valerie jarrett: well,good morning, everyone. welcome to the white house. i'm valerie jarrett. on the behalf of thepresident, i'd like to welcome everyone to what isour last task force meeting to monitor and combat thetrafficking of persons. and to all those of you whoare tuning in online, we appreciate yourpresence, obviously. those of us around the tableare committed to this issue,
but we need your help inorder to be successful. and since it is our lastmeeting, i want to take this opportunity to just thankeveryone for years of hard work on what we know is anissue that's very important to the president, as iknow it is to all of you. the groups at this tablerepresents a comprehensive effort to combattrafficking, and the announcements that you willhear in the course of the morning have come inanswering the president's
call to strengthen oureffort, and expand our partnership, and bring moreresources together to end trafficking and protect thevictims, and to do it in a comprehensive and strategicway, which is why we've assembled together as atask force over the years. so, before we hear from you,i'm honored to announce the latest exciting challengefrom the partnership of freedom initiative, apublic-private partnership that president obamaannounced back in 2012,
dedicated to spurringinnovative ways to fight human trafficking. in previous years, thepartnership of freedom has successfully run twochallenges: the first, to support innovation andvictim services, including a partnership that increasedshelter availability, and the first ever medicalclinic dedicated solely to trafficking victims. and the second, to mobilizethe tech community to fight
labor trafficking inglobal supply chains. today, the partnership forfreedom launches its third challenge: pathwaysto freedom. to call on local communitiesto shift local practices, policies, and perceptions towards trafficking survivors. survivors have often toldus that escaping their trafficking situation isonly the beginning of their struggle to rebuildtheir lives.
and we know there's more weall need to do to support them. pathways to freedom is yetanother way we're working to bolster assistanceto survivors. as we work toinstitutionalize a strong framework to carry throughto the next administration, i want to underscore thechallenges ahead and make sure that we continue tobuild on all the incredible progress that we've madeover the last several years.
i look forward to hearingfrom each of you on how your agencies will meet thischallenge, and to know how committed we are to ensuringthat, until the president's last day in office andbeyond, we commit to ensure that we do everything wecan to end modern slavery. and so, with that, i willturn it over to secretary kerry. secretary kerry: well,thank you, valerie. thank you very, very much,and my apologies to all for
being a moment late. but, let me second whatvalerie said, with respect to the efforts of everybody. this is our last meetingthat she mentioned. and i have to say that overthe four years of this effort, i'm personallyreally grateful for, and impressed by, theextraordinary distance we have traveled here. this all of governmenteffort has really been very,
very significant. everybody here hascontributed significantly in their agencies, and i thinkthis administration can be extraordinarily proud ofwhat we have done to raise the profile of thischallenge, and to have an impact on countriesall around the world. so, i hope everybody feelspositive about that because i think we ought to. human trafficking is one ofthe few issues that we face,
all of us, on a day to daybasis in governing, where there is no -- unlike a lotof other issues that are clouded by nuance or a kindof complexity -- this is not complex, except in theexecution of the things we know we have to achieve. and there certainly isno nuance whatsoever. there is a moral clarityhere that's as firm as you can have on anykind of issue. and, needless to say, thenotion of modern day slavery
is one that toucheseverybody's conscience. and it is one of justfundamental basic human decency. so, i think that there aredaily threats that are unfathomable that somepeople live with in some part of the world, whetherit's a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage on thefactory floor, and then was forced -- this was outsideof bangkok, and she was forced to keep peelingshrimp for the
next four days. or a fishing crew in easterneurope that was coerced into working up to 22 hours aday, knee deep in freezing water. or a young woman and girlswho fled their homes as refugees, only to bevictimized by large sex trafficking rings elsewhere. stories likethese are common. they are the everydaystories, unfortunately, and
the moral urgency ofaddressing this issue is what has spurred everybodyaround this table and a lot of people who aren'there today to action. but i want to be clear. this is not simply aquestion of right versus wrong. it's in our strategicinterest as well to ensure that this fight is apriority of our foreign policy.
and the fact is thathuman trafficking is a multi-billion-dollarcriminal enterprise. it's assault on humanrights, and is -- it's a threat to global stability. it underminesthe rule of law. it breeds corruption. it spreads disease. it widens the gap betweenthe haves and the haves nots, and it tearswhole families apart.
