OTIP Director Katherine Chon testified at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing "The Trafficking Victims Protection Act at 20: A Look Back — and a Look Ahead" on January 15. Witnesses discussed how the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) addressed sex and labor trafficking worldwide and its effectiveness, what other U.S. government agencies are doing to combat human trafficking, and recommendations for the future.
Oral statement from Director Chon:
Chairman McGovern, Chairman Smith, and members of the Commission: Thank you for inviting me to testify on the 20 th anniversary of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. I appreciate Congress’s enduring, bipartisan support of the Federal Government’s efforts to combat and deter human trafficking.
I am Katherine Chon, Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons at the Administration for Children and Families. We are responsible for implementing anti-trafficking authorities at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Human trafficking is a violent crime, a grave human rights abuse, and a public health problem that disrupts the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
Between fiscal years 2001 and 2019, Congress appropriated $240 million for HHS to increase victim identification, provide services, and build local capacity to prevent and respond to human trafficking. HHS anti-trafficking programs have generally experienced year-over-year increases in the number of individuals certified, survivors assisted, and cases identified.
Public awareness and partnerships have contributed to the effectiveness of HHS anti-trafficking programs. Our public awareness campaign reached more than 61 million people and received more than 10 industry awards. The campaign will increasingly include prevention education messages to disrupt the effectiveness of common trafficking schemes by increasing knowledge, resiliency, and help-seeking behavior among high-risk populations and strengthening trauma-informed responses from potential bystanders.
When emerging research showed that the majority of survivors interacted with health care providers while they were trafficked, HHS piloted the “Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond to Human Trafficking” (SOAR) training program in 2014. Since then, more than 9,600 health professionals in 49 states and U.S. territories received the SOAR training.
As one indication of success, 94 percent of participants had “high” or “very high” confidence in their ability to respond to human trafficking after the training last year. And this is turning into action. For example, the national hotline received 1,500 signals from health care providers last year compared to under 300 signals in FY 2013 before we piloted the training. That’s a five-fold increase.
HHS also engaged in robust outreach to Native American communities on human trafficking and missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Last year:
We will be releasing a funding opportunity to address human trafficking in Native communities later this year.
Looking ahead, HHS will continue to put people — especially survivors — at the center of our mission. We will continue to leverage the power of data to understand trends in victimization, reduce the prevalence of trafficking, and identify opportunities for targeted prevention. This year, ACF will release a National Human Trafficking Prevention Action Plan, outlining a strategy and issuing a call for partnerships, including projects to strengthen prevention education.
Thank you for the opportunity to share information about HHS’s activities. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.