Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met last week with the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, at which federal agencies committed to taking significant steps throughout 2023 to combat human trafficking.
“We must work together to confront and prevent human trafficking, stop traffickers, and restore the dignity and human rights of victims. Those are among the important tasks of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons,” Blinken said in a tweet.
The commitment included advancing the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, which states that the U.S. remains focused on the foundational pillars of U.S. and global anti-trafficking efforts: prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership, according to a Feb. 13 State Department statement.
In 2020, the United States National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 11,193 cases of human trafficking, according to The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. Globally, an estimated 24.9 million people are victims of human trafficking, generating $150 billion annually in illicit profits. In the same year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services certified 508 foreign national adult victims of human trafficking, with 70% being victims of labor trafficking, 15% of sex trafficking, 11% of both sex and labor trafficking, and 4% unknown. The department also certified 673 foreign national child victims of human trafficking, with 69% being victims of labor trafficking, 25% of sex trafficking, 5% of both sex and labor trafficking, and 1% unknown.
The State Department combats human trafficking by promoting meaningful survivor engagement and leadership, preventing and addressing trafficking through procurement in the global marketplace, collaborating with Canada and Mexico through the Trilateral Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, working to prevent trafficking within the diplomatic community, and making new investments to combat forced child labor for domestic work and begging through anti-trafficking foreign assistance programs, the DOS states.
The DOS is emphasizing ethical storytelling and trauma-informed photography, developing a new risk screening process, and providing checks on the welfare of domestic workers employed by foreign mission and international organization personnel across the United States, according to the agency.
