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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 93816-93820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27815]

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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice: 12590]

Request for Information for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons 
Report

SUMMARY: The Department of State (``the Department'') requests written 
information to assist in reporting on the degree to which the United 
States and foreign governments meet the minimum standards for the 
elimination of trafficking in persons (``minimum standards'') that are 
prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

DATES: Submissions must be made in writing to the Office to Monitor and 
Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State by 5 p.m. EST 
on February 3, 2025.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This written information will assist in the 
preparation of the Trafficking in Persons Report (``TIP Report'') which 
the Department submits annually to the U.S. Congress on governments' 
concrete actions to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking in persons (``minimum standards'') that are prescribed by 
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Div. A, Pub. L. 106-
386), as amended (``TVPA''). Foreign governments that do not meet the 
minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so may 
be subject to restrictions on nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign 
assistance from the United States, as defined by the TVPA. Please refer 
to the Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards of this 
Notice for the questionnaire and to the Addresses, Scope of Interest, 
and Information Sought sections for additional instructions on 
submission requirements. Written submissions and supporting 
documentation may be submitted by the following method:
     Email: [email protected] for submissions related to 
foreign governments and [email protected] for submissions related 
to the United States.
    Scope of Interest: The Department requests information relevant to 
assessing the United States' and foreign governments' concrete actions 
to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in 
persons during the reporting period (April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025). The 
minimum standards are listed in the Background section. Submissions 
must include information relevant to efforts to meet the minimum 
standards and should include, but need not be limited to, answering the 
questions in the Information Sought section. Submissions need not 
include answers to all the questions; only those questions for which 
the submitter has direct professional experience should be answered, 
and that experience should be noted. For any critique or deficiency 
described, please provide a recommendation to remedy it. Note the 
country or countries that are the focus of the submission. Submissions 
may include written narratives answering the questions presented in 
this Notice, research, studies, statistics, fieldwork, training 
materials, evaluations, assessments, and other relevant evidence of 
local, state/provincial, and federal/central government efforts. To the 
extent possible, precise dates and numbers of officials or individuals 
affected should be included. Questions below seek to gather information 
and updates from the details provided and assessment on government 
efforts made in the 2024 TIP Report. Furthermore, we request 
information on the government's treatment of vulnerable populations and 
underserved communities, including how the government may have 
systemically denied opportunities to a community to participate in 
aspects of economic, social, and civic life that has led to heighted 
risk to human trafficking or how the government's anti-trafficking 
response may have treated certain groups differently. Written 
narratives providing factual information should provide citations of 
sources, and copies of and links to the source material should be 
provided. Please send electronic copies of the entire submission, 
including source material. If primary sources are used, such as 
research studies, interviews, direct observations, or other sources of 
quantitative or qualitative data, provide details on the research or 
data-gathering methodology and any supporting documentation. The 
Department only includes in the TIP Report information related to 
trafficking in persons as defined by the TVPA; it does not include, and 
is therefore not seeking, information on commercial sex, migrant 
smuggling, visa fraud, or child abuse, unless such crimes also involve 
the elements of sex trafficking or forced labor.
    Confidentiality: Please provide the name, phone number, and email 
address of a single point of contact for any submission. It is 
Department practice not to identify in the TIP Report information 
concerning sources to safeguard those sources. Note, however, that any 
information submitted to the Department may be releasable pursuant to 
the provisions of the Freedom of

[[Page 93817]]

Information Act or other applicable law. Submissions related to the 
United States will be shared with U.S. government agencies, as will 
submissions relevant to efforts by other U.S. government agencies.
    Response: This is a request for information only; there will be no 
response to submissions. Remuneration for responses will not be 
provided. In order to expend appropriated funds, there must be specific 
authority to do so. The Department of State has no authority to expend 
funds for this purpose.

