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United States Federal Laws

In 2000, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), making human trafficking a federal crime. Since then, TVPA has been reathorized in 2003 and 2005.

In addition to the TVPA, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 (PROTECT Act) that strengthened sentences for sexual exploitation of minors and established penalties against sex tourism.

As a requirement of the TVPA, the U.S. Department of State issues an annual report assessing the extent of trafficking in foreign countries and those countries efforts to combat trafficking within their borders. Since 2001, the Trafficking in Persons Report has been issued each June.

        
featured publication

The featured publication is the Center's 2007 Report Card on State Action to Combat International Trafficking. This is the first ever state-by-state analysis of state legislatures' efforts to confront trafficking of women and girls into the US.

Read the press release.

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Spotlight

Each year, 600,000 - 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders, 80% of which are women and children.

Between 15,000 and 100,000 women and girls are trafficked into the United States each year for forced labor -- in brothels and other forms of sexual exploitation, in sweatshops, households, agricultural fields and other workplaces.

Resources

GlobalPOWER
(Partnership Of Women Elected Representatives)

The Center for Women Policy Studies convened the second annual GlobalPOWER® program in 2007 with a focus on international trafficking of women and girls as a human rights crisis.