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Last night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022. The bill would reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a crucial piece of legislation that provides the legal framework for the U.S. to combat, monitor, and prosecute human trafficking crimes and simultaneously addresses the way children who have experienced severe trauma are treated in the criminal legal system.
Introduced by Representatives Chris Smith and Karen Bass in February, the legislation would fund programs that support victims, educate persons vulnerable to trafficking, award grants to assist in recognition of trafficking, and provide survivors with employment and education plans. ECPAT-USA worked directly with Representatives' offices to ensure necessary tools and reporting procedures were made available to the hotel industry to equip staff with information to identify and disrupt suspected instances of trafficking.
In the Senate, there are currently three bills that would reauthorize the TVPRA. With the Congressional working period quickly coming to a close, ECPAT-USA urges Senate Leadership to schedule votes on this legislation and reach a consensus on provisions to ensure anti-trafficking efforts and survivor support programs are funded.
Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein proposed the Trafficking Victims and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022, which would implement a government study on survivors’ access to mental health and substance use disorder treatments, create a pilot program to support high-risk youth, and increase mandatory restitution for survivors. This bill also directs the Attorney General to report on efforts to increase mandatory restitution orders for trafficking victims.
Senators John Cornyn and Amy Klobuchar proposed the Abolish Human Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022 to combat, monitor, and prosecute human trafficking crimes by providing financial support, protecting confidentiality, and improving state, local, and tribal child welfare services. This bill includes Sara’s Law, provisions that allow judges to deviate from harsh sentencing guidelines for child sex trafficking and sex crime victims who commit offenses against their traffickers or abusers, which is strongly supported by ECPAT-USA.
Senators Robert Menendez, James Risch, Tim Kaine, and Marco Rubio proposed the International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022 to expand current efforts to combat human trafficking by allocating funds to strengthen essential programs and incorporate counter-trafficking measures when deciding on U.S. assistance abroad.
With the U.S. Department of State’s release of the 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report earlier this month, which gives a global overview of trafficking issues, it is critical that legislators in the U.S. take meaningful steps to protect children. In addition to passing pending bills, ECPAT-USA urges the Senate to confirm Cindy Dyer as Ambassador of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, (TIP Office). This post is essential to promoting governance and resources for trafficking victims, and ECPAT-USA is committed to advocating for and advancing policies that uplift, strengthen, and support survivors.
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