§7109a — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

The President must lead and fund research on human trafficking using several agencies and experts, and can give grants to nongovernmental groups, U.S. agencies, and international organizations. The research must, as much as possible, look at: the economic causes and effects of trafficking; how well federal programs prevent trafficking and help victims; links between trafficking and global health, especially HIV/AIDS; links between trafficking and terrorism, including whether profits from trafficking fund terrorism; a reliable way to count victims nationally, regionally, and internationally, including creating and keeping an integrated database in the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center no later than 2 years after December 23, 2008; and the kidnapping and enslavement of children as soldiers and how to stop it. The Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center must carry out the work on the terrorism link and run the victim-count database. That database will combine federal data from agencies on the Interagency Task Force and, when possible while protecting sources and methods, relevant international data to better coordinate and standardize data, study global trends, spot new problems, and set research priorities. The database will be maintained with the State Department office that monitors trafficking. The law authorizes $1,000,000 to be appropriated to the Center for each fiscal year 2022 through 2027. Definitions used: AIDS = acquired immune deficiency syndrome; HIV = human immunodeficiency virus; HIV/AIDS = a person infected with HIV or living with AIDS.

Title 22, §7109a

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President, acting through the Council of Economic Advisors, the National Research Council of the National Academies, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall carry out research, including by providing grants to nongovernmental organizations, as well as relevant United States Government agencies and international organizations, which furthers the purposes of this chapter and provides data to address the problems identified in the findings of this chapter. Such research initiatives shall, to the maximum extent practicable, include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1)The economic causes and consequences of trafficking in persons.

(2)The effectiveness of programs and initiatives funded or administered by Federal agencies to prevent trafficking in persons and to protect and assist victims of trafficking.

(3)The interrelationship between trafficking in persons and global health risks, particularly HIV/AIDS.

(4)Subject to subsection (b), the interrelationship between trafficking in persons and terrorism, including the use of profits from trafficking in persons to finance terrorism.

(5)An effective mechanism for quantifying the number of victims of trafficking on a national, regional, and international basis, which shall include, not later than 2 years after December 23, 2008, the establishment and maintenance of an integrated database within the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center.

(6)The abduction and enslavement of children for use as soldiers, including steps taken to eliminate the abduction and enslavement of children for use as soldiers and recommendations for such further steps as may be necessary to rapidly end the abduction and enslavement of children for use as soldiers.

(b)(1)The research initiatives described in paragraphs (4) and (5) of subsection (a) shall be carried out by the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, established under section 1777 of title 8.

(2)The database described in subsection (a)(5) shall be established by combining all applicable data collected by each Federal department and agency represented on the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, consistent with the protection of sources and methods, and, to the maximum extent practicable, applicable data from relevant international organizations, to—

(A)improve the coordination of the collection of data related to trafficking in persons by each agency of the United States Government that collects such data;

(B)promote uniformity of such data collection and standards and systems related to such collection;

(C)undertake a meta-analysis of patterns of trafficking in persons, slavery, and slave-like conditions to develop and analyze global trends in human trafficking;

(D)identify emerging issues in human trafficking and establishing integrated methods to combat them; and

(E)identify research priorities to respond to global patterns and emerging issues.

(3)The database established in accordance with paragraph (2) shall be maintained in consultation with the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the Department of State.

(4)There are authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 to the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center for each of the fiscal years 2022 through 2027 to carry out the activities described in this subsection.

(c)In this section:

(1)The term “AIDS” means the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

(2)The term “HIV” means the human immunodeficiency virus, the pathogen that causes AIDS.

(3)The term “HIV/AIDS” means, with respect to an individual, an individual who is infected with HIV or living with AIDS.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original “this division” meaning division A of Pub. L. 106–386, Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1466, known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of division A to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 7101 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

2023—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 117–347 substituted “2022 through 2027” for “2018 through 2021”. 2018—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 115–393 substituted “2018 through 2021” for “2014 through 2017”. 2013—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 113–4 substituted “$1,000,000” for “$2,000,000” and “2014 through 2017” for “2008 through 2011”. 2008—Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 110–457, § 108(a)(1), amended par. (5) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “An effective mechanism for quantifying the number of victims of trafficking on a national, regional, and international basis.” Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–457, § 108(a)(2), amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The research initiatives described in subsection (a)(4) of this section shall be carried out by the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center (established pursuant to section 1777 of title 8).” 2006—Pub. L. 109–164 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted subsec. heading, substituted “the Director of National Intelligence” for “the Director of Central Intelligence” in introductory provisions, inserted “, particularly HIV/AIDS” before period at end of par. (3), and added pars. (4) to (6) and subsecs. (b) and (c).

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions For delegation of functions of President under this section, see section 6 of Ex. Ord. No. 13257, Feb. 13, 2002, 67 F.R. 7259, as amended, set out as a note under section 7103 of this title.

§7109a Research on domestic and international trafficking in persons