On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.
If signed by the president, the bill would create a domestic fund for victims of child sex trafficking from fines levied against traffickers. Fines collected from traffickers will bolster local law enforcement training and capabilities, among other capacity building measures.
The bill passed 420-3 in the House, and earlier last month passed the Senate 99-0. The bill, however, didn’t always enjoy bipartisan support. In fact, it was held up in the Senate for weeks due to a controversy over abortion funding.
The anti-trafficking legislation was a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. However, Democrats became concerned after they claimed Republicans surreptitiously slipped long-standing Hyde amendment language into the bill. The first version of the bill applied Hyde amendment language to fines collected from traffickers, prohibiting this money from being applied to funding elective abortions.
There are upwards of 21 million victims of human trafficking worldwide.
After nearly a month of gridlock, Republicans and Democrats came to a compromise. The final legislation channels fines collected from traffickers toward improving and enhancing specialized law enforcement units dedicated to combating child sex trafficking. The bill does not provide new funding for health care services for victims, or apply Hyde language to fines collected from traffickers, as in previous iterations of the bill.
Instead the bill leverages pre-existing government funding for child advocacy centers and social services to provide health and rehabilitation services to victims of child sex trafficking. Hyde amendment language already applies to these services.
The compromise is a good one for victims of sex trafficking in the U.S. and should be seen as a broader part of U.S.-led rule of law efforts to combat human trafficking domestically and abroad.
Estimates suggest that there are upwards of 21 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. Some suggest that there are as many as 300,000 victims of child sex trafficking in the U.S. alone.
According to the State Department’s annually released Trafficking in Persons report, the U.S. received the highest ranking in the report: Tier 1. The U.S.’s designation as a Tier 1 country does not mean that it has eliminated trafficking, but rather that it is making significant efforts to comply with minimum standards for compliance as defined by the major U.S. anti-trafficking law—the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Channeling fines collected from traffickers toward improving local law enforcement efforts is the right step for U.S. domestic and international anti-trafficking efforts. The Philippines, for example, experienced great success in its anti-trafficking efforts due to its specialized anti-trafficking law enforcement units. Since beginning these efforts, the Philippines more than tripled convictions of traffickers and almost quadrupled the number of victims rescued.
As a global leader on human rights, the U.S. should continue to demonstrate leadership in the fight against human trafficking by ensuring that victims have access to proper legal and judicial protection. However, combatting human trafficking doesn’t end at our own borders.
In a report on human trafficking in Asia, The Heritage Foundation noted:
The fight against human trafficking constitutes one of the major global human rights challenges of the 21st century. Halting human trafficking will require U.S. leadership and effective partnerships with [foreign] governments, NGOs, and multinational companies as well as a special focus on improving justice systems in countries where human trafficking is prevalent.
