Notice2024-27815
Request for Information for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 27, 2024
Issuing agencies
State Department
Abstract
The Department of State ("the Department") requests written information to assist in reporting on the degree to which the United States and foreign governments meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons ("minimum standards") that are prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 93816-93820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27815]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice: 12590]
Request for Information for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons
Report
SUMMARY: The Department of State (``the Department'') requests written
information to assist in reporting on the degree to which the United
States and foreign governments meet the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking in persons (``minimum standards'') that are
prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
DATES: Submissions must be made in writing to the Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State by 5 p.m. EST
on February 3, 2025.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This written information will assist in the
preparation of the Trafficking in Persons Report (``TIP Report'') which
the Department submits annually to the U.S. Congress on governments'
concrete actions to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking in persons (``minimum standards'') that are prescribed by
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Div. A, Pub. L. 106-
386), as amended (``TVPA''). Foreign governments that do not meet the
minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so may
be subject to restrictions on nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign
assistance from the United States, as defined by the TVPA. Please refer
to the Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards of this
Notice for the questionnaire and to the Addresses, Scope of Interest,
and Information Sought sections for additional instructions on
submission requirements. Written submissions and supporting
documentation may be submitted by the following method:
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#34405d444651445b46407447405540511a535b42"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="700419000215001f02043003041104155e171f06">[email protected]</span></a> for submissions related to
foreign governments and <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a8dcc1d8dacdd8c7dadcfdfbe8dbdcc9dccd86cfc7de"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dfabb6afadbaafb0adab8a8c9facabbeabbaf1b8b0a9">[email protected]</span></a> for submissions related
to the United States.
Scope of Interest: The Department requests information relevant to
assessing the United States' and foreign governments' concrete actions
to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in
persons during the reporting period (April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025). The
minimum standards are listed in the Background section. Submissions
must include information relevant to efforts to meet the minimum
standards and should include, but need not be limited to, answering the
questions in the Information Sought section. Submissions need not
include answers to all the questions; only those questions for which
the submitter has direct professional experience should be answered,
and that experience should be noted. For any critique or deficiency
described, please provide a recommendation to remedy it. Note the
country or countries that are the focus of the submission. Submissions
may include written narratives answering the questions presented in
this Notice, research, studies, statistics, fieldwork, training
materials, evaluations, assessments, and other relevant evidence of
local, state/provincial, and federal/central government efforts. To the
extent possible, precise dates and numbers of officials or individuals
affected should be included. Questions below seek to gather information
and updates from the details provided and assessment on government
efforts made in the 2024 TIP Report. Furthermore, we request
information on the government's treatment of vulnerable populations and
underserved communities, including how the government may have
systemically denied opportunities to a community to participate in
aspects of economic, social, and civic life that has led to heighted
risk to human trafficking or how the government's anti-trafficking
response may have treated certain groups differently. Written
narratives providing factual information should provide citations of
sources, and copies of and links to the source material should be
provided. Please send electronic copies of the entire submission,
including source material. If primary sources are used, such as
research studies, interviews, direct observations, or other sources of
quantitative or qualitative data, provide details on the research or
data-gathering methodology and any supporting documentation. The
Department only includes in the TIP Report information related to
trafficking in persons as defined by the TVPA; it does not include, and
is therefore not seeking, information on commercial sex, migrant
smuggling, visa fraud, or child abuse, unless such crimes also involve
the elements of sex trafficking or forced labor.
Confidentiality: Please provide the name, phone number, and email
address of a single point of contact for any submission. It is
Department practice not to identify in the TIP Report information
concerning sources to safeguard those sources. Note, however, that any
information submitted to the Department may be releasable pursuant to
the provisions of the Freedom of
[[Page 93817]]
Information Act or other applicable law. Submissions related to the
United States will be shared with U.S. government agencies, as will
submissions relevant to efforts by other U.S. government agencies.
Response: This is a request for information only; there will be no
response to submissions. Remuneration for responses will not be
provided. In order to expend appropriated funds, there must be specific
authority to do so. The Department of State has no authority to expend
funds for this purpose.
Background
Definitions: The TVPA defines ``severe forms of trafficking in
persons'' as:
<bullet> The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision,
obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a
commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in
which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years
of age.
[cir] Persons under age 18 in commercial sex are trafficking in
persons victims regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion were
involved.
