Trafficking Victims Protection Act

Human trafficking is a modern day slavery that involves the use of force, intimidation, deprivation, or etc. to attain some type of labor, whether it is sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude. It is done privately, and never spoke on because victims are usually too afraid speak out for a multitude of reasons. Traffickers look for people who are naive and have psychological vulnerability, economic misfortune, or instability in some area of their life where manipulation can easily take place (department of homeland security).

The two most common victims of human trafficking are women and children, and they are usually illegally transported to areas that the victim is unaware of. Human trafficking is a violation of human rights and is in most cases considered a felony. In order to combat human trafficking the United States created the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This Act has proposed many different plans to help the victims of trafficking as well as how to properly prosecute traffickers. As a result of the Trafficking Victims Act of 2000, human trafficking in the U.S has been reduced although it still needs to improve in specific areas.

The purpose of the Victims Protection Act of 2000 is to “combat trafficking in persons, especially into sex trade, slavery, involuntary servitude, to re-authorize certain federal programs to prevent violence against women, and for other purposes” (TVPA). This means the government will do anything legally possible to prevent forced labor or sex, and create better support systems for victims. It also aims to strengthen prosecution against traffickers. Before the enactment of the TVPA the number of minors in America who were estimated to be at risk of sexual exploitation in 2000, was 244,000. Congress also found that 700,000 people are being trafficked between the countries borders annually (TVPA). This number is extremely high and alarming. This is why the Supreme Court in the case United States v. Kozminski, 1988, asked Congress to develop new methods in order to lower this number.

It took 12 years to finally pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Act into law, which was signed on October 28, 2000 by former President Bill Clinton. The TVPA has a four step plan on how they will combat the violence against women, children, and all victims of trafficking. This plan includes the strengthening of services to victims of violence, limiting the effects of violence on children, strengthening education and training to combat violence against women, and the protection of battered immigrant women.

In order to limit the effects of violence on children they created the Safe Havens for Childrens Pilot Program which works to provide a supervised and safe visitation of children and parents who live in situations involving sexual abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and etc.