ATIP Policy Library

Core legislation that defines human trafficking, forced labor, and modern slavery. These laws often establish national task forces, criminal penalties, and survivor protections.

Honoring 25 Years of Global and National Progress in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

2025 marks a historic milestone: the 25th anniversary of both the United Nations Palermo Protocol and the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). These foundational frameworks laid the groundwork for modern anti-trafficking efforts, creating a shared global and national language to define trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute traffickers.

Adopted in 2000, the Palermo Protocol was the first international agreement to establish a comprehensive definition of human trafficking and to promote coordinated action among countries. That same year, the United States enacted the TVPA, a landmark law that established the 3P paradigm—Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution—as the cornerstone of U.S. anti-trafficking policy.

Together, these initiatives catalyzed a global movement. Over the past 25 years, they have:

• Helped codify trafficking laws in more than 170 countries,
• Supported the development of victim services and non-punishment principles,
• Enabled cross-border collaboration in the fight against organized crime, and
• Centered survivor voices in the evolution of law, policy, and advocacy.

As we reflect on this progress, we must also recognize the challenges ahead—particularly the rise of digital exploitation, forced labor in supply chains, and gaps in enforcement and survivor access to justice. This anniversary is not just a time to commemorate; it is a call to action to ensure these frameworks evolve to meet the current and emerging realities of trafficking.

This policy library exists to honor that legacy and equip advocates, legislators, researchers, and survivor leaders with the tools to continue advancing anti-trafficking efforts across every level of governance.

• U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)
  • Established: 2000 (reauthorized multiple times)
  • Strengths:
    • Defines trafficking in persons (sex and labor)
    • Provides protection and services for survivors (e.g., T-visas, continued presence)
    • Requires prevention efforts and interagency coordination
    • Enables prosecution of traffickers
    • Establishes the TIP Office and the Trafficking in Persons Report
• UN Palermo Protocol (2000)
  • Global standard on human trafficking
  • Strengths:
    • Establishes an internationally agreed definition of trafficking
    • Promotes cross-border cooperation and victim-centered response
    • Basis for national laws in over 170 countries
    • UNTOC’s three supplementary protocols (the Palermo Protocols) are:
    • • Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
      • Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
      • Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.
• UK Modern Slavery Act (2015)
  • First law of its kind in Europe
  • Strengths:
    • Requires companies over £36M to report on supply chain efforts
    • Includes survivor compensation, independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and child advocates
    • Inspired laws in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere
  • OSCE National Referral Mechanisms joining efforts to protect the rights of trafficked persons
  • 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report

What Is Illegal Offline Should Be Illegal Online

Legislation addressing grooming, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), livestream exploitation, and platform accountability. For background, please read this article by ITHT. This is a rapidly growing area of legislation and these are just a few of the bills which have passed into law addressing online exploitation and child protection.

• US: Take it Down Act 
  • Criminalizing the publication of Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII), including AI generated content known as “deepfakes.” 
  • Protecting good faith efforts to assist victims. 
  • Requiring websites to take down NCII upon notice from the victim within 48 hours. 
• U.S: Fosta Sesta 
  • Full name: Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act / Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act
  • Purpose: Holds websites liable for third-party content that facilitates sex trafficking.
  • Key Features:
    • Carves out an exception to Section 230 (legal shield for platforms).
    • Led to shutdown of sites like Backpage.
• UK Online Safety Act (2023)
  • Guide to the Online Safety Act and Its Implementation
  • Purpose: To protect users- especially children- from illegal, harmful, and abusive content online, while holding tech companies accountable.
  • Key Features:
    • Duty of Care

• • • • • Tech companies must identify and mitigate risks of harm on their platforms.
        • They have a legal responsibility to prevent exposure to illegal content (CSAM, Terrorism, revenge porn).

• • • Child Safety Duties- Platforms must:

• • • • • Assess risks to children using their services.
        • Apply stricter content moderation and safety-by-design features.
        • Age verify users to ensure children aren’t exposed to inappropriate content.

• • • Illegal Content– Required Swift Action to:

• • • • • Remove illegal content once detected or reported.
        • Prevent content re-uploading through proactive technology.

• • • Transparency & Reporting – Companies must:

• • • • • Publish Risk assessments and safety policies.
        • Be transparent about content moderation decisions and algorithms.

• • • Ofcom (UK Communications regular) as Regulator- Gains new powers

• • • • • Can investigate non-compliance
        • Can impose fines up to  £18 million or 10% of global turnover.
        • Can block services in extreme cases.