<bullet> The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force,
fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary
servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
[cir] Forced labor may take the form of domestic servitude, forced
begging, forced criminal activity (e.g., drug smuggling), and prison
labor that is not a consequence of a conviction in a court of law.
<bullet> Children recruited or used as soldiers or for labor or
services can be a severe form of human trafficking when the activity
involves force, fraud, or coercion. Children may be victims regardless
of gender.
The TIP Report: The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide
report assessing governments' efforts to combat trafficking in persons.
It represents an annually updated global assessment of the nature and
scope of trafficking in persons and the broad range of government
actions to confront and eliminate it. The U.S. government uses the TIP
Report to inform diplomacy, encourage partnership in creating and
implementing laws and policies to combat trafficking, and target
resources on prevention, protection, and prosecution programs.
Worldwide, international organizations (IOs), foreign governments, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) use the TIP Report as a tool to
examine where resources are most needed. Prosecuting traffickers,
protecting victims, and preventing trafficking are the ultimate goals
of the TIP Report and of the U.S government's anti-trafficking policy.
The Department prepares the TIP Report with information from across
the U.S. government, foreign government officials, nongovernmental and
international organizations, survivors of trafficking in persons,
published reports, and research related to every region. The TIP Report
focuses on concrete actions made by governments to fight trafficking in
persons, including prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for
traffickers, as well as victim identification and protection measures
and prevention efforts. Note that rankings only consider government
actions to combat human trafficking, not NGOs' or IOs' activities. Each
TIP Report narrative also includes prioritized recommendations for each
country. These recommendations are used to assist the Department in
measuring governments' progress from one year to the next and
determining whether governments meet the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking in persons or are making significant efforts
to do so.
The TVPA creates a four-tier ranking system. Tier placement is
based principally on the extent of concrete government action to combat
trafficking. The Department first evaluates whether the government
fully meets the TVPA's minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking, as set forth in Sec. 108 of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act, as amended (22 U.S.C. 7106). Governments that do so are
placed on Tier 1. For other governments, the Department considers the
extent of such efforts. Governments that are making significant efforts
to meet the minimum standards are placed on Tier 2. Governments that do
not fully meet the minimum standards and are not making significant
efforts to do so are placed on Tier 3. Finally, the Department
considers Watch List criteria and, when applicable, places countries on
the Tier 2 Watch List. For more information, the 2024 TIP Report can be
found at <a href="http://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report">www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report</a>.
Since the inception of the TIP Report in 2001, the number of
countries included and ranked has more than doubled; the 2024 TIP
Report included 188 countries and territories. Around the world, the
TIP Report and the promising practices reflected therein have inspired
legislation, national action plans, policy implementation, program
funding, protection mechanisms to complement prosecution efforts, and a
stronger global understanding of this crime.
Since 2003, the primary reporting on the United States' anti-
trafficking activities has been through the annual Attorney General's
Report to Congress and Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to
Combat Human Trafficking mandated by section 105 of the TVPA (22 U.S.C.
7103(d)(7)). Since 2010, the TIP Report, through a collaborative
interagency process, has included an assessment of U.S. government
anti-trafficking efforts in light of the minimum standards to eliminate
trafficking in persons set forth by the TVPA.
Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards
Submissions should include, but need not be limited to, answers to
relevant questions below for which the submitter has direct
professional experience within the reporting period (April 1, 2024-
March 31, 2025). Citations to source material should also be provided.
Note the country or countries that are the focus of the submission.
Please see the Scope of Interest section above for detailed information
regarding submission requirements.
Overview
1. What were the government's major accomplishments in addressing
human trafficking since April 1, 2024? In what significant ways have
the government's efforts to combat trafficking in persons changed in
the past year? How have new laws, regulations, policies, or
implementation strategies (e.g., substantive criminal laws and
procedures, mechanisms for civil remedies, and victim-witness programs,
generally and in relation to court proceedings) affected its anti-
trafficking response?
2. Over the past year, what were the greatest deficiencies in the
government's anti-trafficking efforts? What were the limitations on the
government's ability to address human trafficking problems in practice?
3. Provide additional information and/or recommendations to improve
the government's anti-trafficking efforts overall.
4. Highlight effective strategies and practices that other
governments could consider adopting.
