May 20, 2004

U.S. Expanding Efforts to Reach Trafficking Victims

(Education and outreach at the grassroots level is key)

By Vicki Silverman,
Washington File Staff Writer

In the three years since the United States enacted legislation to intensify the fight against human trafficking and ensure support for victims, only a small portion of victims in the nation have come forward to receive federal assistance available to them, U.S. government officials report. Now, in an effort to help more victims rebuild their lives in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is enhancing the capacity of local communities to recognize and assist victims.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) made human trafficking a federal crime. It also established the basic interlocking responsibilities of five cabinet-level departments in combating forced labor and assisting the victims of sexual or other forms of exploitation to receive help in rebuilding their lives.

HHS has several responsibilities assigned by the TVPA. It awards grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide assistance to victims. HHS also certifies victims, a regulatory step that ensures victims have access to a range of federally funded benefits programs while they cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers.

"The sense of the act was clear -- we want to afford victims the chance to rebuild their lives while staying here in the United States," said Steven Wagner, director of the trafficking in persons program at HHS in a Washington File interview.

The U.S. government estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 trafficking victims enter the United States each year. However, only 500 victims have been found in the United States since the TVPA was passed. Most of these 500 victims, all of whom have been certified to receive HHS assistance, were identified and liberated in the course of federal criminal investigations.

"We have seen what a pure law enforcement model of identifying victims could yield. While it was a good start, we need to find more victims, more rapidly and this is our major project now at HHS," Wagner said.

"We have a sense of the magnitude and some intuition about where they are coming from. We believe the problem is ubiquitous, affecting urban and rural communities across the country. We are concerned about labor and commercial sex exploitation, and we assume the number of victims is about equal in those categories. We are concerned about all victims."

Wagner said greater public awareness and the development of alternative ways for victims and intermediaries to come forward -- without immediately contacting law enforcement -- are two keys to promoting more effective implementation of TVPA in the United States.

This year HHS has developed a national, multi-lingual hotline to report victimization and expanded the public information available on how to identify and assist victims. In addition, as part of its Rescue & Restore Campaign, HHS and other federal government representatives are working intensively with local civic leaders and NGOs in three cities to develop new ideas on how public-private, federal and local partnerships can reach more victims. Wagner predicts that successful models emerging from the federal government's intensive work with local populations in Atlanta, Phoenix and Philadelphia can be adapted to rural and urban communities throughout the 50 states.

"At the community level, I believe we are now at a stage that domestic violence was 25-30 years ago in the United States. We have a problem that very few American adults are aware of," Wagner said.

Wagner, who has been personally active in Rescue & Restore efforts, is encouraged by the number of NGOs -- more than 50 in each city -- that have joined together to form anti-trafficking coalitions in their communities. One NGO in each city serves as the lead organization for the purposes of receiving the victims and ensuring their care.

"We recognize that when a victim is newly liberated, they may be apprehensive about going to law enforcement, fearing they will be penalized for immigration or other violations," Wagner said.

"HHS wants to put victims in a relationship with local NGOs at the earliest possible moment, so that the NGO can help coordinate assistance and function as an advocate and counselor: explaining the certification and visa process to the victims, explaining the necessity to go to law enforcement and explaining that they will not be facing deportation if they tell their story to federal law enforcement," he said.

HHS is trying to involve a broad array of local people in touch with their communities and in a position to spot trafficking victims when they know how to screen them, Wagner said. "Our efforts are focused on local law enforcement; health care providers, including nurses and doctors, emergency rooms and clinics; child protective services; public defenders; immigration attorneys; social services providers and faith community leaders."

The Rescue & Restore Campaign also strives to educate community leaders on the horrific nature of trafficking crimes, Wagner said. "It is extremely important that citizens understand that these individuals are not the perpetrators of a crime -- they are the victims of crime. Not only are they victims of a crime, they are victims of a crime that is made possible by domestic demand, strengthening the fundamental moral argument for assisting these individuals," he said.

HHS is confident that the network of NGOs that has stepped forward to assist trafficking victims can provide the health care, housing, educational and job training assistance that victims need to gain control of their future. Some organizations have years of experience successfully assisting refugees integrate into American society. Unlike refugees, most of whom are able to enter the workforce within six months of their arrival, Wagner expects individuals who have suffered the trauma of modern-day slavery are going to need a longer period of normalization before they can begin to rebuild their lives.

Examples of the outreach material produced by HHS Rescue and Restore campaign is available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/index.html.

Details on the kinds of NGOs receiving U.S. government assistance, the support reaching victims, and profiles of U.S. trafficking prosecutions and investigations are available in the "Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons for Fiscal 2003". This report is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/050104agreporttocongresstvprav10.pdf

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)