Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000-TVPA - Essay Example

Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000-TVPA The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 aims at curbing human trafficking by allocating resources to numerous programs. The Act seeks to end sexual trafficking, forced labor and domestic violence against women. The Act also provides assistance to victims of human trafficking and helps foreign countries willing to combat human trafficking. Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000-TVPA Introduction The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (public law 106-386), was enacted to prevent human trafficking and help the victims of human trafficking to build their lives in the U.S by providing them with both Federal and State support. The Act also aims at prosecuting traffickers by imposing strict penalties to the offenders. The Act sought to combat trafficking of persons, especially in to slavery, sex trade and involuntary servitude (Friman & Reich, 2007). The Act was enacted into law on 28th October 2000 and was sponsored by Mr. Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey. It is estimated that 300,000 children experience commercial exploitation every year. Child commercial sex exploitation has adverse effects on the mental and psychological wellbeing of the child. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was enacted to prevent child trafficking and women violence in the United States. According to the Act, traffickers who sexually exploit children of less than 14 years can face life imprisonment (Friman & Reich, 2007). If the victim is between the ages of 14 years and 18 years, the child trafficker can faces up to 20 years of imprisonment under the TVPA (18 U.S.C 1591 (b) (2). The policy aims at curbing sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, and obtaining persons for the purpose of commercial sex acts that are induced by fraud, force or coercion in which the victims involved are under the age of eighteen years. Labor trafficking is the harboring, recruitment and transportation of persons through the use of fraud, coercion and force for involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery (Friman & Reich, 2007). Labor trafficking is rampant in domestic services and manufacturing industries. The Act sought to provide financial assistance to foreign countries directly or through non-governmental agencies in programs that aim at prohibiting human trafficking. The Act provides for the creation of facilities for the maintenance of victims of trafficking. Division A of the Act provided for $95 million for enforcement of the anti-trafficking programs and the victim assistance programs. The Act provides for harsh punishments including life imprisonment for offenders convicted of human trafficking and severe economic fines for traffickers in foreign countries (McCabe, 2008). The policy also provides for protection of the victims through shelters and rehabilitation facilities and protections from deportation of the victims that may faces hardships if deported from United States. The Act also provides for grants for disseminating information and increasing awareness of the adverse impacts of human trafficking and women violence in the world. The policy also provides assistance to foreign countries that are committed to attaining minimum standards of anti-trafficking and also non-humanitarian assistance to such governments that prohibit severe trafficking (Friman & Reich, 2007). The policy also established an Interagency Task Force that is tasked with monitoring the anti-trafficking efforts progress and the prosecution level of the trafficking offenders (McCabe, 2008). The Act sough to end violence against women by providing $ 3.3 billion for the period of five years to the assistance programs of abused women. About $ 1 billion was intended at beefing up investigative agents’ capacity and enhancing the prosecutor’s functions in trafficking domestic abusers (McCabe, 2008). About $ 875 million for the next five years was used for the provision of shelter to battered women and their children while $ 200 million was utilized for domestic violence and child abuse enforcement. $ 60 million was utilized in safe havens for children while $ 25 million was to finance a protection program for the elderly and disabled women and other victims of sexual assault. $ 10 million was utilized in creating a national domestic violence hotline while $ 15 million was utilized in anti-domestic violence efforts that involved creation of stalking databases and domestic violence (Friman & Reich, 2007). Protection and assistance programs for the victims of human trafficking include housing, healthcare and educational programs that allow the victims to rebuild the lives in the US. The T Visa grants the victims temporal residence status in the US while the government authorizes permanent residence to about 5,000 victims yearly to attain permanent residence after three years since the issuance of the T visa (Friman & Reich, 2007). Such arrangement has led to a radical shift in the illegal migration policy since many victims of trafficking were deported as illegal aliens and discriminated in the employment opportunities (McCabe, 2008). Personal reaction Despite the huge financial resources that have been used to combat trafficking by the policy, human trafficking is still rampant in the United States. The Act has failed in curbing human trafficking since it has allowed for legitimization of illegal immigrants in the US. Enough resources have not been dedicated at repatriating victims of human trafficking. The policy has not put in place mechanisms of tracking down financial gains of the traffickers. The policy has failed to raise awareness especially to the potential future victims of human trafficking and has not collaborated with the civil society organisations in tracking down the victims of human trafficking (McCabe, 2008). The Act outlaws sex trafficking but does not put in place measures to curb the lucrative sex trafficking industry in the US (Friman & Reich, 2007). The Act has not provided for legal mechanisms of migration in to the US since illegal immigration is a risk factor for human trafficking. The Act has not provided for punitive sanctions to business organizations that engage in human trafficking in order to attract cheap labor from abroad. The policy has allowed a lot of loopholes for corruption from the traffickers since it emphasizes on prosecution of traffickers and not advocacy programs (McCabe, 2008). However, the program is consistent with National Association of Social Workers’ code of ethics since social workers are prohibited from sexually harassing their clients including sexual advances (NASW 3). Social workers should not discriminate clients on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation while offering their services. Social workers should desist from fraud and deception. Social workers have an ethical responsibility since they are required to promote the general welfare of the society by improving the living conditions of the citizens thus attaining social justice (NASW 5). Social workers are required to respect the privacy of the clients including information transmitted to other parties through telephones and e-mails. Social workers should preserve the confidentiality of clients and should never discuss client information in public places including restaurants and waiting rooms (NASW 9). There numerous advocacy efforts that can be used to stem human trafficking. The US government should curb the supply by raising awareness in the supply countries especially African countries (Shahidullah, 2008). National trafficking reporting hotlines should be established in all supply countries while human trafficking awareness should be incorporated in the learning curriculum (Shahidullah, 2008). Efforts should be channeled at building the capacity of supply countries to detect human trafficking. The justice systems should expedite the prosecution of offenders by eliminating corruption and facilitating the evidence gathering process (McCabe, 2008). Human traffickers take opportunities of illegal migration to commit the offenses thus the US government should facilitate legal migration programs in order to curb forced labor and sex trafficking incidents (McCabe, 2008). Another program which can curb human trafficking is reduction of the push factors that include poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. Programs should aim at creating employment and education opportunities in the supply countries. Demand based programs should aim at educating the sexual traffickers of the legal sanctions and penalties and dangers of prostitution and women violence (Shahidullah, 2008). The US government should impose strict labor laws regarding the employment of victims of human trafficking and high fines to employers who engage in forced labor practices (McCabe, 2008). Conclusion Human trafficking remains a matter of great concern in the US. Numerous laws have not been able to curb labor and sex trafficking. Unemployment and illegal migration are risk factors for human trafficking. The above policy should incorporate awareness programs that should educate potential victims of human trafficking in the supply countries how to avoid human trafficking. Strict penalties should be imposed to employers engaging in human trafficking while all traffickers should be educated on dangers of prostitution and women violence and need for respecting human rights. All economic gains of traffickers should be seized while international monitoring agency should be established to control cross-border human trafficking. References: Friman, H & Reich, S. (2007). Human trafficking, human security and the Balkans. New York. Routledge. McCabe, K. (2008). The trafficking of persons: national and international responses. New York. Lang. NASW. Code of ethics of the national association of social workers: revised by the 2008 NASW delegate assembly. Accessed on 19th May 2012 from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp. Shahidullah, S. (2008). Crime policy in America: laws, institutions and programs. Lanham. University Press of America. Read More