Prosecution
5. Provide observations regarding the implementation of existing
laws, policies, and procedures. Are there gaps in anti-trafficking
legislation that could be amended to improve the
[[Page 93818]]
government's response? Are there any government policies that have
undermined or otherwise negatively affected anti-trafficking efforts
within that country?
6. Do government officials understand the nature of all forms of
trafficking? If not, provide examples of misconceptions or
misunderstandings. Did the government effectively provide or support
anti-trafficking trainings for officials including on enforcement of
policies, and laws; and/or on victim identification measures or
procedures? If not, how could it be improved?
7. Provide observations on overall anti-trafficking law enforcement
efforts and the efforts of police and prosecutors to investigate,
prosecute, and convict traffickers. Is the government equally vigorous
in pursuing forced labor and sex trafficking, domestic and
transnational trafficking, and crimes that involve its own nationals or
foreign citizens? Were anti-trafficking laws equitably enforced, or
were certain communities disproportionately affected?
8. Does law enforcement pursue trafficking cases seeking to hold
criminally accountable private employers or corporations for forced
labor in supply chains?
9. Do judges appear appropriately knowledgeable and sensitized to
trafficking cases? Do they implement and encourage trauma-informed
practices in their courts?
10. Describe any allegations of official complicity in trafficking
crimes, including of state-sponsored forced labor. What measures did
the government take to end such practices? What proactive measures did
the government take to prevent official complicity in trafficking in
persons crimes? How did the government respond to reports of complicity
during the reporting period, including investigations, prosecutions,
convictions, and sentencing of complicit officials? Were these efforts
sufficient?
11. Is there evidence nationals of the country deployed abroad as
part of a diplomatic, peacekeeping, or other similar mission have
engaged in or facilitated trafficking, including in domestic servitude?
Has the government vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and
sentenced nationals engaged in these activities?
12. If the government has entered into a bilateral, multilateral,
or regional anti-trafficking information-sharing and cooperation
arrangements, is the agreement effective and has it resulted in
concrete and measurable outcomes?
Protection
13. Did the government make a coordinated, proactive effort to
identify victims of all forms of trafficking? If there were any new (or
changes to preexisting) formal/standard procedures for screening for
trafficking, including of individuals in immigration detention or
removal proceedings, and for victim referral to protection services,
were those procedures sufficient and how did the government implement
them?
14. If the government had written procedures to guide officials in
referring potential trafficking victims to services (e.g., national
referral mechanism, or a formal framework to complement victim
identification procedures a government uses to ensure trafficking
victims' referral and access to protection services), were front-line
officials across government sectors and other responsible stakeholders
aware of the procedures and how to use them? Did officials implement
the referral procedures and was implementation equitable across all
affected populations? Did officials effectively coordinate among one
another and with relevant NGOs to conduct screenings and refer victims
to care? Did the referral procedures require victims to interact with
law enforcement before being referred to social service providers?
15. Did government policy require a person to be formally
identified as a trafficking victim to receive certain services or
benefits? If yes, which services or benefits were limited to persons
formally identified as trafficking victims? If applicable, which
officials or entities did the government authorize to formally identify
individuals as trafficking victims?
16. If commercial sex is legalized or decriminalized in the
country, how did health officials, labor inspectors, or police identify
trafficking victims among persons involved in commercial sex? If
commercial sex is illegal, did the government proactively identify
trafficking victims during law enforcement operations or other
encounters with commercial sex establishments?
17. Were there any new (or changes to preexisting) services
available for victims and survivors (legal, medical, food, shelter,
interpretation, mental health care, employment, training, etc.)? If
NGOs provide the services, does the government adequately support their
work either financially or otherwise? Did all victims and survivors of
both labor and sex trafficking--regardless of citizenship, gender
identity, racial/ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religious
affiliation, and physical ability--receive the same quality and level
of access to services?
18. What was the overall quality of victim care? How could victim
services be improved? Are services victim-centered and trauma-informed?
Were services linked to whether a victim assisted law enforcement or
participated in a trial, or whether a trafficker was convicted? Were
there populations that lacked access to care, including shelter and
other services?
19. Where were child victims placed (e.g., in shelters, foster
care, or juvenile justice detention centers), and what kind of
specialized care did they receive?