so, it's counter to everysingle thing that we are trying to accomplish in thefield of development, and everything that we wouldlike to see in our communities and incommunities elsewhere in the world as we try to live upto the 20, 30 development goals. so, we all have an interest,and in succeeding, in winning this battle. and in making sure that theperpetrators of these crimes
are brought to justice. so, i think that thisadministration, as i said earlier, has done anexceptional job of creating the urgency around thisissue that it deserves. president obama issued acritical executive order to ensure no federal contractcontributes in any way to it's why in this year's tipreport, the state department is calling on everygovernment in every region to develop a betterunderstanding of the needs
of at risk populations,and to adopt strategies to reduce their vulnerabilityand keep them safe. and i will comment thattoday, what we learned last year is that if we engagewith countries two or three months out, we can have amajor impact on getting them to kick in, to meet what wesee is becoming a challenge in the reports. and today, i urge everybodyto begin that process with the next administrationpromptly, in january and in
february so that we doubleour effort to get ahead of that curve. we're gearing upnow to implement the recommendations of theadvisory council's first annual report, which calledfor improved outreach on prevention and victimidentification. and last month, at ourocean conference, the state department committed toinvest more time and money than ever before in fightingforced labor in rogue
elements of the worldwidefishing industry. so, the bottom line is we'vebeen making steady progress to drawing attention tothe crime of trafficking. we're mobilizing resourcesunprecedented to fight it. and obviously, i hopeeverybody will make sure that we'll make the effortsnecessary to make further gains, and build onthe past successes. so, i hope today, we're notjust going to take stock, but we're going to pushharder across the board,
that we keep the momentumgoing, and ensure that this critical work leaves thenext administration with the best starting point thatanybody's ever had, and i'm absolutely confident thatthat's going to be the case. so, thank you. and with that, i think weturn now to susan coppedge to give us a update of thework of the senior policy operating group. ambassador coppedge: thankyou, secretary kerry.
it's a real honorto be here today. and as someone whofrequently engages with foreign governments on humantrafficking, i know that our own government's efforts,including at the interagency level, represented byeveryone here today, they have a direct impact on theglobal fight to end modern slavery. foreign countries look tothe united states for new ideas and leadership, andthe collaborative and
innovative work of thesenior policy operating group is vital to ourcontinued leadership. i'll briefly highlight someof the achievements this year. the procurement and supplychains committee drafted new guidance to manage andmitigate risk of human trafficking infederal contracts. the grantmaking committeeupdated the senior policy operating group's reviewprocedure to increase
information sharing betweenagencies on anti-trafficking grants and programs. and the public awareness andoutreach committee organized a robust outreach campaignstrategy that we'll roll out in january. i'm also pleased to seetoday that members of the advisory council are here. more than anyone else,survivors are uniquely capable of informingthe full range of our
prosecution, protection,and prevention efforts. and that's why we areexcited to say that the advisory council publishedits first report last week, which offers recommendationsto various federal agencies on how to better implement our anti-trafficking policies. but, the advisory councilmembers don't just offer recommendations. they inspire hope.
as they remain engaged inthis fight and positive about their futures, then wemust make every effort to match their optimism andenergy by working across government to protect allsurvivors, and to prevent this crime from happeningin the first place. i'm proud of what the seniorpolicy operating group and the advisory council haveaccomplished this year, and i'm optimistic that strongcollaboration on the critical issue of humantrafficking will continue
into the nextadministration. thank you. roy, i think we'regoing to you? roy austin: yeah. so, thank you, susan, andi think it's my job to introduce the membersof the advisory council. but specifically, haroldd'souza, if he would please stand for a second? so, harold is representingthe advisory council, and
would the other members juststand, if you're present? so, we have fourof the 11 here. and what this is, is arepresentation of survivors, and giving voice tosurvivors in this important work. it's great that all of usget together and talk about this, but the people whoselives have been impacted the most need to have a voice. and so, just last year, theycame together, and just last
week, they released a reportthat talked about the importance of survivors ontraining, on grantmaking, having survivors also talkabout making sure that everyone hascomprehensive services. and just to highlightmr. d'souza's story, mr. d'souza came here fromindia, expecting to have a job in manufacturing, endingup being forced into working at a restaurant. he and his wife, for 19months, until he escaped.
and instead of then escapingand just moving on with his life, he has become alifelong advocate for other survivors, including hiscurrent work with the advisory council. so, i'd just like to say ahuge thank you to you, those who were not here for theamazing work that all of you have done this past year,and the report that you released. so, thank you so much.
