/Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID USAID’s Global Efforts to End Modern Slavery /Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

USAID COUNTER-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS POLICY Modern slavery, also known as trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, undermines the United States’ core principles and values. It robs millions of people, regardless of gender, age, religion, and nationality, of their freedom, and all too often is a hidden and underreported crime. Human trafficking respects no boundaries. In the United States and in countries around the world, it splinters communities, threatens public safety and national security, distorts economic markets, undermines rule of law, and spurs transnational criminal activity. Hu-man traffickers will continue to expand and diversify their recruitment tactics and meth-ods of exploitation if left unchecked. Traffickers can be strangers, acquaintances, or even family members, and they prey on the vulnerable and on those seeking opportunities to build for themselves a brighter future. This is why the United States has made the global fight against human trafficking a policy priority and employs a whole-of-government approach to address all aspects of this crime. The President’s Interagency Taskforce to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking in Persons (PITF) and the Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG), which consists of senior officials designated as representatives of the PITF members, work year-round to address the many aspects of human trafficking both in the United States and around the world. In 2012, USAID launched a new Counter-Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Policy that outlines concrete, measurable programming principles and objectives to focus and reinvigorate the Agency’s efforts. We have implemented C-TIP programs in 20 to 25 countries at any given time since 2001.

Programming Objectives

Efforts to counter trafficking integrated into relevant Agency initiatives and programs.

Improved application of research and learning efforts to counter human trafficking.

Enhanced institutional accountability to counter human trafficking., including the

adoption of an Agency-wide CTIP Code of Conduct.

Augmented C-TIP investments in critical trafficking challenge countries.

Increased investments in trafficking prevention and protection in conflict and crisis-

affected areas.

/CENTRAL

A Cambodian man is reunited with his sister after working on boats for six years without any contact.

/Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

Asiya, a participant in USAID’s vulnerable migrant program in Tajiki-stan, works with her new sewing machine, fulfilling embroidery re-quests from women in her community.

Evaluation and Research

Integration is Key

C-TIP Field Guide

In 2013, USAID released a C-TIP Field Guide to provide practical guidance to Missions to implement the policy through field programs. The Guide al-so provides USAID personnel with instruction on how to report suspected trafficking violations committed by employees, contractors, and grant recipi-ents to the Agency's Office of the Inspector General for investigation and ac-tion.

Find the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Field Guide:

https://www.usaid.gov/trafficking

USAID is committed to increasing integration of C-TIP activities into broader sector development programs such as agriculture and economic growth. The Agency is developing tools and promising practices to help Missions increase C-TIP integration into their development portfolios.

USAID fielded the first ever C-TIP Assessment and Victim Identification Survey in Guatemala to assess current knowledge, attitudes, and practices about the threats of trafficking and to identify survivors. The survey methodology has been adapted for implementation in the Philippines with the goal of informing future programming.

Find some of USAID’s other research products on IIE.org’s C-TIP Campus Chal-lenge Research Grants page.

ASIA

In the Philippines, USAID has worked with local partners to train more than 3,000 front line respond-ers to help prevent, detect, and prosecute human trafficking, which has reached 52,000 people. We also provided shelter, livelihood, reintegration, legal, and education assistance to 915 human traffick-ing survivors and those at risk for trafficking.

In Nepal, USAID supported 195 local governments to establish local committees for controlling human

trafficking, and worked with 125 schools to provide scholarships, mentoring, and community support to 3,800 at-risk girls in grades 1-10. We also supported a 24-hour hotline and drop-in center for wom-en working in the adult entertainment sector in Kathmandu and provided health, legal, and psychoso-cial counseling for 313 female sex workers.

In Bangladesh, USAID assisted trafficking victims by providing shelter, health care, psychosocial coun-

seling, legal services, and job skills training to 493 trafficking survivors. Out of the 493 survivors, 40 re-ceived legal support, 230 received life skills training, and 21 received job placement support.

In Thailand, USAID partners with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and govern-

ment officials to combat human trafficking in the agriculture, construction, fishing, and seafood pro-cessing sectors.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, USAID's Dignity and

Rights Project has countered human trafficking; supported safe labor migration; increased citizen sup-port for human rights norms; enhanced support systems for protecting rights and serving those whose rights have been violated; and improved the legal and policy framework for human rights issues.

In Laos, USAID is launching a new project that will partner with the Ministry of Labor and Social Wel-

fare and other relevant ministries to develop systems and protocols for victim identification and sup-port for trafficked persons, as well as support vocational training and employment opportunities.

Nepal

2017 Highlights

/Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

Charimaya Tamang, one of the founders of USAID supported Shakti Samuha, the first organization in Nepal established and run by survivors of trafficking.

“Some Days I Lived, Other Days I Died.”