20. If the government operates or funds any trafficking-specific
hotlines (including those run by NGOs), did calls to those hotlines
lead to victim identification, victim referral to care, and/or criminal
investigations?
21. What is the level of cooperation, communication, and trust
between service providers and law enforcement?
22. Were there means by which victims could obtain restitution from
defendants in criminal cases or file civil suits against traffickers
for damages, and did this happen in practice? Did prosecutors request
and/or courts order restitution in all cases where it was required, and
if not, why?
23. Please provide observations on trafficking victims and
survivors' ability to access justice, as they define it, and the
treatment of survivors throughout the criminal legal process. How did
the government support victims who assisted in the investigation and
prosecution of trafficking cases, and did it do so in a trauma-informed
way? How did the government protect victims during the trial process
and ensure victims were not re-traumatized during participation in the
process? What, if any, alternatives were available to victims instead
of speaking to law enforcement during investigations (for example,
speaking to a victim-witness advocate, social worker, psychologist,
etc.)? Did law enforcement allow a representative or advocate to
accompany victims during interviews? In what ways could the government
increase support for victims in prosecutions against traffickers?
24. Did the government provide, through a formal policy or
otherwise, temporary or permanent residency status, or other relief
from deportation, for foreign national victims of human trafficking who
may face retribution or hardship in the countries to which they would
be deported? Were foreign national victims given the opportunity to
seek legal employment while in this
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temporary or permanent residency? Were such benefits linked to whether
a victim assisted law enforcement, whether a victim participated in a
trial, or whether there was a successful prosecution? Does the
government repatriate victims who wish to return home or assist with
third-country resettlement? Are victims awaiting repatriation or third-
country resettlement offered services? Are victims indeed repatriated,
or are they deported?
25. Does the government effectively assist its nationals exploited
abroad? Does the government work to ensure victims receive adequate
assistance and support for their repatriation while in destination
countries? Does the government provide adequate assistance to
repatriated victims after their return to their countries of origin,
and if so, what forms of assistance?
26. Were potential trafficking victims incarcerated, fined, or
otherwise penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct
result of being trafficked (e.g., subject to commercial sex, drug-
related, or other criminal charges, or subject to deportation/
immigration enforcement or administrative penalties)? If so, do these
victims disproportionately represent a certain gender, race, ethnicity,
or other group or particular type of trafficking?
Prevention
27. What efforts has the government made to prevent human
trafficking? Did the government take new or ongoing steps to ensure
policies did not further marginalize communities already
overrepresented among trafficking victims, increasing their risk to
human trafficking? If so, did it take efforts to implement those
policies?
28. If the government had a national action plan to address
trafficking, how was it implemented in practice? Were NGOs and other
relevant civil society stakeholders consulted in the development and
implementation of the plan? Who will monitor its implementation and/or
measure its impact?
29. Please describe any government-funded anti-trafficking
information or education campaigns or training, whether aimed at the
public or at specific sectors or stakeholders/actors. What strategies
did the campaigns employ to ensure messaging and images did not
legitimize and/or perpetuate harmful or racialized narratives and/or
stereotypes about victims, survivors, and perpetrators? Were campaign
materials readily available, cost-free, and accessible in various
languages, including braille? Does the government provide financial
support to NGOs working to promote public awareness?
30. Did the government seek and include the input of survivors in
crafting or implementing anti-trafficking laws, regulations, policies,
or programs? If so, did the government take steps to ensure input was
received and incorporated from a diverse group of survivors?
31. How did the government regulate, oversee, and screen for
trafficking indicators in the labor recruitment process, including for
both licensed and unlicensed recruitment and placement agencies,
individual recruiters, and sub-brokers? Did the government prohibit (in
any context) charging workers recruitment fees and prohibit the
recruitment of workers through knowingly fraudulent job offers
(including misrepresenting wages, working conditions, location, or
nature of the job), contract switching, and confiscating or otherwise
denying workers access to their identity documents? If there are laws
or regulations on recruitment, did the government effectively enforce
them? Did the government allow migrant workers to change employers in a
timely manner without obtaining special permissions?
32. Did the government coordinate with other governments (e.g., via
bilateral agreements with migrant labor sending or receiving countries)
on safe and responsible labor recruitment including prevention measures
to target known trafficking indicators? To what extent were these
implemented? Are workers (both nationals of the country and foreign
nationals) in all industries (e.g., domestic work, agriculture, etc.)
equally and sufficiently protected under existing labor laws?
