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US Leading 'Unprecedented' Global Effort to Fight Trafficking

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The U.S. is doubling down on the international community, hoping to leverage global funds to fight the international epidemic of human trafficking.

Many are comparing the effort to the highly touted Global Fund, which has wielded a $4 billion annual budget to accelerate the end of the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics.

Lawmakers in Washington passed the End Modern Slavery Initiative in December.  

Their big goal now: to raise $1.5 billion from foreign governments and the private sector to begin to underwrite anti-trafficking efforts in the countries where trafficking is the worst. 

Tim Gehring, policy director for the International Justice Mission (IJM), says the initiative is unprecedented.  

"This is something we think is a unique opportunity, especially given the support that we've had in Congress," he said.  

Gehring says lawmakers understand that their constituents are aware and concerned. "They know that people back home care about this issue," he said.

Gehring describes the U.S. as "the most consistent and generous donor" in funding anti-trafficking efforts globally and says the initiative hopes to "level the playing field" in winning financial support from other countries and non-profits.

Last week, IJM President Gary Haugen and other anti-trafficking activists met with President Trump at the White House to highlight the issue of trafficking and the campaign. The president has promised to bring the "full force and weight" of the U.S. government to combat trafficking.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has championed the legislation as a way to ramp up global efforts to fight trafficking.  

"While we are beginning to see some successful methods," he said. "What is missing is a collaborative, international initiative to meet this growing challenge head-on."

Corker says funded projects will be tracked and must achieve a 50 percent reduction in slavery. Those projects that fail to meet goals will be suspended or terminated.

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim