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President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

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The President’s Interagency Task Force
 

The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (PITF) is a cabinet-level entity, created by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which consists of some 15 departments and agencies across the federal government that are responsible for coordinating U.S. government-wide efforts to combat trafficking in persons. The PITF meets annually and is chaired by the Secretary of State. Agencies of the PITF have brought together leaders from government, the private sector, advocates and survivors, faith leaders, law enforcement and academia, and have made significant progress following President Obama’s March 2012 call to strengthen federal efforts to combat human trafficking, his September 2012 speech announcing a number of new and strengthened initiatives, and the first-ever White House Forum to Combat Human Trafficking in April 2013. For more information on executive action, click here, here, and here.

Secretary Kerry chaired the annual cabinet-level meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF) at the White House on October 24, 2016. Agencies reported on progress made on four priority areas identified by the Obama Administration – victim services, rule of law, procurement and supply chains, and public awareness and outreach. These priorities have driven interagency collaboration since the May 2013 PITF meeting. This was the fourth meeting of the PITF during Secretary Kerry’s tenure as Chair and the seventh of the Obama Administration. During the meeting, Secretary Kerry presented the 2016 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons to Students Opposing Slavery, and Dr. Christopher White and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The White House announced the Partnership for Freedom’s latest challenge: Pathways to Freedom. In addition, a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking spoke about the Council’s first annual report, which includes recommendations on federal anti-trafficking policies. Participants included Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, USAID Administrator Gayle Smith, and other senior agency and White House officials. The transcript of each PITF meeting can be found here.

Agencies of the PITF include:

Department of State (DOS)

Department of the Treasury (Treasury)

Department of Defense (DOD)

Department of Justice (DOJ)

Department of the Interior (DOI)

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Department of Labor (DOL)

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Department of Education (ED)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Domestic Policy Council (DPC)

National Security Staff (NSS)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)


Senior Policy Operating Group
 

The TVPA, as amended in 2003, established the Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG), which consists of senior officials designated as representatives of the PITF members. To ensure a whole-of-government approach, the SPOG brings together federal departments and agencies that address all aspects of human trafficking – enforcement of criminal and labor law, development of victim identification and protection measures, support for innovations in data gathering and research, implementation of education and public awareness activities, formation of enhanced partnerships and research opportunities, and synchronization of strategically linked foreign assistance and diplomatic engagement.

Five standing committees continue to advance substantive areas of the SPOG’s work. They are the Research & Data, Grantmaking, Public Awareness & Outreach, Victims Services, and Procurement & Supply Chains Committees. The SPOG meets quarterly and is chaired by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

A portrait of shared and individual agency accomplishments as they relate to Administration-wide priorities and strategic objectives can be found here:

Additional information and websites for PITF agencies can be found here.

A Report on Child Trafficking Primary Prevention can be found here.

The Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG) Trafficking in Persons Review Procedure can be found here.