ATEST Urges Senate Confirmation of John Cotton Richmond as Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
WASHINGTON — The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) applauds the nomination of John Cotton Richmond to be the next ambassador-at-large to combat human trafficking and modern slavery, a post that also directs the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP). Following his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee August 1, ATEST urges quick Senate confirmation of his nomination.
Richmond’s swift confirmation will ensure that the U.S. continues to promote efforts to prevent and end human trafficking and modern slavery at home and overseas. The ambassador-at-large serves an instrumental role in advancing U.S. leadership.
Richmond brings deep expertise in anti-trafficking efforts in the United States and around the world, along with rich and positive relationships with leaders in the anti-trafficking field.
He is a founding director of the Human Trafficking Institute (an ATEST member), which empowers and resources police and prosecutors in countries around the world to disrupt trafficking at its source. For more than a decade, Richmond was a federal prosecutor serving as the special litigation counsel with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department. He investigated and prosecuted numerous labor and sex trafficking cases throughout the U.S. Prior to that, Richmond worked on human trafficking crimes as the director of the International Justice Mission’s slavery work in India.
In his confirmation hearing testimony, Richmond pledged to promote a rigorous and balanced approach:
“If confirmed, I will bring to office my experience working international and domestic trafficking cases, labor and sex trafficking cases, involving minors, adults, citizens, and foreign nationals from around the world. If confirmed, I will work to ensure the continued integrity of the TIP Report, the gold standard in diplomatic tools for engaging governments on human trafficking. If confirmed, I will passionately advocate for the rights of individuals to be free from traffickers and for survivors to have access [to] services to help them recover and rebuild.”
ATEST looks forward to working with the new ambassador to advocate for policies and practices that address the root causes of trafficking, take a holistic approach, with a survivor centered focus, that addresses both sex & labor trafficking.
Contact: Terry FitzPatrick | [email protected] | 202.370.3625
Downloable .pdf here.