Background

    Definitions: The TVPA defines ``severe forms of trafficking in 
persons'' as:
     The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, 
obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a 
commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in 
which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years 
of age.
    [cir] Persons under age 18 in commercial sex are trafficking in 
persons victims regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion were 
involved.
     The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or 
obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, 
fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary 
servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
    [cir] Forced labor may take the form of domestic servitude, forced 
begging, forced criminal activity (e.g., drug smuggling), and prison 
labor that is not a consequence of a conviction in a court of law.
     Children recruited or used as soldiers or for labor or 
services can be a severe form of human trafficking when the activity 
involves force, fraud, or coercion. Children may be victims regardless 
of gender.
    The TIP Report: The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide 
report assessing governments' efforts to combat trafficking in persons. 
It represents an annually updated global assessment of the nature and 
scope of trafficking in persons and the broad range of government 
actions to confront and eliminate it. The U.S. government uses the TIP 
Report to inform diplomacy, encourage partnership in creating and 
implementing laws and policies to combat trafficking, and target 
resources on prevention, protection, and prosecution programs. 
Worldwide, international organizations (IOs), foreign governments, and 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) use the TIP Report as a tool to 
examine where resources are most needed. Prosecuting traffickers, 
protecting victims, and preventing trafficking are the ultimate goals 
of the TIP Report and of the U.S government's anti-trafficking policy.
    The Department prepares the TIP Report with information from across 
the U.S. government, foreign government officials, nongovernmental and 
international organizations, survivors of trafficking in persons, 
published reports, and research related to every region. The TIP Report 
focuses on concrete actions made by governments to fight trafficking in 
persons, including prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for 
traffickers, as well as victim identification and protection measures 
and prevention efforts. Note that rankings only consider government 
actions to combat human trafficking, not NGOs' or IOs' activities. Each 
TIP Report narrative also includes prioritized recommendations for each 
country. These recommendations are used to assist the Department in 
measuring governments' progress from one year to the next and 
determining whether governments meet the minimum standards for the 
elimination of trafficking in persons or are making significant efforts 
to do so.
    The TVPA creates a four-tier ranking system. Tier placement is 
based principally on the extent of concrete government action to combat 
trafficking. The Department first evaluates whether the government 
fully meets the TVPA's minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking, as set forth in Sec. 108 of the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act, as amended (22 U.S.C. 7106). Governments that do so are 
placed on Tier 1. For other governments, the Department considers the 
extent of such efforts. Governments that are making significant efforts 
to meet the minimum standards are placed on Tier 2. Governments that do 
not fully meet the minimum standards and are not making significant 
efforts to do so are placed on Tier 3. Finally, the Department 
considers Watch List criteria and, when applicable, places countries on 
the Tier 2 Watch List. For more information, the 2024 TIP Report can be 
found at www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report.
    Since the inception of the TIP Report in 2001, the number of 
countries included and ranked has more than doubled; the 2024 TIP 
Report included 188 countries and territories. Around the world, the 
TIP Report and the promising practices reflected therein have inspired 
legislation, national action plans, policy implementation, program 
funding, protection mechanisms to complement prosecution efforts, and a 
stronger global understanding of this crime.
    Since 2003, the primary reporting on the United States' anti-
trafficking activities has been through the annual Attorney General's 
Report to Congress and Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to 
Combat Human Trafficking mandated by section 105 of the TVPA (22 U.S.C. 
7103(d)(7)). Since 2010, the TIP Report, through a collaborative 
interagency process, has included an assessment of U.S. government 
anti-trafficking efforts in light of the minimum standards to eliminate 
trafficking in persons set forth by the TVPA.

Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards

    Submissions should include, but need not be limited to, answers to 
relevant questions below for which the submitter has direct 
professional experience within the reporting period (April 1, 2024-
March 31, 2025). Citations to source material should also be provided. 
Note the country or countries that are the focus of the submission. 
Please see the Scope of Interest section above for detailed information 
regarding submission requirements.

Overview

    1. What were the government's major accomplishments in addressing 
human trafficking since April 1, 2024? In what significant ways have 
the government's efforts to combat trafficking in persons changed in 
the past year? How have new laws, regulations, policies, or 
implementation strategies (e.g., substantive criminal laws and 
procedures, mechanisms for civil remedies, and victim-witness programs, 
generally and in relation to court proceedings) affected its anti-
trafficking response?
    2. Over the past year, what were the greatest deficiencies in the 
government's anti-trafficking efforts? What were the limitations on the 
government's ability to address human trafficking problems in practice?
    3. Provide additional information and/or recommendations to improve 
the government's anti-trafficking efforts overall.
    4. Highlight effective strategies and practices that other 
governments could consider adopting.

