President Obama issued an executive order to strengthen the United States’ zero-tolerance policy against human trafficking through government contractors and organizations Sept. 25, 2012.
“As the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the world, the United States government bears a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not contribute to trafficking in persons,” Obama wrote in the order. “This order will help to protect vulnerable individuals as contractors and subcontractors perform vital services and manufacture the goods procured by the United States.”
The executive order provides better tools and training for detecting traffickers and increase resources for trafficked victims, according to the White House. The order forbids federal contractors from using “misleading or fraudulent recruitment practices during recruitment of employees” including, for example, recruitment fees and the destruction or confiscation of an employee’s identity documents such as a passport and driver’s license. All contractors are required to provide more information about their foreign employees and must submit a compliance plan if their foreign services exceed $500,000.
Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, expressed appreciation for Obama’s desire to end human trafficking and acknowledged the order would help combat labor trafficking, but he said it would “do little to impact sex trafficking.”
“While his order mentions the issue of commercial sex, it addresses it within the context of unfair or coercive labor practices in the procurement of government services,” said Duke. “Very little, if any, of the horrific worldwide business of sex trafficking is associated with our government’s day-to-day business dealings with contractors.”
(BP)
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