(applause) and i think, back to you -- secretary kerry:thank you, roy. thank you very much. it's my pleasure, now, tointroduce everybody to the 2016 recipients of thepresidential award for extraordinary efforts tocombat trafficking in persons. and i think susan's goingto read the individual
citations, but let me justsay that first of all, we have daniel becker, courtneymccrimmon, and beatrice greeson who are representingstudents opposing slavery -- sos. it's a student-led networkcommitted to empowering young leaders' awareness howto stop trafficking, started in 2012 by high schoolstudents, pioneering an innovative movement-- that's terrific. and secondly, dr.christopher white and
the defense representativeof darpa -- defense advanced research, and they came upwith a innovative way of tracking this, and i'lllet the citation speak for itself. ambassador coppedge: i thinkwe're going to go up to the podium, secretary -- secretary kerry: okay. ambassador coppedge: -- and -- secretary kerry: great.
ambassador coppedge: --allow them to be recognized. and for students opposingslavery, for sustained leadership and efforts toinform, inspire, and empower the next generation byraising awareness and building a network ofstudents across the united states and around the worlddedicated to ending modern slavery, thank youfor your efforts. and for dr. christopherwhite and the defense advanced research projectsagency, for unparalleled
leadership and dedication -- secretary kerry: where is -- ambassador coppedge: we'll-- get the medal, yep. for unparalleled leadershipand dedication in developing new and powerfultechnologies, to enhance the capacity of u.s. law enforcement, military,and intelligence entities, to dismantle humantrafficking enterprises and bring traffickersto justice.
and i encouraged thesecretary to move quickly when we were in the car onthe way over here, but we moved too quickly, and weforgot harold d'souza was going to make some commentsfrom the advisory council. secretary kerry: goodlooking isn't it? (laughter) ambassador coppedge: so,we'll have mr. d'souza come up now. secretary kerry:congratulations.
thanks for your-- appreciate it. harold d'souza: happymorning, everyone. you know, victims' life,slavery, is a journey, but not a fate or destination. today, on this auspiciousday, it is a privilege for all us survivors in americato recognize, in slavery, life is changed, not ended. as i stand before you all,representing our advisory council members, this isa pure reflection of the
honorable delegates presenthere for the good human deeds bestowed in engaging,empowering, and appointing survivors to the historicunited states advisory council on humantrafficking. the council organized itselfinto five committees in collaboration with the pitfagencies to submit its first report on october 18. it addresses thefollowing five topics. the first, rule of law,public awareness, victim
services, labor law,and grantmaking. for each topic, the reportprovides an overview. three recommendations toimprove: federal victim trafficking policies andhighlight areas for future collaboration. we request the pitf agencieswork with us to implement our recommendations tostop modern slavery. the council also recommendscongress to amend section 115(f) of the jvta to allowfor compensation to the
council in order to thrive,and not just survive. we agree strength doesnot come from winning. power does notcome from slavery. pride does notcome from pain. and ego does not comefrom exploitation. when a victim or a survivordecides not to surrender, that is strength. when a victim decides notto fear, that is power. and when a victim decidesnot to be
raped, that is pride. and when a victim decidesnot to be traumatized, that is ego. we believe victims'lives matter. survivors' voice count. victims live freely, andsurvivors are treated equally. the council thanks the pitfagencies, ngos, faith based organizations, communitymembers, businesses, and
philanthropists, andencourages further with an empowerment to engagesurvivors to prevent thank you very much,and god bless america. secretary kerry:thank you very much. we really (inaudible)appreciate your leadership very, very much. thank you for being here. we turn now to some reportsfrom folks around the table, beginning with ourgood attorney general.