Prosecution

    5. Provide observations regarding the implementation of existing 
laws, policies, and procedures. Are there gaps in anti-trafficking 
legislation that could be amended to improve the

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government's response? Are there any government policies that have 
undermined or otherwise negatively affected anti-trafficking efforts 
within that country?
    6. Do government officials understand the nature of all forms of 
trafficking? If not, provide examples of misconceptions or 
misunderstandings. Did the government effectively provide or support 
anti-trafficking trainings for officials including on enforcement of 
policies, and laws; and/or on victim identification measures or 
procedures? If not, how could it be improved?
    7. Provide observations on overall anti-trafficking law enforcement 
efforts and the efforts of police and prosecutors to investigate, 
prosecute, and convict traffickers. Is the government equally vigorous 
in pursuing forced labor and sex trafficking, domestic and 
transnational trafficking, and crimes that involve its own nationals or 
foreign citizens? Were anti-trafficking laws equitably enforced, or 
were certain communities disproportionately affected?
    8. Does law enforcement pursue trafficking cases seeking to hold 
criminally accountable private employers or corporations for forced 
labor in supply chains?
    9. Do judges appear appropriately knowledgeable and sensitized to 
trafficking cases? Do they implement and encourage trauma-informed 
practices in their courts?
    10. Describe any allegations of official complicity in trafficking 
crimes, including of state-sponsored forced labor. What measures did 
the government take to end such practices? What proactive measures did 
the government take to prevent official complicity in trafficking in 
persons crimes? How did the government respond to reports of complicity 
during the reporting period, including investigations, prosecutions, 
convictions, and sentencing of complicit officials? Were these efforts 
sufficient?
    11. Is there evidence nationals of the country deployed abroad as 
part of a diplomatic, peacekeeping, or other similar mission have 
engaged in or facilitated trafficking, including in domestic servitude? 
Has the government vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and 
sentenced nationals engaged in these activities?
    12. If the government has entered into a bilateral, multilateral, 
or regional anti-trafficking information-sharing and cooperation 
arrangements, is the agreement effective and has it resulted in 
concrete and measurable outcomes?

Protection

    13. Did the government make a coordinated, proactive effort to 
identify victims of all forms of trafficking? If there were any new (or 
changes to preexisting) formal/standard procedures for screening for 
trafficking, including of individuals in immigration detention or 
removal proceedings, and for victim referral to protection services, 
were those procedures sufficient and how did the government implement 
them?
    14. If the government had written procedures to guide officials in 
referring potential trafficking victims to services (e.g., national 
referral mechanism, or a formal framework to complement victim 
identification procedures a government uses to ensure trafficking 
victims' referral and access to protection services), were front-line 
officials across government sectors and other responsible stakeholders 
aware of the procedures and how to use them? Did officials implement 
the referral procedures and was implementation equitable across all 
affected populations? Did officials effectively coordinate among one 
another and with relevant NGOs to conduct screenings and refer victims 
to care? Did the referral procedures require victims to interact with 
law enforcement before being referred to social service providers?
    15. Did government policy require a person to be formally 
identified as a trafficking victim to receive certain services or 
benefits? If yes, which services or benefits were limited to persons 
formally identified as trafficking victims? If applicable, which 
officials or entities did the government authorize to formally identify 
individuals as trafficking victims?
    16. If commercial sex is legalized or decriminalized in the 
country, how did health officials, labor inspectors, or police identify 
trafficking victims among persons involved in commercial sex? If 
commercial sex is illegal, did the government proactively identify 
trafficking victims during law enforcement operations or other 
encounters with commercial sex establishments?
    17. Were there any new (or changes to preexisting) services 
available for victims and survivors (legal, medical, food, shelter, 
interpretation, mental health care, employment, training, etc.)? If 
NGOs provide the services, does the government adequately support their 
work either financially or otherwise? Did all victims and survivors of 
both labor and sex trafficking--regardless of citizenship, gender 
identity, racial/ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religious 
affiliation, and physical ability--receive the same quality and level 
of access to services?
    18. What was the overall quality of victim care? How could victim 
services be improved? Are services victim-centered and trauma-informed? 
Were services linked to whether a victim assisted law enforcement or 
participated in a trial, or whether a trafficker was convicted? Were 
there populations that lacked access to care, including shelter and 
other services?
    19. Where were child victims placed (e.g., in shelters, foster 
care, or juvenile justice detention centers), and what kind of 
specialized care did they receive?
    20. If the government operates or funds any trafficking-specific 
hotlines (including those run by NGOs), did calls to those hotlines 
lead to victim identification, victim referral to care, and/or criminal 
investigations?
    21. What is the level of cooperation, communication, and trust 
between service providers and law enforcement?
    22. Were there means by which victims could obtain restitution from 
defendants in criminal cases or file civil suits against traffickers 
for damages, and did this happen in practice? Did prosecutors request 
and/or courts order restitution in all cases where it was required, and 
if not, why?
    23. Please provide observations on trafficking victims and 
survivors' ability to access justice, as they define it, and the 
treatment of survivors throughout the criminal legal process. How did 
the government support victims who assisted in the investigation and 
prosecution of trafficking cases, and did it do so in a trauma-informed 
way? How did the government protect victims during the trial process 
and ensure victims were not re-traumatized during participation in the 
process? What, if any, alternatives were available to victims instead 
of speaking to law enforcement during investigations (for example, 
speaking to a victim-witness advocate, social worker, psychologist, 
etc.)? Did law enforcement allow a representative or advocate to 
accompany victims during interviews? In what ways could the government 
increase support for victims in prosecutions against traffickers?
    24. Did the government provide, through a formal policy or 
otherwise, temporary or permanent residency status, or other relief 
from deportation, for foreign national victims of human trafficking who 
may face retribution or hardship in the countries to which they would 
be deported? Were foreign national victims given the opportunity to 
seek legal employment while in this

