Washington, DC - Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo: "It was an honor to chair this Administration’s first meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Today I was proud to be joined by several members of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. They set a courageous example of service for the United States, and for the world, by choosing to transform their harrowing experiences into powerful advocacy. I was honored to present the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons to Ms. Minal Patel Davis and Mr. William C. Woolf III.
"The U.S. government is seeking new ways to leverage input from human trafficking survivors to strengthen federal policy and programming efforts. The State Department is doing its part through four key initiatives:
"Last year, we launched the Program to End Modern Slavery, a congressionally-funded U.S. foreign assistance program that seeks to achieve a measurable reduction in the prevalence of modern slavery in specific countries or regions. The Program began with an initial investment of $25 million for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and now we have just awarded a second contribution of $25 million to the Global Fund and the University of Georgia Research Foundation to continue this important work. Congress has made yet another $25 million available for fiscal year 2018, which will bring our total investment for this important Program to $75 million.
"The Department’s Domestic Worker In-person Registration Program will expand to two new cities in 2019. This program was developed to enhance protection and oversight of foreign domestic workers employed by foreign mission and international organization personnel.
"The State Department will release a new “Know Your Rights” video that will air in U.S embassies and consulates to increase visa applicants’ awareness of their rights, help them identify human trafficking situations, and lead them to both avoid and report suspicious activity.
"And finally, the State Department just awarded a contract to create the Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network, which will allow us to meaningfully incorporate survivor input into the Department’s anti-trafficking work, while compensating survivors for their expertise.
"On behalf of the President’s Interagency Task Force, the United States government remains unwavering on this issue."
