2012 Press Releases
2012 Trafficking In Persons Report Released by U.S. Secretary of State Clinton
June 19, 2012
Trafficking In Persons Logo (Photo State Dept.)
The U.S. Department of State’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released publicly by Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton on Tuesday June 19, and is now available on the U.S. Department of State’s website at http://www.state.gov/j/tip.
The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), requires the U.S. Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to Congress with the goal of creating partnerships around the world in the fight against modern-day slavery, which knows no borders. This year’s TIP Report includes 186 countries and territories including The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The United States Government approach to combating human trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA and the Palermo Protocol recognize that the crime of human trafficking includes obtaining or maintaining victims' labor or services (including in the "sex industry") through force, fraud, or coercion, whether overt or through psychological manipulation.
Official Statement on the Release of the 2012 TIP Report - Spokesperson Erica Thibault, U.S. Embassy Nassau
The 2012 TIP Report on The Bahamas covers activities undertaken by the government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas from April 2011 – March 2012. While acknowledging the significant efforts made by the Bahamian government to address TIP, the report notes that as of the end of March 2012, these efforts had not yet resulted in the identification of any TIP victims and/or the investigation and prosecution of human traffickers. As a result, The Bahamas ranking in the report remains unchanged from last year.
The U.S. Embassy to The Bahamas recognizes and applauds the significant efforts made by the Bahamian government over the last nine months to build robust protocols and institutions that will contribute significantly to the early identification of trafficking victims and the effective investigation, prosecution and conviction of human traffickers. The Embassy would particularly like to acknowledge and thank the Government’s Inter-Ministry Committee on Trafficking in Persons, chaired by Ms. A. Missouri Sherman-Peters, for its exemplary leadership in tackling TIP issues and the Ministry of National Security for its strong support of the TIP initiative.
The 2012 TIP Report on The Bahamas commends the establishment of a high-level interagency TIP committee to coordinate counter-TIP operations and notes that Bahamian authorities successfully conducted a large trafficking awareness workshop in March 2012 that included government and non-government stakeholders. The report applauds the committee’s work in developing a national action plan, establishing a working level TIP task force – including law enforcement, social service medical professionals, NGOs and religious leaders – to handle trafficking allegations, and developing a protocol to guide officials in the identification and appropriate handling of trafficking cases.
The Embassy is confident that the measures undertaken by the government in the early months of 2012, including the participation of 20 members of the Bahamian TIP task force in a trafficking workshop with Department of Justice Trafficking investigators and prosecutors held in Miami June 18-20, will bear fruit and will result in the identification of trafficking victims and the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. The implementation of these counter-TIP measures and the expected investigation and prosecution of traffickers will pave the way for an improved ranking in next year’s report.
Factsheet: "What is Trafficking In Persons?"