The Trafficking Victims Protection Act: A Work in Progress

Authors

Terry Coonan, Center for the Advancement of Human Rights

First Page

99

Abstract

From the time when Congress passed and the President enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 ("TVPA"), this innovative law has changed the contours of the U.S. legal landscape.I Given even more teeth by the subsequent passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 ("TVPRA"), the law provides unprecedented tools for U.S. governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") to combat trafficking in persons, both within the U.S. and abroad. While neither the law's format nor its implementation has been without problems, significant progress has been made since its enactment in countering trafficking and prosecuting traffickers. Such progress is noteworthy, given the proliferation of human trafficking throughout the U.S. and the diverse nature of the governmental and non-governmental partners brought together to combat it under the aegis of the TVPA. This article offers an assessment of both the law's conceptual framework and of its implementation in the field to date. It furthermore identifies challenges that remain on both the theoretical and practical levels, and also seeks to dispel a number of the misconceptions and stereotypes that continue to detract from America's vital efforts to abolish the modern-day slave trade.

Recommended Citation

Terry Coonan, The Trafficking Victims Protection Act: A Work in Progress, 1 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 99 (2006).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/ihrlr/vol1/iss1/14