Justice Files: Combating Human Trafficking Published Dec. 28, 2015 By Senior Airman Justin Guerreso 92nd Air Refueling Wing Staff Judge Advocate FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, WASH. -- "Our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time, and the United States will continue to lead it -- in partnership with you. The change we seek will not come easy, but we can draw strength from the movements of the past. For we know that every life saved -- in the words of that great Proclamation -- is 'an act of justice'; worthy of 'the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God'." -President Barack Obama Human trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude, are all terms synonymous for a phenomenon which the Department of Defense refers to as trafficking in persons, or TIP. According to the Combat in Trafficking website, human trafficking is defined as, "the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person to provide labor, services or commercial sex." Believed to be the third most profitable business venture of organized crime, the U.S. Department of State estimates that 20.9 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Furthermore, the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that half of these victims are children. In an effort to combat TIP, the DoD has established the Strategic Plan for Combating Trafficking in Persons, which can be found at http://www.state.gov/j/tip/ . The DoD CTIP Strategic Plan is intended to become the systematic solution to this crime by setting a strict policy toward its eradication. The plan is outlined by four strategic goals conceptualized to help establish and standardize the DoD policy and guidance to which every employee can readily adhere in order to promote the end of trafficking in persons. The first of the established strategic goals, the DoD CTIP Strategic Plan seeks to expand efforts in the prevention and protection of victims of trafficking in persons, while also enhancing the successful prosecution of traffickers, by promoting cooperation within and outside of DoD entities. A CTIP Task Force has been created to help promote new intergovernmental and non-governmental partnerships. Through the exchange of training and education, the CTIP Task Force will work with private, state and international partners at strategic levels, combatant commands and deployed joint task forces in order to promote CTIP objectives. The second goal is to reinforce previous anti-trafficking laws and provisions enacted through law and executive orders while "outlining specific prohibitions for federal contractors, subcontractors, and their employees." This includes the development of an updated Department of Defense instruction 2200.01, Combating Trafficking in Persons. By further enacting laws which coincide with legislation, the DoD hopes to ensure that "key stakeholder communities playing a vital role in addressing trafficking in persons understand legal requirements and departmental policy and are formally given pertinent CTIP responsibilities. These stakeholder communities include: requirements, contracting, law enforcement, investigative, legal, training and education and public affairs." The third goal seeks to directly increase the awareness and ability of every DoD employee to combat trafficking in persons head on. By tailoring training in a manner which applies to individuals and their specific roles and missions, the DoD seeks to expand awareness of the issue by utilizing a variety of training tools and technologies such as "web-based training, webinars, public service announcements, and mobile learning applications." The implementation of a strong educational foundation is intended to equip employees of the DoD with the proper tools to readily detect TIP; creating a more aggressive, interpersonal, solution to the issue of CTIP. The fourth and final goal seeks to strengthen and standardize the "approaches in monitoring, tracking, reporting, investigating, and adjudicating trafficking in persons cases both in the U.S. and abroad." Understanding that CTIP on a global level cannot simply be solved with a cookie cutter approach, the DoD is granting each command the unique ability to tailor CTIP operations to they're theatre. A flow chart is then to be designed by each DoD component to emphasis key "checkpoints" in the CTIP process in order to effectively track vulnerabilities. Each DoD component will then combine their work products in an effort to promote a unified fight against CTIP. This methodology will create, test, and track the several different avenues with which CTIP is approached, and aid in the development of further effective policies for addressing the issue. The DoD has the unique ability to combat the issue of CTIP directly in every day operations. The implementation of the DoD Strategic Plan for CTIP is intended to create a well-managed, measurable, and progressive solution to the issue. By establishing a systematic framework for effectively combatting trafficking in persons, while also providing protection for victims of trafficking, the DoD Strategic Plan for CTIP will certainly bring new light toward the eradication of the issue of trafficking in persons. If you have questions about Combatting Trafficking in Persons, contact the Wing's CTIP point of contact, Maj. Imelda U. Antonio, 92 Air Refueling Wing/JA, (509) 247-4096. For further information on combatting trafficking in persons, please see DoDI 2200.01, or visit any of the resources below. http://ctip.defense.gov http://ctip.defense.gov/Portals/12/Documents/Strategic_Plan_FINAL.pdf http://www.state.gov/j/tip/