President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF)
The PITF, a Cabinet-level entity chaired by the Secretary of State, and the Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG), consisting of senior officials designated by representatives of the PITF, help coordinate interagency policy initiatives to combat human trafficking, including the sex trafficking of children. Cabinet members meet in the PITF annually, while the same federal departments and agencies also convene more regularly in the SPOG and in its five committees. This coordination ensures a whole-of-government approach that addresses enforcement of criminal law, development of victim identification and protection measures, support for innovations in data gathering and research, education and public awareness, enhanced partnerships and research opportunities, strengthened policies on federal procurement, and strategically linked foreign assistance and diplomatic engagement.
Department of Defense (DOD)
Various agencies within DOD contribute to the fight against child exploitation through cooperation with civilian law enforcement agencies and other partners, as well as implementing policies within the military to prevent child exploitation by members of the Armed Services. Among other efforts, DOD supports child exploitation cases with criminal investigators from the Military Criminal Investigative Organizations (MCIOs) who review exploitation reports made available by NCMEC through the CyberTipline, conduct DOD database searches, and disseminate reports involving DOD personnel to the proper jurisdiction.
Department of Education (ED)
ED helps combat child exploitation by raising awareness about and trying to prevent domestic human trafficking and exploitation amongst school-aged youth. ED informs school leaders, faculty, and students about the problem; helps schools understand how the problem relates to teaching and learning and why it is important for schools to address it; embeds the issue in schools’ emergency operations and management planning; and works with other federal agencies, state and local agencies, and public sector stakeholders to develop and disseminate resource material.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
NCMEC is a private, non-profit organization designated by Congress to serve as a national clearinghouse on issues related to missing and exploited children and works in cooperation with DOJ and other federal, state and local law enforcement, education and social service agencies, families and the public.
NCMEC created the CyberTipline to serve as a centralized reporting mechanism for the public and electronic service providers to report suspected child sexual exploitation. Since 1998, the CyberTipline has handled more than 8.4 million reports—nearly half of those in 2015. NCMEC staff review the reports, analyze the content, add relevant publicly available information and make the report available to the appropriate international, state, federal, or local law enforcement agency for independent review and possible investigation. NCMEC’s Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP) was launched in 2002 to enable NCMEC staff to track child pornography images of children previously identified by law enforcement. Law enforcement officers submit copies of seized child pornography images to federal law enforcement agents working out of the NCMEC facility. CVIP analysts review the copies of the seized images and videos and determine which images contain previously identified child victims. Since 2002, NCMEC staff has reviewed more than 160 million images and videos. Many children have been recovered from ongoing exploitation as a result of CVIP’s technical assistance for law enforcement’s efforts to locate and recover child victims depicted in sexually exploitive images. NCMEC’s Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) was launched in 2011 to further streamline the ability to make connections between cases of reported online child sex trafficking and active missing child ases. NCMEC’s CSTT consists of specialized Child Sex Trafficking Analysts, Missing Child Case Management teams, and a Child Sex Trafficking Specialist dedicated to supporting law enforcement, social service agencies, legal guardians and families working to locate, recover and support children victimized through sex trafficking.
National Child Exploitation Threat Assessment
The National Child Exploitation Threat Assessment in the 2010 National Strategy was the first national assessment by the federal government of the risks posed by child exploitation. The 2016 assessment is based on a comprehensive survey of more than 1,000 investigators, law enforcement managers, prosecutors, analysts, victim service providers, and DOJ grant recipients. The survey focused on changes to the child sexual exploitation threat since the previous assessment and potential threats over the next five years.
2016 estimates from the International Labor Organization indicate that there are 152 million children 5-17 years old in child labor, of which about 73 million are in hazardous labor that by its nature can have adverse effects on their health, safety, and moral development. Concerted efforts by governments, workers, and employers have resulted in a reduction of nearly 94 million children engaged in child labor in the last 15 years, which is a significant achievement. Still, far too many children today carry heavy loads and wield machetes on farms; scavenge in garbage dumps and are exposed to electronic waste; endure physical, emotional, and verbal abuse as domestic servants; and fight as child combatants in armed conflict. An estimated 25 million people are trapped in forced labor, including over 4 million children. Children and adults are forced to climb into mine shafts in search of diamonds and gold; are coerced, deceived, and trapped on fishing vessels by unscrupulous labor recruiters; and are forced to toil in the extreme heat of brick kilns to escape from a vicious cycle of bonded labor.
Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative
In January 2010, the Deputy Attorney General announced DOJ’s Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative, declaring public safety in tribal communities a top priority and outlining the responsibilities of the USAOs to federally recognized tribes in their districts. The memorandum identified, in particular, violence against children in Indian Country as a focus of these efforts. In partnership with tribes, the Department’s goal is to identify and implement solutions addressing immediate and long-term public safety challenges in Indian Country, particularly in the area of child exploitation. All USAOs with Indian Country responsibilities have at least one Tribal Liaison to serve as the primary point of contact with tribes in the district, and the Department’s Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) program provides for cross-deputized tribal prosecutors or tribal attorneys to prosecute crimes in both tribal court and federal court as appropriate. The Department also provides training and technical assistance to federal, state, and tribal law enforcement personnel as well as to key stakeholders involved in responding to child exploitation cases through NCMEC, the Tribal Child Protection in Indian Country program, the National AMBER Alert program, and the ICAC program.
Tribes are included in PSC Coalitions, and the National Indian Country Training Initiative (NICTI), USAOs, the FBI, and the ICAC Task Forces are providing PSC training to tribal law enforcement. A number of tribes participate in ICAC Task Forces, either as formal permanent members of the task force on a case-by-case basis.
The prevalence of contact offenses in Indian Country PSC cases raises unique challenges for law enforcement, as such crimes require different training and resources. Obstacles to prosecuting PSC crimes occurring in Indian Country may stem from a lack of trust in off-reservation authorities; a lack of witness cooperation due to the small size of the tribal community; loyalty to the tribal community; and fear of reprisal from suspects and families. There is often family pressure on child exploitation victims not to disclose or to recant allegations of abuse. These dynamics may result in a significant delay in the reporting of PSC crimes or those crimes going unreported. For this reason, training is a significant part of the Department’s forward-looking strategy in Indian Country. As noted above, the Department has instituted a robust training program for federal, state, local, and tribal criminal justice and social service professionals working in or with tribal communities. The NICTI, Amber Alert, and ICAC programs will continue to dedicate training efforts in support of law enforcement, prosecutors and investigators in Indian Country. DOJ will also continue to focus on inclusion of tribal and BIA law enforcement officers in ICAC Task Forces that are already in place in Indian Country.