Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 7231 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

foregoing determinations were made 

pursuant to the authority vested in me 

by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 

985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), E.O. 12047 of 

March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs 

Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 

(112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 

note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority 

No. 234 of October 1, 1999, Delegation 

of Authority No. 236–3 of August 28, 

2000, and Delegation of Authority No. 

523 of December 22, 2021. 

Stacy E. White, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional 

and Cultural Exchanges, Bureau of 

Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department 

of State. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02605 Filed 2–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice: 11648] 

Request for Information on Conducting 

Anti-Trafficking Work Using a Racial 

Equity Lens 

AGENCY: Department of State. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: The Department of State, on 

behalf of the Senior Policy Operating 

Group (SPOG) (see Background section 

below for more information on the 

SPOG), requests written information on 

how it can advance racial justice and 

equity to assist in SPOG agencies’ 

individual and the SPOG’s collective 

implementation of Advancing Racial 

Equity and Support for Underserved 

Communities Through the Federal 

Government. This request for 

information (RFI) is part of the SPOG’s 

ongoing efforts to engage and 

collaborate with diverse communities 

and develop an implementation plan for 

integrating racial equity into U.S. 

government anti-trafficking efforts. The 

implementation plan will also highlight 

the importance of an intersectional 

approach, as racism often compounds 

with other forms of discrimination to 

affect individuals’ vulnerability to 

human trafficking. Additionally, it will 

complement agencies’ individual work 

to implement Diversity, Equity, 

Inclusion and Accessibility in the 

Federal Workforce by sharing 

information and practices for increasing 

diversity in the federal workforce as an 

integral way to strengthen agencies’ 

anti-trafficking work. Submissions must 

be made in writing to the Office to 

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 

Persons at the Department of State by 

March 15, 2022. Please refer to the 

Addresses, Scope of Interest, and 

Information Sought sections of this 

Notice for additional instructions on 

submission requirements. 

DATES: Submissions must be received by 

5 p.m. EST on March 15, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Written submissions and 

supporting documentation, such as 

research studies, fieldwork, training 

materials, evaluations, assessments, and 

other relevant materials, may be 

submitted by email to: TIPOutreach@

state.gov 

Scope of Interest: The Department of 

State, on behalf of the SPOG, requests 

information relevant to increasing the 

SPOG agencies’ collective awareness of 

the intersection between racial equity 

and U.S. government anti-trafficking 

policies and programs and to identify 

areas for collaboration and 

improvement. Because racism often 

compounds with other forms of 

discrimination to increase individuals’ 

vulnerability to human trafficking, 

advancing racial equity may also 

complement agencies’ efforts to improve 

equity more broadly, for example, in 

furtherance of E.O. 14020 

(Establishment of the White House 

Gender Policy Council), E.O. 13988 

(Preventing and Combating 

Discrimination on the Basis of Gender 

Identity or Sexual Orientation), E.O. 

14031 (Advancing Equity, Justice, and 

Opportunity for Asian Americans, 

Native Hawaiians, and Pacific 

Islanders), among other Presidential 

actions focused on advancing equity for 

systemically marginalized communities. 

Also, while E.O. 13985 covers both 

racial equity and support for 

underserved communities, this 

initiative will focus squarely on racial 

equity. 

Submissions should not exceed 20 

pages and should not include any 

information that cannot be made 

publicly available. The submitter may 

also include links to online material or 

interactive presentations but should 

ensure all links are publicly available. 

Attachments, linked resources, and 

documents do not count against the 20- 

page limit. Submissions should be 

written concisely, in plain language, 

and in a narrative format. Submitters 

may respond to part or all of the 

questions listed in this Notice. However, 

only those questions for which the 

submitter has direct personal or 

professional experience should be 

answered. Submitters should clearly 

identify the questions to which they are 

responding. Where appropriate, 

submissions should include citations, 

references, and/or links to the source 

material. If using primary sources, such 

as research studies, interviews, direct 

observations, or other sources of 

quantitative or qualitative data, 

submitters should provide details on the 

research or data-gathering methodology 

and any supporting documentation. 

Each response should include, to the 

extent applicable: 

• The name of the individual(s) and 

organization responding; 

• A brief description of the mission or 

area of expertise of the responding 

individual(s) or organization(s); 

• The name, phone number, and 

email address of a single point of 

contact for questions or other follow-up 

on the response; and 

• The question(s) addressed in the 

submission. 

Confidentiality: Submissions will be 

shared with the U.S. government 

agencies that are members of the SPOG 

and may be made publicly available. In 

addition, any information submitted to 

the Department of State may be 

releasable pursuant to the provisions of 

the Freedom of Information Act or other 

applicable law. 

