Clinton Leads Meeting on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking

By MacKenzie C. Babb
Staff Writer

Washington - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says human trafficking is an issue of "grave importance" the United States must continue to address.

Clinton led the annual President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons meeting, held in Washington February 1.

"Anywhere from 12 [million] to 27 million people are currently held in forced labor, bonded labor, or forced prostitution," she told the task force, a group that includes leaders from across government agencies.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis were at the meeting, along with leaders from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture.

Clinton said the victims of human trafficking "range from the men and women enslaved in fields, factories and brothels to the girls and boys whose childhoods have been shattered and stolen, to the parents whose children have vanished. Whether they are far from home or in their own villages, they need and deserve our help and the help of the world."

She said the State Department has employed a series of initiatives to combat human trafficking, including publishing its annual Trafficking in Persons report every May. The report, which ranks countries around the world based on compliance with the international Trafficking Victims Protection Act, included an assessment of the United States for the first time in 2010.

"As President Obama has made clear, we want to be the best champion for our own ideals, and we want to live up to those ideals ourselves," Clinton said.

In addition to the report, Clinton said the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security will establish an anti-trafficking unit to "centralize case referrals and command at headquarters and offer training to all agents, particularly on how to work with victims."

The secretary emphasized that identifying victims is a top priority for U.S. agencies. She said that, of the millions of people held in servitude, fewer than 50,000 have officially been identified as victims. She said many others are either ignored, or worse, treated as criminals.

"We need to do more to identify the true victims of human trafficking and help restore them to participation in our society," Clinton said.

In a joint effort to combat trafficking in persons, the Department of Justice announced an initiative to create specialized anti-trafficking coordination teams.

"These teams will bring together federal agents and prosecutors across agency lines to combat human trafficking threats, dismantle human trafficking networks and bring traffickers to justice," Holder said in his February 1 announcement ( http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2011/February/20110201165335su0.6459574.html ).

He said the effort will be made in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor.

Holder said the launch of these teams will enable the U.S. government "to leverage the assets and expertise of each federal enforcement agency more effectively than ever before."

He said agency leaders are "energized by the strength of our partnerships" but remain "firm in our resolve to do more ... to end human trafficking."

Holder said that in 2010 the Department of Justice prosecuted more human trafficking cases than ever before, sending a powerful signal the United States will not tolerate trafficking in persons.

ENDS

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