obviously, there's noenforcement without the efforts of the combinedage and fbi efforts. so, delighted to recognize attorney general loretta lynch. attorney general lynch:thank you, mr. secretary, and thank you, everyone, forcoming together to work on -- certainly what i feel isone of the most important issues facing not justour country, but so many countries today, which is,of course, the scourge of
human trafficking -- oneof the most invisible yet pernicious crimes thatcrosses the borders. i'm particularly delightedto actually speak after harold d'souza, and i thankyou for your words and for representing, you and allthose on the council, representing the victims sowell because in fact, it is for you that wedo this work. and so, without your wordsand your input, we would not have the information weneed to be as
effective as possible. i'm happy to be here withall of our partners in this. partnership is the way inwhich we will combat and end this terrible crime. the department of justicehas continued our efforts to promote partnerships at alllevels -- international level, very vital. also between our federal,state, and local law enforcement.
and then, with the lawenforcement, connecting law enforcement to victimservices organizations, and to survivors themselves. because when we make thesecases, we have to have input from those particular groupsalso, or we are simply putting a miniature cork ina very large bottle, and letting the problemflow around it. the only way to attack thiscrime is through coordinated and collaborative efforts.
at the international level,our u.s.-mexico human trafficking bilateralenforcement initiative continues to enhancethe investigations and prosecutions of the networksthat operate across the u.s.-mexico border throughrobust collaboration between the department of justice --also our colleagues at the department of homelandsecurity, as well as our mexican law enforcementcounterparts. just this past june, fivedefendants were arraigned in
the eastern district ofnew york -- in brooklyn, following their extraditionfrom mexico on charges of operating a sextrafficking enterprise. and these extraditions andthe bilateral investigation that led to them are furtherevidence of the strength of our partnership withmexico in this area. now, domestically, weare also working on a partnership model. phase two of ouranti-trafficking
coordination team, or theact team initiative, is well under way. the act team initiative isanother partnership that's an intensive, on-the-groundpartnership between the department of justice,again, department of homeland security -- vitalpartners of ours, as well as the department of labor. and we focus on thedevelopment of high impact human traffickinginvestigations
and prosecutions. so, the cities that wereselected to participate in phase one of thispartnership, just some 18 months ago show a 119percent increase in cases filed involving humantrafficking, a 114 percent increase in thedefendants charged. so, acting together, we areexpanding our enforcement efforts, and in fact, notonly prosecuting more traffickers, butrescuing more survivors.
at the end of last year --the end of 2015, we designed six additional act team. already collaboratingclosely, they're undergoing intensive training withnational human trafficking subject matter experts, andthis will help them overcome some of the mostintractable challenges that investigators andprosecutors face in identifying and initiatingand advancing these investigations.
and phase two is alreadybeginning to bear fruit, and i couldn't be more proud ofthis partnership and the work that we have done. overall, the department ofjustice has continued to bring significant numbersof human trafficking prosecutions because therehas to be accountability for this crime. in fiscal year 2016, whichjust ended, we brought 241 human traffickingprosecutions.
and that meant we charged531 defendants, and we obtained convictionsagainst 439 traffickers. but of course, beyond thenumbers -- beyond the numbers are alwaysreal people. so, we continue to beespecially proud of our survivor-centeredtrauma-informed approach to prosecuting these casesbecause our focus on victims is as important as our focuson bringing the traffickers to justice.
and of course, thatsurvivor-centered focus carries over into somuch of what we do. last month, for example, weannounced $49 million in grant funding to combathuman trafficking. and of this $49 million, themajority of these funds were awarded to service providersto provide a range of direct services to all -- to thesurvivors of all forms of almost $16 million went tothe enhanced collaborative model, anti-trafficking taskforces across the country.
so, we're splittingit between increased enforcement at the locallevel, but also direct support to survivors. now, the anti-traffickingtask forces are yet another example of the collaborativemodel that we utilize to be most effectivein this field. these task forces arecomprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement. they're also comprised oflabor officials and victim
services providers. so, it's atri-partite system. they're selected for fundingbased on joint applications that are submitted by thelaw enforcement groups and the victim service providerstogether; it's a joint application outlining howthey will collaborate. so, from the beginning,collaboration and cooperation is bakedinto this process. now, earlier this year, thedepartment's office for
victims of crime hosteda daylong forum with the survivors of humantrafficking to enhance our collaboration with thisbrave group of individuals, as well as other survivoradvocacy groups and to better incorporate theirperspectives into the federal anti-traffickingwork that we're doing. and let me also join incongratulating the u.s. advisory council on thepublication of the report earlier this month, and wethank you for your efforts
in sharing your experiences,but also converting those experiences into real effort-- into real initiatives that will guide allof us in the future. we look forward to workingwith you on these important recommendations. and let me just add that thedepartment of justice is tremendously proudsupporting an administration that has made the fightagainst human trafficking a focus, and has also madesuch progress in this fight.