• • • Criminal Liability 

• • • • • Senior managers at tech companies can face criminal charges for failing to comply with safety obligations (obstructing investigations, repeated violations)
• Canada: Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act (SISE Act) (Age verification)
  • Purpose: Target tech platforms that host or profit from non-consensual sexual images or videos.
  • Key Features:
    • Requires informed, documented consent for all uploaded explicit content.
    • Platforms must remove content within 24 hours of notice.
    • Penalties for non-compliance can be severe.
    • Inspired by the Pornhub/CSAM scandals
• Australia’s Online Safety Act (2022)
  • Purpose: Creates a regulator with enforcement power over online abuse, bullying, and exploitation.
  • Key Features:
    • Allows users to request the removal of abusive content.
    • E-Safety Commissioner can fine companies/platforms that don’t comply.
    • Special tools to address image-based abuse, cyberbullying, and protection of children.
    • Applies across domestic and international tech platforms.
• Guatemala: Crime of Seduction and Blackmail through Technology (2024)
  • Purpose: Criminalizes online grooming, sextortion, and tech-enabled abuse.
  • Key Features:
    • Targets those who manipulate or coerce minors into sending sexual content.
    • Covers threats of exposure (“sextortion”).
    • Strengthens digital forensic capacity for investigators.
  • Guatemala 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report

• Sweden: Only Fans Law
  • Criminalize the sale of sexual acts that take place online, making it illegal to pay for sexual acts at a distance using websites like OnlyFans.
• US: GRACIE Act (Generate Recordings of All CPS Interviews Everywhere)
  • Child Protective Services (CPS) interview protocols are outdated and require reform. Mandatory audio recordings of all CPS interviews are a crucial accountability measure, like DOJ-mandated interrogation recordings and police body cameras.
  • 37.4% of children in the United States will be interviewed by CPS before age 18. The accuracy, accountability, and efficiency of interviews could be substantially improved if these initial interviews were recorded.
  • Many countries and US states record child testimonies only after the initial screening or assessment of abuse or neglect allowing many children to fall through the cracks.

Laws that mandate training, education campaigns, or business certification programs to prevent trafficking:

Change from sentence above to expanded intro paragraph:

When it comes to ending human trafficking, prevention and public awareness provisions represent are our strongest anti-trafficking defense because they shift the fight from reaction to protection. While prosecution and survivor services remain vital, the ultimate goal is to stop trafficking before it starts. Laws that focus on education, awareness, and training address the root vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit and build stronger, safer communities.

By stopping exploitation at the earliest possible stage, these laws not only save lives but also reduce the long-term burden on the criminal justice and social service systems. 

• US Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Protection Act
  • Purpose: Reauthorization and expansion of the federal TVPA.
    • Key Features:
      • Strengthens funding for survivor services.
      • Supports interagency task forces, prevention education, and data collection.
    • Named in honor of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
    • Drafted with survivor leader input.

• Tennessee Businesses Against Trafficking (TBAT)
  • Purpose: State-run voluntary certification program for businesses to prevent and report trafficking.
  • Key Features:
    • Offers training materials and signage for employees/public.
    • Businesses pledge to take specific anti-trafficking actions.
    • Encourages cross-sector awareness and partnership.

Survivor-centered laws that provide criminal record relief and compensation for crimes committed as a direct result of trafficking.

For survivors of human trafficking, freedom is only the first step. True justice requires laws that not only protect survivors from punishment for crimes they were forced to commit but also provide meaningful pathways to healing, restitution, and full reintegration into society. Survivor-centered laws that deliver criminal record relief and financial compensation are critical tools in this process.

These laws uphold the fundamental truth that survivors are not criminals—they are individuals deserving of dignity, restitution, and the full protection of the law.

• US Trafficking Survivors Relief Act (not yet law) and The Non-Punishment Principle
  • Purpose: Enables survivors of human trafficking who were criminally charged or convicted due to actions directly linked to their trafficking victimization to clear those convictions or arrests at the federal level.
  • Key Features:
    • Vacatur and Expungement
    • Affirmative Defense: Human Trafficking Defense
    • Court Process and Judicial Oversight
    • Supporting Evidence Standards
    • Sentencing Mitigation 
    • No filing fees and Confidentiality
    • Implementation and Oversight Mechanisms
• TSRA-2025-Letter.pdf

• • Netherlands’ compensation fund for victims.
    • Purpose: Provides financial compensation to trafficking survivors regardless of prosecution outcomes.
    • Key Features:
      • Victims can apply without needing to testify or cooperate with law enforcement.
      • Funded by the Dutch government.
      • Part of broader trauma-informed victim support infrastructure.
  • Nordic Model 
    • Purpose: The Nordic model (also known as the Swedish model, equality model, or end-demand model) is an anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution legislative approach developed in Sweden in 1999.
    • It criminalizes buyers of sex and third parties (traffickers), while decriminalizing those prostituted, coupled with support programs for those wishing to exit sex work.
    • Key Features:
      • Criminalization of Buyers
      • Decriminalization of the Exploited
      • Targeting Third Parties
      • Provision of Support Services
      • Public Education and Awareness
      • Framing as Gender Equality

Laws requiring companies to disclose efforts to prevent forced labor and trafficking in supply chains.

