WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (also referred to as the G/TIP or TIP office), currently led by Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, was established in 2001 by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The TIP Office functions as the nerve center of the U.S. government’s anti-trafficking and anti-slavery activities around the world and runs one of the smallest – but most effective – of all U.S. foreign assistance programs.

G/TIP funds international programs to combat trafficking in persons with a focus on perpetrator accountability and victim relief. In 2009, Congress allocated $22 million for G/TIP’s grant-making programs, and $4.5 million for operational costs. The TIP Office is a good steward of its foreign assistance resources, but the amount is dwarfed by the need. IJM’s constituents around the United States have been appealing to both Congress and the Executive Branch for significant increases in the TIP Office’s budget to confront the global trafficking and slavery phenomenon. Last month, IJM delivered a letter with 20,300 names of supporters from across the U.S., urging President Obama to increase the TIP Office budget in the coming year.

The Trafficking in Persons Report

Ending this global scourge is an important policy priority for the United States…Through partnerships, we can confront it head-on and lift its victims from slavery to freedom.

— Secretary Hillary Clinton, 2010 TIP Report

Read Secretary Clinton’s remarks at the release of the 2010 TIP Report »

Read Ambassador Luis CdeBaca’s remarks »

TIP Report in Action

The TIP Report is a strategic diplomatic tool, and has spurred many governments to action. Powerful examples include:

• In 2002, IJM investigated the sexual exploitation of very young children in the notorious red light district outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, known as Svay Pak. The Cambodian government largely ignored the reports until the country was placed on Tier 3 in the 2002 TIP Report. Tier 3 is the category that conveys the least effective response to trafficking and slavery, and complete failure to meet the minimum standards for combating trafficking, as defined by the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia at the time, Ambassador Charles Ray, leveraged the tier ranking and threat of sanctions (in the form of decreased foreign assistance) to persuade the Cambodian government at the highest levels to begin taking the problem of child trafficking seriously. He specifically recommended that the Cambodian police collaborate with IJM, which led to freeing victims from abuse, and arresting and convicting perpetrators. Since then, the Cambodian government, and particularly its Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police (AHTJP), led by General Bith Kim Hong, have been active and effective in combating child trafficking, leading to hundreds of victim rescues, perpetrator arrests and convictions. In the 2010 TIP Report, Cambodia ranks on Tier 2.
• The TIP Report was an important catalyst for combating trafficking in Nigeria, particularly the trafficking of women to Italy for sexual exploitation. After Nigeria’s 2004 designation as a Tier 2 Watchlist country, the wife of the President of Nigeria helped develop a comprehensive framework, including research on prevalence and the implementation of new prevention, protection, and prosecution mechanisms. Government efforts to intercept attempts to traffic women have steadily increased, with 1,000 interceptions in 2007 and 1,269 interceptions recorded in 2008. Prosecutions have also increased since 2004, with 67 convictions of traffickers taking place between 2004 and 2009. Nigeria reached Tier 1 ranking in the 2009 TIP Report, and remains there this year.
• The 2001 TIP Report placed Israel on Tier 3 in large part for its failure to address the trafficking of women from Eastern and Central Europe into Israel for sexual exploitation. Civil society contacts indicate that while human trafficking was a known problem, the government made little effort to address it prior to this low ranking in the TIP Report. Following Israel’s placement on Tier 3, the Israeli government became significantly more engaged in combating human trafficking. Since that time, the Israeli government has established a new anti-trafficking framework (including passing an anti-trafficking law in 2006), opened shelters, and prosecuted and convicted traffickers, in some cases handing out stiff sentences. The Israeli government has also paid increased attention to trafficking into labor exploitation and of abuses by labor recruiting agencies, and has prosecuted perpetrators of forced labor and recruitment fraud. In 2009, the Israeli government broke up a major trafficking ring that had been responsible for trafficking an estimated 2000 women into Israel. In the 2010 TIP Report, Israel ranks Tier 2.
• The release of the 2004 TIP Report with a Tier 2 Watch List ranking for Japan put strong international pressure on Japan. The ranking gave significant traction to domestic anti-trafficking advocates, and triggered the Japanese government to act. Polaris Project considers the TIP Report ranking to have been a critical step forward in building the political will for the eventual passage of an anti-human trafficking law in Japan. The TIP Report’s inclusion of a section on issues related to foreign “trainees” brought to Japan to work as apprentices in the labor sector generated significant media attention. The Japan Network Against Trafficking in Persons, a coalition of domestic NGOs, was able to build momentum around the issue, leading the Japanese government to include reform of the trainee system in its official 2009 National Action Plan. In the 2010 TIP Report, Japan ranks Tier 2.