How to Dismantle the Business of Human Trafficking Fact Sheet
150 years following the ratification of the 13th Amendment officially abolishing slavery, the blight of human bondage remains a pervasive threat to liberty and dignity. Globally, estimates indicate that there are roughly 21 million victims of human trafficking annually at a profit of nearly $150 billion dollars for the criminals committing this heinous violation of human rights. By contrast, the State Department reported fewer than 4,500 convictions worldwide last year. Exploiters largely operate with impunity, facing a fraction of the accountability that those engaged in the trafficking of weapons and drugs face.
Human trafficking is a global affliction, one that America is not immune to. To combat this, the U.S. government has taken important steps to create a permanent anti-human trafficking infrastructure at home. These efforts manifested in the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000 and have drawn worldwide attention to the scourge of human trafficking through the annual publication of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report).
As commendable as these efforts have been, human trafficking remains a prevalent crime that entraps a diverse group of people and threatens security both in the U.S. and across the globe. Further resources need to be directed towards a multi-sector approach to dismantling the criminal networks that profit from modern day slavery.
The following is a three-pronged approach that the U.S. government can take to dismantle every link of the human trafficking supply chain and put traffickers out of business:
