Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton unveils the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State.
Photo: State Dept Image / Jun 19, 2012
Photo: State Dept Image / Jun 19, 2012
I am pleased to announce that this week in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton officially released the 12th annual Trafficking in Person’s (TIP) report. The report was openly released on June 19th in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State. The event was open by invite to key government officials, leading anti-trafficking leaders and NGOs, and to credentialed member of the media. The gilded room gave grandeur and prestige to the report, which was first released 12 years ago in a small, simple room, highlighting the strength the anti-trafficking movement has gained. The events surrounding the briefing and release were lead by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Luis CdeBaca delivered remarks. Meanwhile, the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, Maria Otero, opened and closed the briefing.
At the State Department’s release of the report, Secretary Clinton spoke directly regarding the shift in viewing human trafficking in a deeper light so as to see it for what it truly is: slavery.
In the United States today, we are celebrating what’s called Juneteenth. That’s freedom day, the date in 1865 when a Union officer stood on a balcony in Galveston, Texas and read General Order Number 3, which declared, “All slaves are free.” It was one of many moments in history when a courageous leader tipped the balance and made the world more free and more just. But the end of legal slavery in the United States and in other countries around the world has not, unfortunately, meant the end of slavery.
Today, it is estimated as many as 27 million people around the world are victims of modern slavery, what we sometimes call trafficking in persons. As Lou said, I’ve worked on this issue now for more than a dozen years. And when we started, we called it trafficking. And we were particularly concerned about what we saw as an explosion of the exploitation of people, most especially women, who were being quote, ‘trafficked’ into the sex trade and other forms of servitude. But I think labeling this for what it is, slavery, has brought it to another dimension.
The 2012 TIP report is highly comprehensive in its examination and ranking of 184 countries and their efforts to combat human trafficking in all forms. This year’s most significant change is the upgraded rankings of 29 countries on the list, including Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic, who were previously some of the lowest ranked countries. These countries were recognized for their improvement in observing the Four P’s–prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership–and implementing new anti-trafficking laws.
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