Response: The Department of State 

will confirm receipt of each submission 

and may reach out to parties who 

respond to this RFI with follow-up 

questions. The SPOG will continue to 

engage stakeholders and community 

members for the purposes of 

implementing E.O. 13985 and to 

continue improving its efforts. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1. Background 

E.O. 13985, Advancing Racial Equity 

and Support for Underserved 

Communities Through the Federal 

Government, states the Administration 

policy to ‘‘pursue a comprehensive 

approach to advancing equity for all, 

including people of color and others 

who have been historically underserved, 

marginalized, and adversely affected by 

persistent poverty and inequality’’ 

which involves a whole-of-government 

approach. 

Through this RFI, the SPOG seeks 

input, information, and 

recommendations from a broad array of 

stakeholders in the public, private, 

advocacy, not-for-profit, and 

philanthropic sectors, including state, 

local, tribal, and territorial areas, on 

available methods, approaches, and 

tools to apply a racial equity lens to 

Federal government anti-trafficking 

efforts. 

Definitions 

This RFI adopts the definition of the 

term ‘‘equity’’ used in E.O. 13985: The 

consistent and systematic fair, just, and 

impartial treatment of all individuals, 


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7232 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 

including individuals who belong to 

underserved communities that have 

been denied such treatment, such as 

Black, Latino, and Indigenous and 

Native American persons, Asian 

Americans and Pacific Islanders and 

other persons of color; members of 

religious minorities; lesbian, gay, 

bisexual, transgender, and queer 

(LGBTQ+) persons; persons with 

disabilities; persons who live in rural 

areas; and persons otherwise adversely 

affected by persistent poverty or 

inequality. Please note that different 

definitions of ‘‘equity’’ exist, which are 

complementary to but may not be 

identical with the definition in E.O. 

13985. 

The term ‘‘forced labor’’ is defined for 

U.S. enforcement purposes in two 

separate sections of the United States 

Code. In the criminal statutes of Title 

18, it encompasses the range of 

activities involved when an individual 

or entity uses prohibited means that 

include force or physical threats; 

psychological coercion; abuse of the 

legal process; a scheme, plan, or pattern 

intended to hold a person in fear of 

serious harm; or other coercive means to 

obtain the labor or services of a person. 

Once a person’s labor is obtained by 

such means, the person’s previous 

consent or effort to obtain employment 

with the trafficker does not preclude the 

person from being considered a victim, 

or the government from prosecuting the 

offender. Forced labor in Title 18 also 

encompasses when an individual or 

entity knowingly benefits, financially or 

by receiving anything of value, from 

participating in a venture which has 

engaged in providing or obtaining labor 

or services by prohibited means, 

knowing or in reckless disregard of the 

fact that the venture has engaged in 

providing or obtaining labor or services 

by such prohibited means. Moreover, 

Title 18 also prohibits knowingly 

recruiting, harboring, transporting, 

providing, or obtaining by any means, 

any person for labor or services in 

violation of the forced labor statute, or 

other U.S. criminal statutes involving 

slavery, involuntary servitude, and 

peonage. In the customs-related statute 

of Title 19, it is also defined in 

connection with the prohibition on the 

importation of goods produced wholly 

or in part by forced labor, including 

forced child labor; convict labor; and/or 

indentured labor under penal sanctions. 

In this context, forced labor is defined 

as: ‘‘all work or service which is exacted 

from any person under the menace of 

any penalty for its nonperformance and 

for which the worker does not offer 

himself voluntarily.’’ In addition, Title 

22 includes the following in the 

definition of ‘‘severe forms of trafficking 

in persons’’: ‘‘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.’’ 

The term ‘‘sex trafficking’’ is when a 

person is caused to engage in a 

commercial sex act as the result of force, 

threats of force, fraud, coercion, or any 

combination of such means, or when a 

person under the age of 18 is caused to 

engage in commercial sex. Under such 

circumstances, perpetrators involved in 

recruiting, enticing, harboring, 

transporting, providing, obtaining, 

advertising, maintaining, patronizing, or 

soliciting a person for that purpose are 

guilty of the federal crime of sex 

trafficking. This is true even if the 

victim previously consented to engage 

in commercial sex. 

U.S. law explicitly includes a distinct 

definition of ‘‘sex trafficking of 

children.’’ Any child (under the age of 

18) who has been recruited, enticed, 

harbored, transported, provided, 

obtained, advertised, maintained, 

patronized, or solicited to engage in a 

commercial sex act is a victim of human 

trafficking, regardless of whether or not 

force, fraud, or coercion is used. 

