“Let us stand together and press for accountability from those leaders who condone and support human trafficking, create conditions ripe for mass exploitation, and perpetuate this fundamental insult to human dignity. Those that perpetrate, condone or support this crime must be held accountable.”
Minimum TVPA standards require governments to prohibit severe forms of human trafficking and punish such acts; to prescribe more severe punishment when trafficking involves fraud, force, coercion, rape, death or sex trafficking of minors incapable of consenting; in most severe cases, prescribe punishment that deters the offense and reflects its heinous nature; and make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of human trafficking.
Kari Johnstone, senior official and principal deputy director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, indicated the importance of engaging survivors in anti-trafficking efforts and strategies, as well as addressing the impact of societal inequities on potential targets of human trafficking.
“As a critical means to continuously improve anti-trafficking efforts, stakeholders should engage with survivors of human trafficking; to listen to, learn from, and lift the voices of those with lived experience,” Johnstone said in the report’s introductory comments. “The Department of State continues to prioritize the integration of survivor expertise into our work. Another key priority, which also requires the counsel of survivors, is increasing our efforts to meaningfully incorporate equity in our anti-trafficking work.”
The full report is downloadable here.
This article originally appeared on BaptistPress.com.