i'm certainly proud of whatwe've accomplished, but i look forward to everythingthat we're going to accomplish together. and if our past history isany guide, we'll well on our way to making inroadsagainst this terrible crime. so, thank you, mr.secretary, for the chance to discuss some ofwhat the department of justice is doing. and of course, we have ourstrong partners in
the fbi, as well. secretary kerry: thank you,madam attorney general. thank you so much for yourleadership and efforts on this -- makes ahuge difference. and now, i recognize fbidirector james comey to discuss their initiatives. director james comey:thank you, mr. secretary. as the attorney generalsaid, we are passionate for doing this work.
as we know from our priordiscussions in this room, the fbi focuses ontrafficking through our civil rights program, but webring in special focus on children trapped in theslave trade through our vile crimes againstchildren program. as the a.g. said, we've done a lot ofwork over the last year -- i thought i'd just give you afew numbers from the fbi's perspective.
in fiscal year 2016, weworked 1,894 trafficking investigations. we made 2,600 arrests,and we rescued over 1,000 children, including justlast week finishing our 10th operation across thecountry, which focuses on children caught in thecommercial sex trade, and we rescued 82 kids, and lockedup 239 traffickers during that effort. we've continued to do whatthe attorney general has
asked us to do, which isfocus on victim-centered response to this scourge. we are making sure thatthroughout all of our offices, we are treatingthese people, whether they're children or adults,like the victims that they are, and getting them thecare and services that they need. we're also doing two things,i think, better than before. we're pushing out trainingto make sure that people
know what trafficking lookslike so that they can tell us about it so we caninvestigate and lock up the slavers. and the second thing we'retrying to do better is tighten up ourinternational partnerships. operation cross-country thisyear was an international effort involving canadianpartners and many southeast asian nations because werealize that slavery knows no borders, and if we'regoing to be good, we have to
good togetherwith our partners. i think we all come togovernment work, hoping to be involved in workwith moral content. i can't imagine work that isdeeper in moral content than this. i can promise you on behalfof the fbi that we will not let this lose momentum. we will continue to workthis, certainly for the remainder of my six yearsand 10 months at this job.
thank you, mr. secretary. -- not that i'm counting. (laughter) secretary kerry:that kind of longevity? secretary kerry: thank you. thank you, director. thanks for yourefforts on this. i now want to call on chairjenny yang from eeoc, equal employment opportunitycommission, to talk about anti-discriminationother enforcement.
thank you, jenny. chair jenny yang: thank you,secretary kerry, and thanks to the members of theadvisory council, and to our presidential awardrecipients, and really, everyone in this room foryour leadership on this critical issue. when workers are trafficked,they can also experience employment discrimination. the laws that enforce at theeeoc, particularly those
prohibiting discriminationbased on race, national origin, sex, includingsexual harassment, can often be an integral part of thefight against trafficking. civil enforcement can be avital tool to both vindicate rights and obtainremedies for victims. last year, the eeoc resolvedtwo lawsuits involving hundreds of victimsof labor trafficking. in the eeoc's lawsuitagainst global horizons in washington state, the courtordered the company to pay
over $7 million to 67 thaifarm workers who had been subjected to harassment anddiscrimination, in violation of title vii of thecivil rights act. the court recognized thatthe workers had been subjected to fear,intimidation, humiliation, shame, and an unrelentingsense of imprisonment. in a companion case inhawaii against global horizons on five farms, acourt earlier awarded over $12 million in total damagesfor 82 workers there.
