The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act Passed Congress

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which first became law in 2000, represents the first major comprehensive U.S. legislative effort to address modern-day slavery. Congress recently passed new legislation with important provisions and amendments that strengthen the U.S. government's efforts to combat human trafficking in the United States and abroad.

The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 significantly enhances the tools available to prosecute traffickers and increases protection and services for U.S. citizen and foreign national victims in the U.S.  Other highlights of the bill include provisions that:

• strengthen the State Department's rating system of other countries' anti-trafficking efforts, which is used as a diplomatic tool to urge those governments to improve their anti-trafficking policy
• strengthen the role of the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Office in both domestic and foreign policy
• strengthen U.S. policy toward countries that use children in armed groups
• improve employment-based visa processing to prevent trafficking of migrant workers to the United States
• create new protections for unaccompanied foreign national children arriving in the United States
• improve the T-visa (special visa for trafficking victims in the United States) to protect victims and their family members
• authorize new studies, reports, and data collection mechanisms to improve our understanding of human trafficking globally and in the U.S.

To read the full bill on The Library of Congress website, click here and search for bill number HR 7311.

Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act in New York Passes on September 26, 2008

New Law Shields Children From Prostitution Charges | The New York Times | September 26, 2008

ALBANY — Ending years of debate and delay, Gov. David A. Paterson on Friday signed into law a bill shielding sexually exploited girls and boys from being charged with prostitution.

The law, known as the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act, will divert children under the age of 18 who have been arrested for prostitution into counseling and treatment programs, provided they agree to aid in the prosecution of their pimps.

It has been the subject of intense debate in the State Legislature and beyond, and was opposed by some law enforcement officials and by the Bloomberg administration, which argued that the bill would make it harder to crack down on prostitution.

But the bill’s backers said it was wrong to treat under-age prostitutes — many forced into the sex trade and kept there with physical threats and abuse — as criminals rather than victims.

Read more...

Read Polaris Project's letter to Governor Paterson.