Content area
Full Text
Hum Rights Rev (2011) 12:381400
DOI 10.1007/s12142-010-0183-6
Published online: 1 December 2010# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract In 2000, the United States Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act requiring its State Department to issue annual Trafficking in Persons Reports (TIP Reports) describing the nature and extent of severe forms of trafficking in persons and assessing governmental efforts across the world to combat such trafficking against criteria established by US law. This article examines the opportunities and risks presented by the TIP Reports, tracing their evolution over the past decade and considering their impact on the behavior of states. In looking to the future, the article focuses on how this influential unilateral compliance mechanism could improve its legitimacy, respond to negative impacts, and better contribute to the international legal regime around trafficking.
Keywords Trafficking . Trafficking in persons . International law . Human rights
Introduction
In 2000, the United States Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) requiring its State Department to issue annual Reports describing the nature and extent of severe forms of trafficking in persons and assessing governmental efforts across the world to combat such trafficking against criteria established by US law. The TVPA lays down minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as well as detailed criteria for evaluating the performance of states. The Reports use a ranking system to classify all states reviewed into four tiers of anti-trafficking compliance. Any bottom-tier state, being one that does not
Thanks to Angela Ha for editorial assistance. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and should not be taken to represent, in whole or part, those of the organizations with whom she is or has been associated.
A. T. Gallagher (*)
Bangkok, Thailande-mail: [email protected]
Improving the Effectiveness of the International Law of Human Trafficking: A Vision for the Future of the US Trafficking in Persons Reports
Anne T. Gallagher
382 A. T. Gallagher
comply with the minimum standards and that is not making significant efforts to do so, may be subject to a range of economic sanctions. Unsurprisingly, the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, issued every year since 2001, has been criticized on a wide range of fronts. Its very existence angers...