To mark National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is pleased to launch the revised Policy on Countering Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP). The updated C-TIP Policy adds new victim-centered, trauma-informed, and survivor-informed approaches, and promotes the intentional integration of efforts to end modern slavery across the Agency’s humanitarian and development programs.

The evil of modern slavery affects an estimated 25 million people around the world, including adults and children subjected to sexual exploitation or bound in domestic servitude; children forced to join armed groups; and victims trapped in forced labor in sectors such as fishing, construction, and agriculture. Since 2001, USAID has invested more than $340 million in 88 countries and regions to fight human trafficking as a high priority. Tailored to vulnerable and marginalized local populations, programs build local capacity in governments, civil society including faith-based organizations, and the private sector to combat this scourge.

USAID’s revised C-TIP Policy reflects a number of major advances the U.S. Government has made over the past several years, including the following:

• The reauthorization of, and amendments to, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act;
• The establishment of a U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking;
• The publication of the U.S. National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking; and
• The issuance of Executive Order 13773 on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking.

The Policy also aligns with USAID’s new Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), Policy on Child Safeguarding, C-TIP Code of Conduct, and other Agency-wide guidance and requirements designed to protect vulnerable populations. In addition, the Policy commits USAID to inviting survivors and interagency U.S. Government colleagues to join technical-evaluation and award-selection committees for USAID’s C-TIP investments.

During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, USAID takes a moment to recognize that this work cannot be done alone. USAID is determined to work alongside host-country governments, survivors, faith-based and community organizations, and the private sector to build their capacity to end human trafficking and uphold the dignity of the human person as part of the Journey to Self-Reliance.