Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - United States of America (Ratification: 1999)

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). Slavery and practices similar to slavery. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee previously noted the Government’s indication that Congress had enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) in 2008, which reauthorized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 for four years and authorized new measures to combat human trafficking. The Committee encouraged the Government to pursue its efforts to eliminate the trafficking of children under 18 years of age for labour and sexual exploitation and to provide information on the results attained.

The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that the Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress and Assessment of US Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons describes the Government’s approach to combating trafficking in persons. The Committee notes that the Attorney General’s Annual Report for the Fiscal Year 2010 (released in December 2011) indicates that in 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation located 13 minor victims of trafficking. This report also provides information on measures taken pursuant to 35 recommendations in the previous year’s report. These include: (i) measures that required all Immigrations and Customs Enforcement personnel, prior to assuming an international post, to receive training on trafficking in persons, forced labour, and child sex tourism; (ii) measures to ensure that the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Unaccompanied Refugee Minor’s programme (URM) provided long-term foster care services to minors who are victims of trafficking and who have received an HHS Eligibility Letter as a victim of a severe form of trafficking; (iii) the creation of a network of pro bono attorneys to identify and assist unaccompanied alien children who may be eligible for immigration relief through the Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services; (iv) measures to increase awareness among federal, state, and local officials of their obligation under the TVPRA 2008 to notify HHS upon discovery that a foreign national who is under 18 years of age may be a victim of a severe form of trafficking; and (v) and measures to provide training for state and local child welfare, juvenile justice, and youth services personnel on human trafficking.