Abstract
This article traces the development of the anti-human trafficking movement within the USA and makes recommendations for future work to eradicate trafficking. Most of the cases that came to light in the 1990s took place in other countries, and as a result, early anti-trafficking efforts focused on international interventions. The USA took the legislative lead with the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, which outlined a “3 P” approach (prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of "victims"). Recognizing the need for a multi-disciplinary response within the Executive Branch, the law called for US government agencies to create strategic plans to address human trafficking. Alongside the new law, NGOs and governmental agencies created services tailored to trafficked individuals. In the beginning, responses revolved around rescue and restoration of trafficked persons and the prosecution of the traffickers. More recently, NGOs have targeted prevention efforts. Perhaps the most exciting new development is the emergence of survivors in the movement: Survivors have contributed new information and leadership. For example, in the area of health and human trafficking, survivors have provided qualitative and quantitative information that has led to new training programs for health providers across the country. With both governmental and nongovernmental entities working together, the USA has made significant progress since 2000. Still continually emerging evidence shows that human trafficking remains a significant problem and there is much still to be done.
The original version of this chapter was revised. An erratum to this chapter can be found at DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47824-1_25
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05 May 2017
In Chapter 5 titled “The Ignored Exploitation: Labor Trafficking in the United States” the affiliation of the author Susie Baldwin has been updated to read as “HEAL Trafficking, P.O. Box 31602, 3001 North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031, USA, e-mail: SBaldwin@healtrafficking.org”.
Notes
- 1.
Section 1 of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution officially abolished slavery in America, and was ratified on December 6, 1865, after the conclusion of the American Civil War.
- 2.
International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, 18 May 1904, 35 Stat. 1979, 1 L.N.T.S. 83, entered into force 18 July 1905; http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/whiteslavetraffic1904.html.
- 3.
The Protection Project , International Mapping of Human Trafficking, Database on Laws Addressing Human Trafficking, Laura J. Lederer, Director, first housed at University of Minnesota Law School (1994–1997) and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (1997–2000); https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-106shrg63986/html/CHRG-106shrg63986.htm.
- 4.
Representative Christopher Smith, original sponsor, Trafficking Victims Protection Act draft, 1998. Others co-sponsors were the late Paul Wellstone, then Senator Sam Brownback, and Rep. Sam Gjendensen.
- 5.
See Sec. 102. Purposes and Findings. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000; https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr3244/text.
- 6.
See Section 103. Definitions. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000; https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr3244/text.
- 7.
Enacted in December of 2000 as part of the U.N. Convention Against Organized Crime, the Protocol provides an international framework for countries to address the prevention of trafficking, the prosecution of traffickers, and the protection and assistance of trafficked persons. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTraffickingInPersons.aspx.
- 8.
For example, U.S. v. Cadena, 1998; 16 defendants were charged with luring hundreds of young women and girls, some as young as 14 years old, from Veracruz, Mexico, to the USA using false promises of legitimate jobs. Once in the USA they imposed a debt for getting them across the border and used brutal physical force and violence, sexual assaults, and threats of death and bodily harm to the victims and their families to compel the victims to engage in prostitution 12 h a day, 6 days a week. Those victimized were made to turn over the proceeds to the defendants to pay down the smuggling debts the defendants imposed. Cadena-Sosa and other family members would also search for victims who had run away from a brothel and subject them to beatings and rape upon capture. The defendants were a ring of 20 brothers and friends. The other 4 traffickers were located and extradited to the USA; they were tried and convicted in 2002, 2008, and 2015. http://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?s=FL&d=75732.
- 9.
US State Department Trafficking in Persons Reports, 2001–2005, documenting early cases of labor and sex trafficking in countries around the world. http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/.
- 10.
United States v. Charles Floyd Pipkins. http://openjurist.org/378/f3d/1281/united-states-v-pipkins.
- 11.
Trauma bonding is the emotional attachment a survivor of abuse forms with their abuser.
- 12.
See Demand Abolition, a feminist organization leading efforts to draft and pass legislation in all 50 states to target demand. https://www.demandabolition.org/; see also Exodus Cry, a faith based organization focusing on ending demand. http://exoduscry.com/.
- 13.
Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services to Victims of Trafficking in the USA, co-chaired by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security. http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/FederalHumanTraffickingStrategicPlan.pdf.
- 14.
The term “victim” is used here (and in other sections of this chapter) in reference to trafficked individuals, to reflect the language and spirit of the law discussed.
- 15.
Breaking Free, established 1996, from the website “Who We Are,” http://www.breakingfree.net/default.aspx.
- 16.
A few of the well-known survivor led organizations are Courtney’s House, Breaking Free, Veronica’s Voice, More Too Life, GEMS, My Life, My Choice, Rahab’s House, Dreamcatcher Foundation, and Treasures. Unfortunately SAGE, founded by the late Norma Hotaling, shut its doors in 2015.
- 17.
See National Survivor Network, http://www.castla.org/nsn and Survivors for Solutions, http://www.survivors4solutions.com/.
- 18.
Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, Sec. 115: Survivors of Human Trafficking Empowerment Act, PL 114–22, May 29, 2015, https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ22/PLAW-114publ22.pdf.
- 19.
HIPPA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , and sets the US health care industry standards for protection of patient medical records and other health information that health institutions, insurance companies, and practitioners receive or can access.
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Lederer, L.J. (2017). Combating Modern Bondage: The Development of a Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Human Trafficking. In: Chisolm-Straker, M., Stoklosa, H. (eds) Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47824-1_23
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