The Current

In IJM’s letter to President Obama this year—which more than 50,000 of you signed—we asked him to adopt an innovative approach to fighting slavery and human trafficking: Focus on countries where the U.S. can test robust anti-slavery initiatives, measure their success, and then duplicate these models to fight slavery all around the world.

Working with the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), a national coalition of anti- trafficking groups, we have proposed nine potential focus countries: 

·         In Africa: Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Uganda

·         In Asia: Philippines and Vietnam

·         In Europe: Armenia

·         In Latin America and the Caribbean: Dominican Republic and Peru

ATEST chose countries where governments have strong political will to fight trafficking but they lack the resources and capacity to actually take action. But with the U.S. government’s financial and technical support, these countries could become models for how anti-trafficking initiatives can work in different global contexts.

We are confident that this approach would demonstrate how the U.S. government—acting in partnership with international organizations, foreign governments and civil societies—can measurably reduce the incidence of human trafficking in specific geographic areas.  The best strategies can then be repeated in other countries, spreading the anti-slavery movement to the places it’s most needed.

This focus-country approach also pulls in components of the Child Protection Compact Act (CPCA), which was part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) you helped advocate for over the last four years. The CPCA was specifically designed to help countries with strong political will but limited resources. It provides the structure of multi-year planning that will help keep these anti-slavery strategies as efficient and measurable as possible.

Adding to the support 50,000 of you sent to the White House, the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships also recommended in their report to the President that the “Administration lead this effort to elevate and bring to scale the fight against modern-day slavery at home and abroad.” 

With the passage of the CPCA and the endorsement of this Advisory Council, we now have the tools necessary for the U.S. government to pilot a few of these focus-country programs. We are excited for this potential to build upon the successes that IJM and many of our partners have seen over the past decade. By replicating these programs, we can bring freedom to millions enslaved around the globe.

Thank you for advocating with us, and we hope you will continue to champion these promising anti-trafficking initiatives to your leaders in the future.