WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com  

 

USA - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR 2014 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

 

Submissions must be received by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons by 5:00 p.m. on January 30, 2014.

 

cid:image001.jpg@01CEFBEB.ECE7BEA0

 

 

Dear friends and partners in the fight against modern slavery,

 

Through your work on the front lines to combat trafficking, you see firsthand the way governments around the world are working to confront this challenge.  You know which practices are succeeding, and where efforts are falling short.  And whether you’re contributing to this struggle halfway around the world or right here in the United States, as always, your observations will be critical to the Department of State as we draft the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report.  I therefore urge organizations, as well as survivors of human trafficking, survivor networks, and survivor-led organizations, to help strengthen the 2014 Report by responding to this call for information.  

 

The relevant details, including the deadline, can be found below and the full solicitation can be viewed here.

 

I also invite you to submit public awareness campaign materials, such as trafficking-related photos, billboards, posters, or murals, from the last year.  These may be featured (with credit) in the 2014 Report.  Please submit these in high resolution (1 MB or more) digital image files.  We are particularly interested in hearing from you about the important role trafficking survivors play in our struggle against this crime:  what lessons can be learned, what guidance can be incorporated into anti-trafficking efforts, and the challenges faced when moving beyond the victimization of human trafficking.  We welcome stories about individuals who have experienced the transition from victim to survivor and their associated interactions with the criminal justice, juvenile justice, family court, child welfare, and immigration systems.  In addition, submissions may also include interactions with social, legal, medical, and mental health providers who provide essential assistance in overcoming the adversity associated with victimization.

 

In the months ahead, I’m confident that once again your important work will underpin a thorough and honest Trafficking in Persons Report.  Thank you for your partnership.

 

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 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 2013 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 2014 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. Note the country or countries that are the focus of the submission.

 

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.  Respondents need not answer every question posed below; any responses that can be provided are greatly appreciated.

 

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 TIP 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 January 30, 2014.

Written submissions and supporting documentation may be submitted to the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons by the following methods:

 

 

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.

 

III.   Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards

1. How have trafficking methods changed in the past 12 months? For example, 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, and 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, diplomats, and soldiers/peacekeepers) 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 diplomatic, 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. Please provide observations regarding government efforts to address the issue of unlawful child soldiering.

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, employment, training, etc.)? 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? Members of the LGBT community?

18. Do service providers 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 providers 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 who wish to return home? 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. Has the government entered into effective bilateral, multilateral, or regional information-sharing and cooperation arrangements that have resulted in concrete and measureable outcomes?

25. Does the country have effective policies or laws regulating foreign labor recruiters?

26. Does the government undertake activities that could prevent or reduce vulnerability to trafficking, such as registering births of indigenous populations?

27. 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?

28. Please provide additional recommendations to improve the government's anti-trafficking efforts.

29. Please highlight effective strategies and practices that other governments could consider adopting.