The Senior Policy Operating Group 

(SPOG) 

The SPOG is comprised of senior 

officials designated as representatives of 

the 20 federal departments and agencies 

of the President’s Interagency Task 

Force to Monitor and Combat 

Trafficking in Persons, a cabinet-level 

entity created by the Trafficking Victims 

Protection Act of 2000, that are 

responsible for coordinating U.S. 

government-wide efforts to combat 

trafficking in persons. The Trafficking 

Victims Protection Act, as amended in 

2003, established the SPOG. The 

agencies of the SPOG are the 

Departments of State, the Treasury, 

Defense, Justice, the Interior, 

Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health 

and Human Services, Transportation, 

Education, and Homeland Security, as 

well as the Office of Management and 

Budget, the Office of the U.S. Trade 

Representative, the Office of the 

Director of National Intelligence, the 

National Security Council, the Domestic 

Policy Council, the U.S. Agency for 

International Development, the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission. Agencies regularly 

convene to advance and coordinate 

federal policies and collaborate with a 

range of stakeholders. 

Five standing committees meet 

regularly to advance substantive areas of 

the SPOG’s work: 

• Research & Data Committee— 

Facilitates forums and discussions on 

human trafficking data and prevalence 

among agencies, invites external 

researchers and experts to share their 

latest findings with the Committee, and 

works to ensure agencies’ research 

efforts are complementary. 

• Grantmaking Committee—Assists 

in planning and coordinating agencies’ 

domestic and international antitrafficking program activities and 

promotes evidence-based programming 

to build the knowledge base on human 

trafficking and propose solutions to 

enhance anti-trafficking activities. 

• Public Awareness & Outreach— 

Serves as a forum for agencies to seek 

feedback and buy-in on agency-specific 

public awareness and outreach projects 

or resources, including on how to 

ensure a trauma-informed approach, 

and facilitates information-sharing on 

upcoming public awareness and 

outreach events, campaigns, and 

materials to allow for cross-promotion 

and/or collaboration among agencies. 

• Victims Services Committee— 

Supports federal engagements and 

efforts that aim to promote a strategic, 

coordinated approach to the provision 

of services for victims of human 

trafficking at all levels of government; 

support evidence-based practices in 

victim services; provide and promote 

outreach, training, and technical 

assistance to increase victim 

identification and expand the 

availability of services; and promote 

effective, culturally appropriate, traumainformed services that improve the 

short- and long-term health, safety, and 

well-being of victims. 

• Procurement & Supply Chains— 

Seeks to ensure agencies understand 

their responsibilities under the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR), ‘‘Ending 

Trafficking in Persons’’ 

(www.federalregister.gov/documents/ 

2015/01/29/2015–01524/federalacquisition-regulation-endingtrafficking-in-persons); provides a forum 

through which agencies can work 

through challenges related to 

strengthening procurement safeguards 

and supply chain efforts, share data and 

promising practices for effective 

implementation of the FAR, and ensure 

efforts are not duplicative and that 

policies and procedures are consistent; 

and works to create a coordinated and 

collective U.S. government voice in 

relation to increasing corporate 

accountability and compliance in 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 7233 

combating forced labor in global supply 

chains more broadly. 

In addition, the SPOG has created a 

few ad hoc working groups. Unlike the 

committees, these working groups are 

time-limited and formed to accomplish 

specific goals. As of the publication of 

this RFI, the SPOG has three active ad 

hoc working groups: 

• Ad Hoc Working Group on Demand 

Reduction—To examine the role of 

demand reduction in preventing human 

trafficking or otherwise achieving the 

purposes of the TVPA and the Justice 

for Victims of Trafficking Act 

(consistent with Sec. 115 of Pub. L. 115– 

425). 

• Ad Hoc Working Group on Rights 

and Protections of Temporary 

Workers—To analyze and compare the 

rights and protections granted to 

workers of each employment-based 

nonimmigrant visa category to identify 

which categories require additional 

protections related to the recruitment 

and treatment of workers; and to discuss 

ways to address any gaps and 

inconsistencies, including developing 

and proposing necessary regulatory or 

legislative changes (consistent with 

Priority Action 1.5.2 of the National 

Action Plan to Combat Human 

Trafficking). 

• Ad Hoc Working Group on 

Screening Forms and Protocols—To 

develop best practices in implementing 

screening forms and protocols as 

relevant for all federal officials who 

have the potential to encounter a human 

trafficking victim in the course of their 

regular duties that do not otherwise 

pertain to human trafficking (consistent 

with Priority Action 2.1.1 of the 

National Action Plan to Combat Human 

Trafficking). 

