ATEST Applauds Senate Passage of Trafficking Act Reauthorization
ATEST applauds Senate passage Thursday of the International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (ITVPRA), which was merged into the annual defense reauthorization package S.Amdt.3608 to S.2296, Section 5641.
Significant portions of the trafficking act lapsed four years ago, including support for the nation’s premiere anti-trafficking team at the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office). The TIP Office produces the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, administers grants worldwide to combat trafficking on the frontlines, coordinates federal domestic anti-trafficking strategy through management of the President’s Interagency Task Force, and facilitates survivor advice for federal agencies by coordinating the U.S. Advisory Council.
The ITVPRA will reauthorize this vital department, as well as enact important enhancements to America’s anti-trafficking efforts by expanding protections for domestic workers brought to the U.S. by diplomats and championing anti-trafficking assessments and mitigation measures for loans issued by multilateral development banks, along with other provisions.
ATEST thanks Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-ID) and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) for their tireless bipartisan efforts to ensure the trafficking act is fully reauthorized.
The measure now moves to a conference committee with the House.
