Annual trafficking in persons report and amendments

(a) Annual trafficking in persons report (1) Annual report Not later than June 30 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the anti-trafficking efforts of the United States and foreign governments according to the minimum standards and criteria enumerated in section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106), and the nature and scope of trafficking in persons in each country and analysis of the trend lines for individual governmental efforts. The report shall, to the extent concurrent reporting data is available, cover efforts and activities taking place during the period between April 1 of the year preceding the report and March 31 of the year in which the report is made, and should include— (A) a list of those countries, if any, to which the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking are applicable and whose governments fully comply with such standards based only on concrete actions taken by the country that are recorded during the reporting period; (B) a list of those countries, if any, to which the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking are applicable and whose governments do not yet fully comply with such standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance based only on concrete actions taken by the country (excluding any commitments by the country to take additional future steps during the next year) that are recorded during the reporting period; (C) a list of those countries, if any, to which the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking are applicable and whose governments do not fully comply with such standards and are not making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance; (D) information on the measures taken by the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and, as appropriate, other multilateral organizations in which the United States participates, to prevent the involvement of the organization’s employees, contractor personnel, and peacekeeping forces in trafficking in persons or the exploitation of victims of trafficking; (E) reporting and analysis on the emergence or shifting of global patterns in human trafficking, including data on the number of victims trafficked to, through, or from major source and destination countries, disaggregated by nationality, gender, and age, to the extent possible; (F) emerging issues in human trafficking; (G) a section entitled Promising Practices in the Eradication of Trafficking in Persons to highlight effective practices and use of innovation and technology in prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships, including by foreign governments, the private sector, and domestic civil society actors; (H) for each country included in a different list than the country had been placed in the previous annual report, a detailed explanation of how the concrete actions (or lack of such actions) undertaken (or not undertaken) by the country during the previous reporting period contributed to such change, including a clear linkage between such actions and the minimum standards enumerated in section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106); and (I) information about the trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal, including cases and steps governments are undertaking to prevent, identify, and eliminate such trafficking. (2) Tier 2 watch list (A) Submission of list Not later than the date on which the determinations described in subsections (c) and (d) of section 110 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(c) and (d) are submitted to the appropriate congressional committees in accordance with such subsections, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of countries that the Secretary determines require special scrutiny during the following year. The list shall be composed of countries that have been listed pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)) pursuant to the current annual report because— (i) the estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions; or (ii) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials. (B) Interim assessment Not later than February 1 of each year, the Secretary shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment of the progress that each country on the Tier 2 watch list described in subparagraph (A) has made since April 1 of the previous year. (C) Relation of tier 2 watch list to annual trafficking in persons report A determination that a country shall not be placed on the Tier 2 watch list described in subparagraph (A) shall not affect in any way the determination to be made in the following year as to whether a country is complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking or whether a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with such standards. (D) Countries on tier 2 watch list for 2 consecutive years (i) In general Except as provided under clause (ii), a country that is included on the Tier 2 watch list described in subparagraph (A) for 2 consecutive years after December 23, 2008, shall be included on the list of countries described in paragraph (1)(C). (ii) Exercise of waiver authority The President may waive the application of clause (i) for up to 1 year if the President determines, and reports credible evidence to the appropriate congressional committees, that such a waiver is justified because— (I) the country has a written plan to begin making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; (II) the plan, if implemented, would constitute making such significant efforts; and (III) the country is devoting sufficient resources to implement the plan. (E) Congressional notice Not later than 30 days after the submission of the evidence described in subparagraph (D)(ii) with respect to each country determined to have met the requirements under subclauses (I) through (III) of such, the Secretary shall— (i) provide a detailed description of the credible information supporting such determination on a publicly available website maintained by the Department; and (ii) offer to brief the appropriate congressional committees on any written plan submitted by the country as described in subparagraph (D)(ii)(I), with an opportunity to review the written plan. (F) Special rule for certain countries on special watch list that are downgraded and reinstated on special watch list Notwithstanding subparagraphs (D) and (E), a country may not be included on the Tier 2 watch list described in subparagraph (A) for more than 2 years immediately after the country consecutively— (i) was included on the Tier 2 watch list described in subparagraph (A) for— (I) 2 consecutive years after December 23, 2008; and (II) any additional years after such date of enactment as a result of the President exercising the