Human trafficking and forced labor do not just occur in hidden corners—they are embedded in global supply chains that produce the goods and services we use every day. From clothing and electronics to food and raw materials, exploitation often hides behind complex networks of subcontractors and overseas production. Laws that require corporate transparency and accountability are critical for ending this cycle of abuse and ensuring that businesses cannot profit from human suffering.

 They make clear that profit cannot come at the expense of human freedom, and they transform markets into powerful tools for prevention. When corporations are required to take responsibility, trafficking is not only harder to hide—it is harder to sustain.

U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

• Purpose: To prevent goods made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China from entering U.S. markets, thereby cutting off profits derived from exploitation and pressuring corporations to ensure their supply chains are free of forced labor.
  • Key Features:.
    • Rebuttable Presumption: All goods produced in whole or in part in Xinjiang are presumed to be made with forced labor and are therefore banned from U.S. import unless companies can prove otherwise.
    • Burden on Importers: Shifts responsibility onto companies to trace supply chains and provide “clear and convincing evidence” that their goods are free of forced labor.
    • High-Risk Sectors: Focuses on industries most linked to forced labor in Xinjiang, such as cotton, tomatoes, and polysilicon (used in solar panels).
    • Enforcement Mechanism: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has authority to detain, exclude, or seize goods suspected of being tainted by forced labor.
    • Human Rights Priority: Signals a strong U.S. stance against state-sponsored forced labor, aligning trade with human rights policy.

EU’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act

• Purpose: To require companies operating in the EU to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for human rights abuses and environmental harms—including forced labor and trafficking—throughout their global supply chains.
  • Key Features:
    • Mandatory Due Diligence: Companies must assess risks and take action to prevent and address forced labor and other abuses in their operations and supply chains.
    • Scope of Coverage: Applies to large EU-based companies and non-EU companies operating in the EU that meet certain revenue thresholds.
    • Transparency & Reporting: Requires public reporting on due diligence policies, processes, and outcomes.
    • Civil Liability: Companies can be held legally liable if they fail to address human rights violations linked to their supply chains.
    • Remediation Requirement: Beyond disclosure, companies must take corrective action and provide remedies when abuses are found.
    • Leveling Standards Across Europe: Harmonizes corporate accountability rules across all EU member states to prevent weak enforcement “safe havens.”

Orphanage trafficking is the recruitment of children into residential care facilities for profit, often through falsified documents and false promises to families. Despite being portrayed as “orphans,” the majority of these children have living parents. This exploitation is fueled by foreign aid, illicit adoption practices, and international voluntourism, creating a cycle of trauma and abuse.

With an estimated 8 million children in orphanages worldwide—many in unregistered or unlawful facilities—this hidden form of trafficking undermines child protection systems and international human rights commitments. Recent cases, such as the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, underscore its global urgency.

 Legislative action is needed to explicitly recognize orphanage trafficking within anti-trafficking frameworks, curtail foreign funding and voluntourism that perpetuate demand, and align with SDG Target 8.7 to eradicate all forms of modern slavery and trafficking.

• Lawmakers Guide to Stopping Orphanage Trafficking

• Legislator Action Briefing

• • LEGISLATE: The proliferation of orphanages in many parts of the world is because governments fail to have adequate laws that prioritize child protection.

• Recognize orphanage trafficking as a form of modern slavery: Legislators can create a clear position recognizing orphanage trafficking as a form of child trafficking in legislation and a clear position recognizing the harms of orphanage volunteering. Such laws should include strong penalties for those involved in trafficking and regulations against orphanage tourism and volunteering.
• Multi sector regulation: Legislators can regulate charities’ overseas activities and volunteering activities with children across all sectors, and prohibit orphanage tourism.
• Data collection, data analysis, and data sharing: Legislators can develop a baseline understanding of the scope and scale of the issues to track progress and analyze trends and to advance international cooperation on this transnational issue.