33. Did government policies, regulations, or agreements relating to
migration, labor, trade, and investment facilitate vulnerabilities to,
or incidence of, forced labor or sex trafficking? If so, what actions
did the government take to ensure that its policies, regulations, and
agreements relating to migration, labor, trade, border security
measures, and investment did not facilitate trafficking?
34. Did the government take tangible action to prevent forced labor
in domestic or global supply chains? Did the government make any
efforts to prohibit and prevent trafficking in the supply chains of its
own public procurement?
35. Did the government provide assistance to other governments in
combating trafficking in persons through trainings or other assistance
programs?
36. What measures has the government taken to reduce its nationals'
or foreigners' participation in domestic and extraterritorial child
sexual exploitation? Note: This was previously covered as ``child sex
tourism.''
Territories and Semi-Autonomous Regions
37. Provide any information about trafficking trends and government
anti-trafficking efforts in dependent territories and semi-autonomous
regions to prosecute traffickers, identify and provide services to
victims, and prevent trafficking.
Trafficking Profile
38. Describe human trafficking trends, drivers, methods, source/
destination dynamics, industries and sectors, impacted demographics,
recruitment methods, etc.
39. What groups, including vulnerable populations and underserved
communities, are at particular risk of sex trafficking or forced labor?
Vulnerable populations and underserved communities are populations
sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities,
that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate
in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. This term may include,
but is not limited to, women and girls, persons with disabilities,
indigenous peoples, people of African descent, racial and ethnic
minorities, refugees and internally displaced people, religious
minorities, LGBTQI+ persons, rural residents, migrants, as well as
those who are otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or
inequality. Please also consider: adults arrested for engaging in
commercial sex acts, undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, stateless
persons, persons with severe mental illness, unhoused persons, children
in welfare systems or aging out of such systems, previously
incarcerated people, members of marginalized racial and ethnic
communities, people in early or forced marriages, people living with
HIV/AIDS, or individuals or communities living in conflict, crisis, or
post-disaster settings.
40. Are any Chinese, Cuban, or North Korean persons present in the
country as part of government-to-government agreements and/or in
foreign government-affiliated projects? If present, are these
individuals subjected to or at high risk of forced labor?
41. Provide any information about trafficking trends, general
numerical data on victims identified, or risk factors
[[Page 93820]]
stemming from climate-related change or disasters, as well as any
efforts to mitigate these vulnerabilities; emerging migration crises
and associated vulnerabilities to human trafficking; the ongoing
trafficking risk as a result of conflict; and the use of technology to
recruit and exploit victims, including cyber or online scam operations
involving indicators of trafficking.
Child Soldiering
42. Using the definition of ``child soldier'' as defined by the
Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), describe instances,
cases, and reports, including anecdotal reports, of:
a. Use of any person under the age of 18 in direct hostilities as a
member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
b. Conscription or forced recruitment of persons under the age of
18 into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
c. Voluntary recruitment of any person under 15 years of age into
governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
d. Recruitment (forced or voluntary) or use in hostilities of
persons under the age of 18 by armed groups distinct from the armed
forces of a state.
e. Abuse of male and female children recruited by governmental
armed forces, police, or other security forces, and government-
supported armed groups (e.g., sexual abuse or use for forced labor).
Describe the manner and age of conscription, noting differences in
treatment or conscription patterns based on gender.
43. Did the government provide support to an armed group that
recruits and/or uses child soldiers? What was the extent of the support
(e.g., in-kind, financial, training, etc.)? Where did the provision of
support occur (within the country or outside of the country)? In cases
where the government was included on the CSPA list in 2024 based on its
support to non-state armed groups that recruit and/or use child
soldiers, describe whether the government took steps to pressure the
group to cease its recruitment or use of child soldiers, publicly
disavow the group's recruitment or use of child soldiers, or cease its
support to that group.
44. Describe any government efforts to prevent or end child soldier
recruitment or use, including efforts to disarm, demobilize, and
reintegrate former child soldiers. (i.e., enacting any laws or
regulations, implementing a United Nations Action Plan or Roadmap,
specialized training for officials, procedures for age verification,
etc.)
Cynthia D. Dyer,
Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2024-27815 Filed 11-26-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-17-P
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This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.