ATEST Applauds Introduction of Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) applauds the introduction of the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (FDTVPPRA) of 2017 (H.R. 2200). Introduced by Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ), Karen Bass (D-CA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Susan Brooks (R-IN), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), and Ted Poe (R-TX.), this bill would reauthorize the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act provides critical tools to assist in combating human trafficking and reasserts American leadership in the fight to end human trafficking in our generation. The bill would reauthorize nearly $130 million in funding for both domestic and international programming to combat all forms of human trafficking. It would also enhance efforts to prevent human trafficking, protect of victims, and prosecute traffickers.
The TVPA established the United States Government’s anti-trafficking framework, and has been reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support four times. The FDTVPPRA not only continues the legacy of comprehensively addressing all forms of human trafficking, but also strives to fill critical gaps. The FDTVPPRA strengthens the analysis and objectivity of the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking In Persons report, strengthens oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to support human trafficking in corporate supply chains, exempts survivors from being taxed on restitution they collect from traffickers, and bolsters efforts to prevent goods made by child and forced labor from entering the United States.
ATEST looks forward to working with the bill’s sponsors and all members of the House to seek ways to strengthen this bill even further and move it forward with strong bipartisan support.