— Charimaya

Asia Programming Overview

An estimated 21 million people are trapped in modern

slavery, with over half of this number in Asia. Across the

region, USAID counters human trafficking by reducing risk

factors, protecting and assisting survivors, increasing pros-

ecutions of traffickers, and strengthening the implementa-

tion of related laws and policies.

AFRICA

In Senegal, USAID uses a community-based approach to increase the capacity of local actors

to prevent and respond to forced child begging in Dakar.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, USAID has reintegrated girls and boys abducted or

coerced into joining armed forces in the country’s long-running conflict.

In Rwanda, USAID works to improve national coordination on human trafficking, increase

awareness, improve prosecutorial capacity, and strengthen victims’ protection.

In Ghana, USAID combats child labor and trafficking in the fisheries industry through behavior

change communication interventions and policy development.

In Africa, poverty, discrimination, weak rule of law, and

lack of security increase the prevalence and exacerbate

the negative impacts of human trafficking. USAID pro-

gramming addresses these challenges through activities

that strengthen the capacity of African governments and

civil society to raise awareness and prevent trafficking,

protect survivors and prevent re-trafficking, and improve

prosecution of perpetrators.

Africa Programming Overview

2017 Highlights

/Central and Western Fishmongers Improvement Association

Araba Takyiwa (left rear), 46, a mother of seven who allowed

her sons to labor in fisheries instead of attending school, has

become an anti-child labor and trafficking advocate through a

USAID supported campaign. She is now helping change the

lives of her own children and those of others in her poor fish-

ing community in Ghana through spreading the word —

helping others see the longer term benefits to their children,

their families, and their community when children stay in

school and out of hazardous labor and trafficking. Araba hopes

her own personal story of loss is helping others decide that

they too want a brighter future for their children.

”I will use my own story as a means to advocate against child

labour and trafficking.” - Araba Takyiwa

EUROPE & EURASIA

In Azerbaijan, USAID supports three shelters for victims of trafficking (VoT) that provide legal

aid and legal counselling for VoTs, supporting the victims in pursuing their case in the criminal

justice system to prosecute traffickers.

In Moldova, USAID is working in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, to provide

specialized training in national and international standards for investigating and classifying TIP

for forced labor.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, USAID helped anti-trafficking institutions adopt and implement

more effective policies, laws, and regulations, and provide better protection and assistance to

VoTs.

In Ukraine, USAID support to former VoTs improved their economic standing through job

skills and business training programs and approximately half received self-employment

grants. In FY 2017, 35 micro-enterprises were supported with grants to start their own busi-

nesses.

Most of the countries in Europe and Eurasia are

source, transit, and destination countries

where men, women, and children are subject-

ed to sex trafficking and forced labor. USAID’s

C-TIP projects address prevention and reinte-

gration by focusing on targeted information

and awareness-raising campaigns; promoting

safe job searching among vulnerable popula-

tions; and capacity building for local non-

One Photo, with text box over-

view of survivor/leader.

/IOM Ukraine

‘Invisible in Plain Sight,’ a dramatic installation of 120 wood-

en human silhouettes symbolizing 120,000 Ukrainians

trafficked abroad since the early 1990s , was created by Ivan,

a Ukrainian victim of trafficking. Due to Ivan’s efforts, women

and children who visit the art installation will become more

aware of the dangers of trafficking and how they can protect

themselves.

Europe & Eurasia Programming Overview

2017 Highlights

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Latin American & The Caribbean Programming Overview

Trafficking in persons can be a lucrative way for organized criminal

groups in Latin America and the Caribbean to fund other illicit activities.

USAID’s C-TIP programs focus on prevention to promote education and

awareness and to build community resilience; protection to help

trafficking survivors recover, reintegrate, and seek justice; and prosecu-

tion to assist justice officials identify and assist victims and bring

traffickers to justice.

In Guatemala, USAID has supported the Judiciary to provide training in TIP for 258 criminal judges and trial court judges and to implement a specialized

course on exploitation and TIP which trains judicial officials on the tools needed to understand and resolve TIP cases with a focus on protecting victims.

In Mexico, USAID continued promoting TIP prevention and conducted workshops in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, and Izabal which reached

more than 5,500 people, of which 42 percent were children between the ages of 10 and 13 years, 28 percent were youth from 14 to 17 years old, and 30 per-

cent were youth and adults 18 years old and above. Of the total, 45 percent were female and 55 percent were male.

In Peru, USAID is conducting a victim identification and reintegration study to identify and longitudinally follow a cohort of sex trafficking victims to explore in

depth their backgrounds, circumstances and trafficking experiences. USAID is also assessing the efficacy of USAID, as well as non-USAID, CTIP programs in im-

proving outcomes for sex trafficking victims.

In Honduras, USAID conducted a survey with local NGOs and shelter providers to identify trafficking survivors and gain greater insight on the root causes and

critical areas for intervention.

2017 Highlights

/Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

U.S. Agency for International Development 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20523 https://www.usaid.gov/trafficking