Secretary Blinken Chairs Interagency Task Force Meeting

Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired the 2024 meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Federal agencies on the task force shared their progress on anti-trafficking initiatives and their commitments to advancing the goals of the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.  Honorable Sameer Jain, a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, also delivered remarks on the Council’s 2023 report and underscored the importance of engaging survivors, leveraging data, and incorporating principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the development of anti-trafficking policies and programs. At the meeting, three new appointments to the Council were announced: Honorable Jose Alfaro, of Massachusetts, Honorable Christina Love, of Alaska, and Honorable Chris Ash, of North Carolina.

During the meeting, Secretary Blinken presented the 2023 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons to two exceptional recipients: Dr. Minh Dang, co-founder and Executive Director of Survivor Alliance; and to Restore NYC.

Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the Department’s commitment to combating human trafficking and inspiring engagement across the country and international community. The Department aims to do its part by:

• Incorporating trauma- and survivor-informed approaches into our anti-trafficking work through our engagement with the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and the Department’s Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network. Recently, the Department launched a publicly available online training on trauma-informed principles in partnership with subject matter experts with lived experience.
• Partnering with the Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network in developing resources to assist Department staff, foreign governments, international and nongovernmental organizations, and companies to engage survivors in a responsible, trauma-informed, and meaningful way.
• Preventing forced labor and advocating for high labor standards and worker empowerment around the world, in line with the recent Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally.
• Supporting initiatives to mitigate migrant workers’ vulnerability to exploitation, including forced labor. The Department plans to fund interactive in-person educational workshops for prospective H-2 visa applicants in southern Mexico to help participants better understand how to access information on labor and workers’ rights under U.S. labor laws. The Department also plans to update the Wilberforce “Know Your Rights” pamphlet and video in consultation with subject matter experts with lived experience and other stakeholders to provide clearer guidance on workers’ rights and resources while in the United States.
• Funding innovative anti-trafficking projects around the world such as the new Partnership to Prevent Human Trafficking program, which establishes a multi-year plan developed jointly by the United States and a selected partner country to prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers, and provide trauma-informed care for survivors.

A video recording of the meeting will be available at https://www.state.gov/the-presidents-interagency-task-force.