On January 11, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing, “Ending Modern Slavery: The Role of U.S. Leadership.” The hearing focused on how U.S. leadership can best be used to combat modern slavery.
Chair Bob Corker (R-TN) stated, “Conflict exposes vulnerable people, especially women and children, to being enslaved and exploited…But even in countries with laws and institutions, insidious forms of modern slavery exist. Perversely, labor recruiters extract money from impoverished people with empty promises and deliver them into bondage and sexual exploitation.” Sen. Corker added, “For fourteen years, as defined and authorized by Congress, the State Department has issued an annual Report on Trafficking in Persons. This report, as Secretary [of State John] Kerry has said, sets the gold standard. The report reviews the efforts of countries to address trafficking in persons, especially the most severe forms. Its findings are not always welcomed, but they have made a difference.”
Sarah Sewall, under secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, said “While we have seen an increase in the detection of forced labor cases, there is still a large disparity in government efforts to address forced labor, which is considered to be more prevalent globally than sex trafficking. In victim identification and services, women and girls appear to comprise the vast majority of identified victims of sex trafficking and are also a substantial portion of labor trafficking victims.”
Ms. Sewell detailed some of the government’s efforts to end modern slavery domestically: “The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which Congress established and Secretary Kerry currently chairs, has strengthened its collaborative work, including developing and implementing the nation’s first-ever Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States…Federal agencies are also working to expand partnerships with civil society and the private sector to bring more resources to bear in fighting this injustice.”
Ms. Sewell also described many of the State Department’s efforts underway internationally, saying, “Successful programs often work in close partnership with host country governments and key stakeholders to encourage a comprehensive response to trafficking. For example, in Afghanistan, a State Department grantee partnered with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to establish an advocacy council comprised of local non-governmental organizations and relevant government agencies to enhance protection measures for victims of human trafficking.”
