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How Has the Clinton Administration Taken Steps to Stop the Trafficking of Women and Children? Fact sheet released by the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues, January 18, 2000.

The Problem in the United States

In his 1998 Presidential Directive on Steps to Combat Violence Against Women and Trafficking in Women and Girls, the first presidential directive ever issued on the subject, President Clinton called trafficking in women and girls a "fundamental human rights violation." The Administration is committed to taking decisive action toward combating the trafficking of human beings in a global effort. To that end, the United States has adopted a three-tiered strategy: prevention, protection, and prosecution.

Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings

The U.S. has increased its emphasis on economic opportunity and social development programs for women in source countries to provide economic alternatives to the lure of leaving their home countries or communities for employment. For example, USAID is sponsoring a consortium of NGOs in Ukraine to provide job skills training, small business development skills, and mentoring for women.

• The U.S. funds public awareness campaigns throughout source countries of the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe, warning potential victims of methods used by traffickers.
  
• The U.S. developed a brochure entitled Be Smart, Be Safe that is targeted to potential victims and which describes the tactics that criminals use to traffic women, the risks of trafficking, and what women can do to protect themselves.

Protection and Assistance for Trafficking Victims

• The U.S. has allocated funds to the Mekong Region, which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos in order to provide return and reintegration assistance to victims of trafficking.
  
• The U.S. has allocated funds to return trafficked migrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project will put in place mechanisms and procedures for the orderly and safe return of trafficked victims in order to break the cycle of trafficking and re-trafficking of women who have been entrapped in the sex industry.
  
• The Department of Justice is funding a pilot project through a network of community-based organizations to provide services, such as mental health counseling, emergency shelter, and referrals for medical care, to Asian victims of trafficking in the Los Angeles area and also is planning regional meetings with service providers from across the country.

Prosecution of and Enforcement Against Traffickers

• The Attorney General created a Department of Justice Working Group to address this issue and, with the Department of Labor, created a Worker Exploitation Task Force that is investigating and prosecuting trafficking cases.
  
• In July 1999, the U.S., together with Japanese officials and the International Organization for Migration, conducted a 2-week training program on illegal migration and trafficking in women and children at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok.
  
• The Gore-Kuchma Commission established a law enforcement working group, which is cooperating on combating organized crime, including trafficking of women. This cooperative effort will include training programs for Ukrainian law enforcement officials.

Multilateral and Bilateral Programs

• The United States and the Philippines will co-host the Asian Regional Initiative to Combat the Trafficking of Women and Children (ARIAT) in March of 2000. Twenty-three Asian and Pacific nations will discuss national action plans and develop a regional strategy to prevent trafficking, protect victims, reintegrate trafficking victims into society, and prosecute traffickers.
  
• The United States and the Italian Government continue to cooperate on a bilateral initiative to combat trafficking in women and children signed by President Clinton in 1998. The joint campaign targets data collection, the protection of the rights of victims, and training for law enforcement.
  
• At the November 1999 OSCE summit, the United States stressed the relevance of trafficking in the OSCE region and joined other summit participants in calling for the implementation of the Action Plan to Combat Trafficking by all OSCE member states.
  
• Since 1998, the U.S. Mission in Nepal has carried out a program to combat trafficking. Six U.S. Government agencies cooperate with the Government of Nepal to help prevent trafficking, protect the victims, and prosecute traffickers. Programs in Nepal strike at the sources of trafficking through poverty alleviation and rural income generation. Department of State funds strengthen units of the Nepal police focused on crimes against women and children. The Department also has sponsored seminars to draft legislation on trafficking.

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See also: UN Trafficking Treaty: Myths/Facts