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temporary or permanent residency? Were such benefits linked to whether 
a victim assisted law enforcement, whether a victim participated in a 
trial, or whether there was a successful prosecution? Does the 
government repatriate victims who wish to return home or assist with 
third-country resettlement? Are victims awaiting repatriation or third-
country resettlement offered services? Are victims indeed repatriated, 
or are they deported?
    25. Does the government effectively assist its nationals exploited 
abroad? Does the government work to ensure victims receive adequate 
assistance and support for their repatriation while in destination 
countries? Does the government provide adequate assistance to 
repatriated victims after their return to their countries of origin, 
and if so, what forms of assistance?
    26. Were potential trafficking victims incarcerated, fined, or 
otherwise penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked (e.g., subject to commercial sex, drug-
related, or other criminal charges, or subject to deportation/
immigration enforcement or administrative penalties)? If so, do these 
victims disproportionately represent a certain gender, race, ethnicity, 
or other group or particular type of trafficking?

Prevention

    27. What efforts has the government made to prevent human 
trafficking? Did the government take new or ongoing steps to ensure 
policies did not further marginalize communities already 
overrepresented among trafficking victims, increasing their risk to 
human trafficking? If so, did it take efforts to implement those 
policies?
    28. If the government had a national action plan to address 
trafficking, how was it implemented in practice? Were NGOs and other 
relevant civil society stakeholders consulted in the development and 
implementation of the plan? Who will monitor its implementation and/or 
measure its impact?
    29. Please describe any government-funded anti-trafficking 
information or education campaigns or training, whether aimed at the 
public or at specific sectors or stakeholders/actors. What strategies 
did the campaigns employ to ensure messaging and images did not 
legitimize and/or perpetuate harmful or racialized narratives and/or 
stereotypes about victims, survivors, and perpetrators? Were campaign 
materials readily available, cost-free, and accessible in various 
languages, including braille? Does the government provide financial 
support to NGOs working to promote public awareness?
    30. Did the government seek and include the input of survivors in 
crafting or implementing anti-trafficking laws, regulations, policies, 
or programs? If so, did the government take steps to ensure input was 
received and incorporated from a diverse group of survivors?
    31. How did the government regulate, oversee, and screen for 
trafficking indicators in the labor recruitment process, including for 
both licensed and unlicensed recruitment and placement agencies, 
individual recruiters, and sub-brokers? Did the government prohibit (in 
any context) charging workers recruitment fees and prohibit the 
recruitment of workers through knowingly fraudulent job offers 
(including misrepresenting wages, working conditions, location, or 
nature of the job), contract switching, and confiscating or otherwise 
denying workers access to their identity documents? If there are laws 
or regulations on recruitment, did the government effectively enforce 
them? Did the government allow migrant workers to change employers in a 
timely manner without obtaining special permissions?
    32. Did the government coordinate with other governments (e.g., via 
bilateral agreements with migrant labor sending or receiving countries) 
on safe and responsible labor recruitment including prevention measures 
to target known trafficking indicators? To what extent were these 
implemented? Are workers (both nationals of the country and foreign 
nationals) in all industries (e.g., domestic work, agriculture, etc.) 
equally and sufficiently protected under existing labor laws?
    33. Did government policies, regulations, or agreements relating to 
migration, labor, trade, and investment facilitate vulnerabilities to, 
or incidence of, forced labor or sex trafficking? If so, what actions 
did the government take to ensure that its policies, regulations, and 
agreements relating to migration, labor, trade, border security 
measures, and investment did not facilitate trafficking?
    34. Did the government take tangible action to prevent forced labor 
in domestic or global supply chains? Did the government make any 
efforts to prohibit and prevent trafficking in the supply chains of its 
own public procurement?
    35. Did the government provide assistance to other governments in 
combating trafficking in persons through trainings or other assistance 
programs?
    36. What measures has the government taken to reduce its nationals' 
or foreigners' participation in domestic and extraterritorial child 
sexual exploitation? Note: This was previously covered as ``child sex 
tourism.''