waiver authority under subparagraph (D)(ii); and (ii) was subsequently included on the list of countries described in paragraph (1)(C) in the year following such waiver under subparagraph (D)(ii). (3) Significant efforts (A) In general In making determinations under paragraph (1) or (2) as to whether the government of a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, the Secretary shall consider— (i) the extent to which the country is a country of origin, transit, or destination for severe forms of trafficking; (ii) the extent of noncompliance with the minimum standards by the government and, particularly, the extent to which officials or employees of the government have participated in, facilitated, condoned, or are otherwise complicit in severe forms of trafficking; and (iii) what measures are reasonable to bring the government into compliance with the minimum standards in light of the resources and capabilities of the government. (B) Proof of failure to make significant efforts In addition to the considerations described in subparagraph (A), in determinations under paragraph (1)(C) as to whether the government of a country is not making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, the Secretary shall consider, as proof of failure to make significant efforts, a government policy or pattern of— (i) trafficking; (ii) trafficking in government-funded programs; (iii) forced labor (in government-affiliated medical services, agriculture, forestry, mining, construction, or other sectors); (iv) sexual slavery in government camps, compounds, or outposts; (v) employing or recruiting child soldiers; (vi) the extent to which the government of the country is devoting sufficient budgetary resources— (I) to investigate and prosecute acts of severe trafficking in persons; (II) to convict and sentence persons responsible for such acts; and (III) to obtain restitution for victims of human trafficking; (vii) the extent to which the government of the country is devoting sufficient budgetary resources— (I) to protect and support victims of trafficking in persons; and (II) to prevent severe forms of trafficking in persons; and (viii) the extent to which the government of the country has consulted with domestic and international civil society organizations that resulted in concrete actions to improve the provision of services to victims of trafficking in persons. (4) Action plans for countries upgraded to tier 2 watchlist (A) In general Not later than 180 days after the release of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, the Secretary, acting through the Director and through the Assistant Secretary of the appropriate regional bureau, in consultation with appropriate officials from the government of each country described in paragraph (2)(A), and with the assistance of the United States Ambassador or Charge d’Affaires in each such country, shall— (i) prepare an action plan for each country upgraded from the Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watchlist to further improve such country’s tier ranking under this subsection; and (ii) present the relevant action plan to the government of each such country. (B) Contents Each action plan prepared under this paragraph— (i) shall include specific concrete actions to be taken by the country to substantively address deficiencies preventing the country from meeting Tier 2 standards, based on credible information; and (ii) should be focused on short-term and multi-year goals. (C) Briefings The Director and all appropriate regional Assistant Secretaries shall make themselves available to brief the appropriate congressional committees and the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the implementation of each action plan prepared under this paragraph. (D) Savings provision Nothing in this paragraph may be construed as modifying— (i) minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking under section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106); or (ii) the actions against governments failing to meet minimum standards under this section or the criteria for placement on the Tier 2 watch list under paragraph (2). (b) Conforming amendment to the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018 Section 204(b)(1) of the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 7107 note) is amended by striking special watch list described in paragraph (2)(A)(iii) and inserting Tier 2 watch list described in paragraph (2)(A) of section 415(a) of the Department of State Policy Provisions Act. (c) Conforming amendment to the bipartisan congressional trade priorities and accountability act of 2015 Section 106(b)(6)(E)(iii) of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4205(b)(6)(E)(iii)) is amended by striking (A)(iii) each place it appears and inserting paragraph (2)(A) of section 415(a) of the Department of State Policy Provisions Act. (d) Printed version of the report Section 107(c) of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (22 U.S.C. 7107 note) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by striking and at the end; (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and inserting; and; and (3) by adding the following new paragraph: (3) ensure that a printed hard copy format of the annual report submitted under section 415(a) of the Department of State Policy Provisions Act is made available to the public.. (e) Effective dates Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d), and the amendments made by such subsections, shall apply beginning on the day that is 1 year after the date of the reporting period for the most recent report submitted under section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)), as such section was in effect before the date of the enactment of this Act. (f) Trafficking in persons report heroes award The Secretary is authorized to establish an award, to be known as the Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes Award, to honor individuals in the United States and around the world who have devoted their lives to combatting trafficking in persons. The Secretary shall, in coordination with the Director, establish procedures for selecting recipient of the award and shall to the maximum extent practicable present the award annually to not more than 10 individuals who may be United States citizens or foreign nationals. The Secretary shall host an annual ceremony for recipients of the award, which may be combined with the public release of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report under subsection (a). (g) Establishment of the expert consultant network The Secretary is authorized to establish an Expert Consultant Network to contract with trafficking in persons’ experts with lived experience to serve as paid consultants on policy and grantmaking for the Department.