§7114 Efforts to End Modern Slavery

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must, within 90 days after December 23, 2016, brief certain congressional committees about what the Department of Defense teaches and tells service members and civilian partners about human slavery and how the U.S. Armed Forces should help fight trafficking in persons. The briefing must explain what help is available to personnel who find slavery or trafficking overseas, how to make official reports through the chain of command, who is responsible for what in the U.S. and host nations, when service members can act immediately to save lives or prevent serious injury, and when they may use force to stop or prevent sexual abuse or exploitation of children. The Secretary of State may give grants to programs in partner countries that aim to greatly reduce modern slavery. Grant recipients must set clear monitoring and evaluation rules, measure progress against baseline data using rigorous international best practices, have independent reviews at least every two years, use sound survey methods to measure how common slavery is, and update suspension or termination rules at least yearly for projects that fail. Grantees must follow the same auditing, recordkeeping, and reporting rules required under subsections (e), (f), (g), and (i) of section 4413, and the Comptroller General may review their finances and records. Each grantee must send an annual report to the Secretary of State, who must give it to the committees within 30 days and include project names, funding amounts, and detailed descriptions. The law makes available funds under the 2016 appropriations act as described there. For each fiscal year 2017 through 2020, up to $37,500,000 may be appropriated for these grants, and the grant and reporting rules expire on September 30, 2020. The Comptroller General must also report to Congress by September 30, 2018, and September 30, 2020 on all programs at State, USAID, Labor, Defense, and Treasury that address trafficking and modern slavery, assess effectiveness, and recommend reallocations. "Appropriate congressional committees" means the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Appropriations; and the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Appropriations.