in another eeoc case, signalinternational llc, a ship building and repair company,agreed to pay $5 million to resolve a race and nationalorigin discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 476men who were recruited from india through the federalh-2b guest worker program, these individuals lived insegregated labor camps in texas and mississippi inthe aftermath of hurricanes katrina and rita. the workers alleged that thecompany and its agents lured
them with dishonestassurances of becoming lawful, permanent residentsin the united states. instead, when they werearrived, they were forced to work and labor indiscriminatory conditions. so, in addition to ourenforcement work, the eeoc has also beenfocused on outreach. last year, we partneredwith community-based organizations devoted toanti-trafficking work. we conducted more than 180anti-trafficking outreach
events, and we reachedover 12,000 attendees. we also trained staff andrepresentatives of our state and local governmentpartners on how to identify and developtrafficking cases. moving forward, combatingtrafficking will remain a priority for the eeoc. last month, the commissionapproved a new strategic plan that continues toprioritize issues affecting vulnerable workers,including victims of human
trafficking. president obama hascalled the fight against trafficking one of the greathuman right causes of our time. this administration has madeimportant progress in the fight against trafficking. thank you to everyone in thepitf for your leadership. much work remains to bedone, and the eeoc looks forward to continuing towork with all of
our federal partners. secretary kerry: jenny,thank you very much. now, my pleasure torecognize our principal deputy director of nationalintelligence, stephanie o'sullivan. stephanie o'sullivan:(inaudible) for the intelligence community, thefirst step was recognizing (inaudible) nationalsecurity priority, and raising its overallpriority (inaudible).
the result has been asignificant and continued increase in reportingon human trafficking. adding to our knowledge baseof trafficking patterns and perpetrators. we have also increasedoutreach across the community to (inaudible)organizations of law enforcement and aretargeting our analysis to support theirbroader efforts. the intelligence communityis completing a national
intelligence estimate onglobal human trafficking, which we would (inaudible)look at the impact of the conflict and crises of humantrafficking flows as well as the (inaudible) trafficking. we look forward tocontinuing the importance of the work, not onlyas national security professionals, but alsoas a call on humans. secretary kerry: thankyou, stephanie, very much. now, deputy secretary oftreasury,
sarah bloom raskin. sarah bloom raskin: thankyou, secretary kerry. the department -- secretary kerry: i want tojust comment that i'm very happy you guys are herefor the first time. sarah bloom raskin: yes. happy to be here. and the department oftreasury is proud to support the work of the president'sinteragency task force, and
the efforts to combat humantrafficking more broadly. i'm pleased to be able tojoin today's meeting to share with you treasury'songoing efforts to help modern day slavery, and ilook forward to further collaborationthrough this forum. so, treasury brings to thiswork significant financial expertise. and treasury has harnessedthis financial expertise to collect and analyzefinancial intelligence and
data to identify humantraffickers and their networks to attack andundermine the financial underpinnings of thesenetworks, and to support law enforcement investigationsthat lead to accountability and justice. in addition, treasury,specifically our office of foreign assets control, orofac, and the financial crimes enforcement network,better known as fincen, have particular tools to supportthe mission of combating
these tools include the useof our anti-money laundering authority, our accounting --our countering the financing of terrorism authority,as well as our sanctions authority. for example, treasury'sfincen works closely with the fbi, the department ofjustice, the department of homeland security, andthe human smuggling and trafficking center, amongother federal partners, to collaborate more closelywith analysts and field
agents to seek opportunitiesto further coordinate on government analyticalproducts that could provide a tactical and strategicadvantage to law enforcement, and to leveragefinancial data that treasury collects, including -- underthe bank secrecy act, to identify suspicioustransactions involving human trafficking, and targethuman trafficking networks. treasury is also committedto working with the private sector, especially withfinancial institutions, by
providing guidance on how todetect and report suspicious financial activity with apotential nexus to in 2014, treasury issueda public advisory that identifies financialindicators, or red flags, that may indicate thatfinancial activity is related to human traffickingor human smuggling. the advisory has been viewedover a million times since its publication, and has ledto an increase in reporting to fincen from financialinstitutions and
has assisted u.s. law enforcementinvestigations. further, treasury's ofaccoordinates closely with the department of justice andfederal law enforcement agencies to identify, andthen impose, sanctions on specific human traffickingand smuggling networks -- their leaders, theirassociates, and those who provide material support. among those sanctioned isthe yakuza, japan's powerful
