
regulation(s) prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers, are
prohibitions enforced? Has the government entered into a UN-sponsored
action plan to address the recruitment and use of child soldiers? If yes,
describe its progress toward full implementation. If no, describe
progress made toward, and obstacles standing in the way of signing and
implementing an action plan. Describe the government’s efforts to disarm,
demobilize, reintegrate, and monitor former child soldiers.
14.
Does the government make a
coordinated, proactive effort to identify victims? Is there any screening
conducted before deportation to determine whether individuals were trafficked?
15.
What victim services are provided (legal, medical, food, shelter, interpretation,
mental health care, health care, repatriation)? Who provides these services? If
nongovernment organizations provide the services, does the government support their
work either financially or otherwise?
16. How
could victim services be improved?
17.
Are services provided equally and adequately to victims of labor and sex
trafficking? Men, women, and
children? Citizen and noncitizen?
18.
Do service organizations and law enforcement work together cooperatively,
for instance, to share information about trafficking trends or to plan for
services after a raid? What is the level of cooperation, communication, and trust
between service organizations and law enforcement?
19. May
victims file civil suits or seek legal action against their trafficker? Do
victims avail themselves of those remedies?
20. Does
the government repatriate victims? Does the government assist with third
country resettlement? Does the government engage in any analysis of whether
victims may face retribution or hardship upon repatriation to their country of
origin? Are victims awaiting repatriation or third country resettlement offered
services? Are victims indeed repatriated or are they deported?
21.
Does the government
inappropriately detain or imprison identified trafficking victims?
22.
Does the government punish trafficking victims for forgery of documents,
illegal immigration, unauthorized employment, or participation in illegal
activities directed by
the trafficker?
23. What
efforts has the government made to prevent human trafficking?
24. Are
there efforts to address root causes of trafficking such as poverty; lack of
access to education and economic opportunity; and discrimination against women,
children, and minorities?
25. Does
the government undertake activities that could prevent or reduce vulnerability
to trafficking, such as registering births of indigenous populations?
26. Does
the government provide financial support to NGOs working to promote public
awareness or does the government implement such campaigns itself? Have public
awareness campaigns proven to be effective?
27. Please
provide additional recommendations to improve the government’s anti-trafficking
efforts.
28. Please
highlight effective strategies and practices that other governments could
consider adopting.