II. Information Sought Relevant To 

Conducting Anti-Trafficking Work 

Using a Racial Equity Lens 

Submissions should include, but need 

not be limited to, answers to relevant 

questions below for which the submitter 

has direct personal or professional 

experience. Please see the Scope of 

Interest section above for detailed 

information regarding submission 

requirements. 

1. What does racial equity mean in the 

context of human trafficking? What does 

a racially equitable anti-trafficking 

framework look like, particularly for a 

law enforcement response and 

prosecution response, victim assistance 

efforts, and prevention strategy? Are 

there specific considerations for 

responding to sex trafficking and to 

labor trafficking, including forced labor? 

2. Please describe any racial injustice, 

inequity, or unfairness you have 

observed or experienced that resulted 

from a federal anti-trafficking activity 

(please specify the relevant policy, 

practice, or program). Do you have 

recommendations for how this should 

be corrected? 

3. How have federal anti-trafficking 

policies, programs, and systems created 

barriers to advancing racial equity, and 

how might the executive branch address 

and help reduce these barriers? 

4. What promising approaches or 

efforts have been successful in 

embedding a racial equity lens in antitrafficking work? What examples and/or 

data are available to support this? 

5. What can SPOG agencies 

individually and the SPOG collectively 

do to advance racial equity and integrate 

it into federal anti-trafficking work 

domestically and internationally— 

particularly in the areas of investigation 

and prosecution, victim services 

(commenters may specify specific 

populations, such as people of color, 

noncitizens, LGBTQ+ persons, etc.), 

grantmaking, public procurement, 

supply chains, public awareness and 

outreach, research and data collection, 

and any other area the submitter feels is 

important to note? 

6. What tools, approaches, or lessons 

have been applied in other countries or 

in U.S. state, territorial, tribal, and local 

jurisdictions to address the intersection 

between racial, ethnic, or cultural 

discrimination and human trafficking? 

Could these tools, approaches, or 

lessons applied by other authorities be 

helpful to the United States to further 

racial equity? 

7. What are promising practices or 

strategies for how anti-trafficking 

policies and programs can address the 

compounded barriers at the 

intersections of systemic racism and 

other forms of discrimination, such as 

discrimination against persons with 

disabilities, LGBTQ+ persons, and 

women and girls? 

8. Meaningful stakeholder 

engagement includes collective 

problem-solving and decision-making, 

equitable partnerships, and 

collaboration that fosters a sharing of 

power. What processes or approaches 

should SPOG agencies have in place to 

proactively and meaningfully engage 

individuals with lived experience of 

human trafficking and communities that 

are most directly impacted by human 

trafficking? What are tools and best 

practices that SPOG agencies should 

consider to embed racial equity 

practices into community and 

stakeholder engagement? 

Zachary A. Parker, 

Director, Office of Directives Management, 

U.S. Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02537 Filed 2–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–11–P 

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: 9:30 a.m. CT on February 

10, 2022. 

PLACE: Knicely Conference Center, 2355 

Nashville Road, Bowling Green, 

Kentucky. 

STATUS: Open. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Meeting No. 22–01 

The TVA Board of Directors will hold 

a public meeting on February 10, 2022, 

at the Knicely Conference Center, 2355 

Nashville Road, Bowling Green, 

Kentucky, on the campus of Western 

Kentucky University. The meeting will 

be called to order at 9:30 a.m. CT to 

consider the agenda items listed below. 

TVA management will answer questions 

from the news media following the 

Board meeting. 

On February 9, at the Knicely 

Conference Center, the public may 

comment on any agenda item or subject 

at a board-hosted public listening 

session which begins at 2 p.m. CT and 

will last until 4 p.m. Preregistration is 

required to address the Board. 

Agenda 

1. Approval of minutes of the November 

10, 2021 Board Meeting 

2. Report of the Audit, Finance, Risk, 

and Cybersecurity Committee 

3. Report of the People and Governance 

Committee 

A. Real Property Board Practice 

B. Updating Capital Projects 

Approvals Board Practice 

4. Report of the External Stakeholders 

and Regulation Committee 

A. Federal Advisory Committees 

Charter Renewals 

B. Authorization for Economic 

Development Contracts and 

Programs 

5. Report of the Operations and Nuclear 

Oversight Committee 

6. Information Items 

A. Advanced Reactor Program 

B. Board Less-Than-Quorum 

C. Severe Weather Response 

D. New Johnsonville Aeroderivative 

Project Amendment 

7. Report from President and CEO 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

For more information: Please call Jim 


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