Territories and Semi-Autonomous Regions

    37. Provide any information about trafficking trends and government 
anti-trafficking efforts in dependent territories and semi-autonomous 
regions to prosecute traffickers, identify and provide services to 
victims, and prevent trafficking.

Trafficking Profile

    38. Describe human trafficking trends, drivers, methods, source/
destination dynamics, industries and sectors, impacted demographics, 
recruitment methods, etc.
    39. What groups, including vulnerable populations and underserved 
communities, are at particular risk of sex trafficking or forced labor? 
Vulnerable populations and underserved communities are populations 
sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, 
that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate 
in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. This term may include, 
but is not limited to, women and girls, persons with disabilities, 
indigenous peoples, people of African descent, racial and ethnic 
minorities, refugees and internally displaced people, religious 
minorities, LGBTQI+ persons, rural residents, migrants, as well as 
those who are otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or 
inequality. Please also consider: adults arrested for engaging in 
commercial sex acts, undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, stateless 
persons, persons with severe mental illness, unhoused persons, children 
in welfare systems or aging out of such systems, previously 
incarcerated people, members of marginalized racial and ethnic 
communities, people in early or forced marriages, people living with 
HIV/AIDS, or individuals or communities living in conflict, crisis, or 
post-disaster settings.
    40. Are any Chinese, Cuban, or North Korean persons present in the 
country as part of government-to-government agreements and/or in 
foreign government-affiliated projects? If present, are these 
individuals subjected to or at high risk of forced labor?
    41. Provide any information about trafficking trends, general 
numerical data on victims identified, or risk factors

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stemming from climate-related change or disasters, as well as any 
efforts to mitigate these vulnerabilities; emerging migration crises 
and associated vulnerabilities to human trafficking; the ongoing 
trafficking risk as a result of conflict; and the use of technology to 
recruit and exploit victims, including cyber or online scam operations 
involving indicators of trafficking.

Child Soldiering

    42. Using the definition of ``child soldier'' as defined by the 
Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), describe instances, 
cases, and reports, including anecdotal reports, of:
    a. Use of any person under the age of 18 in direct hostilities as a 
member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    b. Conscription or forced recruitment of persons under the age of 
18 into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    c. Voluntary recruitment of any person under 15 years of age into 
governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    d. Recruitment (forced or voluntary) or use in hostilities of 
persons under the age of 18 by armed groups distinct from the armed 
forces of a state.
    e. Abuse of male and female children recruited by governmental 
armed forces, police, or other security forces, and government-
supported armed groups (e.g., sexual abuse or use for forced labor). 
Describe the manner and age of conscription, noting differences in 
treatment or conscription patterns based on gender.
    43. Did the government provide support to an armed group that 
recruits and/or uses child soldiers? What was the extent of the support 
(e.g., in-kind, financial, training, etc.)? Where did the provision of 
support occur (within the country or outside of the country)? In cases 
where the government was included on the CSPA list in 2024 based on its 
support to non-state armed groups that recruit and/or use child 
soldiers, describe whether the government took steps to pressure the 
group to cease its recruitment or use of child soldiers, publicly 
disavow the group's recruitment or use of child soldiers, or cease its 
support to that group.
    44. Describe any government efforts to prevent or end child soldier 
recruitment or use, including efforts to disarm, demobilize, and 
reintegrate former child soldiers. (i.e., enacting any laws or 
regulations, implementing a United Nations Action Plan or Roadmap, 
specialized training for officials, procedures for age verification, 
etc.)

Cynthia D. Dyer,
Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 
Persons, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2024-27815 Filed 11-26-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-17-P
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