The U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) functions as the nerve center of the U.S. Government’s anti-trafficking and anti-slavery activities around the world and is one of the smallest but most effective of all U.S. foreign assistance programs.

The J/TIP Office administers grants to fight trafficking internationally and releases the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which ranks 188 countries on their efforts to fight trafficking.

Learn more about the J/TIP Office here.

The work of this small office is impressive, but its effectiveness is hampered by the fact that it does not have the diplomatic authority of a State Department Bureau.  The Ambassador-at-Large who heads the office does not have direct access to the Secretary of State, and important policy decisions are often made by State Department regional bureaus that outrank the J/TIP Office.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, H.R. 2283, and its companion bill in the Senate, S. 1249, will upgrade the J/TIP Office to a State Department Bureau to be headed by an Assistant Secretary of State. The change does not add bureaucracy or enlarge the staff or budget.  The bill simply upgrades J/TIP to a stature equal to that of the State Department regional bureaus with which it regularly negotiates on behalf of trafficking victims and slaves. 

Learn more about why this tiny bill is a big deal.