Did you know there's a "trafficking victims' bill of rights" -- and that it's US federal law?
I didn't...
...until I went to a special training last week led by my friend and colleague Giselle Rodriguez. Giselle is state outreach coordinator for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, of which I'm a member.
A lot of people in the audience were service providers who work with rescued victims -- yet honestly most of them didn't know that federal law mandates specific protocols for victim assistance.
Giselle told us, for example, that if you work with rescued victims you legally have to offer them:
- Shelter
- Privacy and safety
- Medical and psychological attention
- Legal representation
- Translators (if they speak another language)
- Mandatory restitution
- The right to seek residency
- And many other protocols
They can refuse any of these but you do have to offer them.
They're all part of the "trafficking victims' bill of rights," which you can find in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Scroll down to Section 107, Section C.
TVPA is US federal law. According to Giselle, TVPA's bill of rights mirrors the one found in the UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, an international treaty that mandates protection for trafficking victims.
"Once you learn about the issue of human trafficking," Giselle told me, "it's important to read the TVPA. It serves as a guideline of (a) what human trafficking is defined as, (b) what the US has stated are its goals to combat human trafficking, and (c) what the federal government mandates us, especially service providers, to do when working with a victim of human trafficking.
"TVPA is a victim-centered law yet too many of us are not following the bill of rights that the TVPA has set," she added. "In fact we may be causing harm to the very people we all want to help."
The fact that we even had this training shows:
1. How far the anti-trafficking movement has come. A few years ago, most people didn't see trafficking victims as, well, victims. (You'd hear comments such as, "She asked for it" and other ignorant remarks.) (OK, we still hear that and more.)
2. How far we still have to go.
BTW, Giselle is an expert on anti-trafficking and travels all over the country giving trainings on this and other aspects of stopping the traffic. You can contact her at gisellefcaht@gmail.com to speak to your organization.
Thanks, Carl, for your comment about the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
I encourage my readers to click on the link that Carl provided and you'll find helpful info on how to contact your representative and senators to urge reauthorization of this vital act.
Diana
Posted by: Diana Scimone | August 8, 2012 at 04:17 PM
Good post about Trafficking Victims Bill of Rights and the TVPA. I wasn't aware until recently that Congress has not renewed the TVPA in 2011-2012 session, which is required this year. Please ask your readers to contact their members of Congress to urge passage of the "TVPRA" or Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011. The deadline for passage is the end of this 2012 session. Not sure what happens to the laws if this isn't passed. Contacting Congress presently, and will update my blog when I get more info. http://humantrafficking.wordpress.com
Posted by: Carl Isaacson | August 6, 2012 at 02:50 PM
Deanna, your questions are all good and valid ones -- and my immediate answer is, "I don't know." I've asked Giselle for her response and will post her reply here.
Meanwhile my thoughts are that even though the law has been in place for almost 12 years, we're still in the "education" mode--educating the public about trafficking, that it even exists here in the US (I run into people every week who never heard of it), what it is, how we can stop it. Ditto for law enforcement and government agencies at all levels (state, county, local). Just because you pass a law doesn't mean everyone knows about it and all the provisions. Especially when most people and agencies don't even know about the problem that the law was passed to cover.
We have a huge education curve to get through, and that's what organizations such as the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking do; B2F is a member of this great group, which educates non-profits like us, law enforcement, government agencies, service providers, safe houses, schools, the faith-based community, and more.
As far as service providers and safe houses go, they know about the law of course but we're all in the education mode about the specific provisions. Everyone I've met in these groups has had excellent intentions and is doing the best they can with limited resources, so it's not that they're mistreating victims; they just may not know all the provisions they're supposed to follow. I want to stress that point: they are already doing a great job.
As far as measuring the effectiveness of the law in general, you just have to look at the number of rescues and arrests since we've had TVPA compared to before the law went into effect. There's no comparison. TVPA works.
Measuring effectiveness is tricky. I run into this with Born2Fly. It's of course impossible to tell who would have gotten trafficked but didn't because they went through the B2F training and awareness program. Ditto for TVPA. It's impossible to measure the "what would have happened" things.
In answer to your last question re enforcing the law--I go back to my answer about the education curve. We're still in the mode of educating people about the law.
Deanna, I hope this helps somewhat and I'll post Giselle's replies here later.
Posted by: Diana Scimone | May 29, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Hi Diana,
I read some of the bill of rights for trafficking victims and have been left with nagging questions.
Just who is accountable for enforcing these 'rights'?
Is anyone judging the effectiveness of this statue?
It's great to have a law but who's holding out the radar gun enforcing the law?
Posted by: Deanna | May 24, 2012 at 02:46 PM