20th Anniversary TIP Report

The 20th anniversary edition of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report had been released by the US State Department. In releasing the report John Cotton Richmond, Ambassador-at-large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons said:

“The call of the 20th anniversary is clear. We must commit ourselves to our goal of freedom. What traffickers are doing is an affront to the dignity of every human life, and we can stop traffickers, protect victims, and work to prevent this crime.”

As well as the individual country reports, the 2020 TIP Report includes articles on topics of special interest: Trauma Bonding in Human Trafficking, Accountability for UN Peacekeepers, Faith-Based Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking, Human Trafficking of Athletes and Extraterritorial Commercial Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to name a few.

ACRATH is pleased to see the following recommendations for Australia presented in the report:

• Significantly strengthen efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses pursuant to trafficking laws, with increased focus on pursuing labor trafficking crimes instead of labor or employment violations, and sentence convicted traffickers to significant prison terms.
• Significantly strengthen efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, such as undocumented migrants, agricultural and hospitality industry workers, and domestic workers, and to refer those victims to appropriate government authorities.
• De-link the provision of services from participation in the criminal justice process and increase services available to victims who are unable or unwilling to participate in the criminal justice process.
• Increase efforts to train police, immigration officials, and other front-line officers, both offshore and onshore, to recognize indicators of trafficking and respond to suspected cases of both sex and labor trafficking.
• Establish the National Labour Hire Registration Scheme with sufficient compliance tools.
• Increase training for prosecutors and judges on Australian trafficking laws.
• Consider establishing a national compensation scheme for trafficking victims.
• Resume publication of the government’s annual assessment of progress implementing its National Action Plan.

Download a copy of the report here.