criminal syndicate that isnotorious for violence and far-ranging criminalactivities, including sex trafficking, sex tourism,human smuggling, and prostitution. since july 2011, treasuryhas designated 14 yakuza members and theirassociates. treasury has also designedthe central american gang, known as ms-13, for engagingin transnational criminal activities, includingkidnapping, sex trafficking,
and human smuggling. ms-13 is one of the mostdangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangsworldwide, and treasury has designated 12 of itsmembers, including 12 -- including two earlier thisyear, as part of our ongoing effort to targetorganizations and individuals that engagein this sort of activity. treasury has also steppedup sanctions on drug trafficking organizationsthat likely facilitate,
enable, or profit fromhuman trafficking. the department of treasuryis committed, through these and other means, tocontinuing our efforts to support the fight againsthuman trafficking. we are able to bring strongtools and analysis to this effort. we will continue to useall of our authorities to disrupt criminals whoattempt to use our financial system to engage in theseactivities, and we will
continue to seek new ways tocombat these networks, to deepen our cooperation withlaw enforcement, and to further collaborate with allthose who are willing to partner in these efforts. secretary kerry: thankyou very, very much. so, that takes care ofthe sort of rule of law component of thereports today. now, we're going to discussthe victim services. let me just say quickly thati'm proud that this march,
the state department issuednew mandatory standards for all of our employees underthe chief commission authority that will set newguidelines for the hiring of personal domestic workers. and we also have additionalcontractual protections in order to ensure that thosewho are representing our country live up to locallaw, as well as u.s. standards. so, let me turn first tosenior counselor andrea palm
of the -- of hhs to giveus an update on victim services. andrea palm: thankyou, secretary kerry. i would echo the a.g.'sthanks to the advisory council, and to the presidential award recipients. it's really important andinspiring work, so thank you for your efforts. i would -- identified someprogress since i was here
with you all last year onitems that we have been working on (inaudible) iwould say in three areas, and to ensure that we areable to continue our work beyond this administration,we have embedded an office on trafficking in personswithin hhs to continue that focus. so, first, we've been veryfocused on making sure we can increase and continueto serve growing numbers of victims of trafficking withservices that they need.
in fy-16, with hhs dollars,to our grantees, we served more than 2,300 victims andfamily members, which is a 40 increase overthe previous year. we're also understandingthat our money is not enough to serve all the need --serving we have worked to streamline our processes andenhance our network beyond just the community-basedorganizations (inaudible) to provide referrals andconnect folks to services to the tune of about anadditional 8,100 victims of
trafficking, so we feel goodabout making sure that folks are getting services as soonas possible, whether it's with our dollars, orwith a broader network. and i'm sure you all know,we also rely pretty heavily on the national humantrafficking resource center hot line, which, sincethe beginning of this administration, hasidentified well over 30,000 cases of trafficking, andabout 7,100 of those were just in the last year, whichis a 33 percent increase
over the previous year. we also have a focus onunderserved communities, and have them working to buildour resources and outreach to folks in the lgbtcommunity (inaudible) american indian and alaskannative populations who we think are underserved. second, is in the area of data collection innovational research. we've funded over $1 millionworth of evaluations of
trafficking programs so thatwe're sure we're promoting best practices. and later this fall, we willput out for public comment a set of uniformed datacollection standards so that we are sure we understandwhat we're seeing in the data, moving forward. we'll do some work also thisyear -- this coming year, in training technicalassistance, and we're going to be adapting some of ourtraining models specifically
for hhs personnel, and we'llbe doing some professional development and fellowshipsfor trafficking victims themselves. we hope that that will buildcapacity in the system as well. the third bucket i'd liketo touch on is in our partnerships -- both newand expansions of previous partnerships. so, this fall, with doj,we're actually going to
announce the 21 members ofour advisory committee. we look forwardto doing that. later this week, we'regoing to release our second interagency report. and then, the final thingi would just mention, with (inaudible) we did a seriesof listening sessions up in alaska, and i'm sure peopleare familiar with, and we will be putting out forpublic comment a joint guidance that will focuson specialized housing and
service needs forvictims of trafficking. so, we'll look forward toeveryone's engagement on that draft guidance. thank you, andrea. that's great. a lot of stuff.
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