[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 216 (Thursday, November 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77398-77403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24781]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice: 12260]


Request for Information for the 2024 Trafficking in Persons 
Report

ACTION: Request for Information for the 2024 Trafficking in Persons 
Report.

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SUMMARY: The Department of State (``the Department'') requests written 
information to assist in reporting on the degree to which the United 
States and foreign governments meet the minimum standards for the 
elimination of trafficking in persons (``minimum standards'') that are 
prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as 
amended (``TVPA''). This information will assist in the preparation of 
the Trafficking in Persons Report (``TIP Report'') that the Department 
submits annually to the U.S. Congress on governments' concrete actions 
to meet the minimum standards. Foreign governments that do not meet the 
minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so may 
be subject to restrictions on nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign 
assistance from the United States, as defined by the TVPA. Submissions 
must be made in writing to the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking 
in Persons at the Department of State by February 1, 2024. Please refer 
to the ADDRESSES, Scope of Interest, and Information Sought sections of 
this Notice for additional instructions on submission requirements.

DATES: Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. EST on February 1, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written submissions and supporting documentation may be 
submitted by the following method:
    Email: [email protected] for submissions related to foreign 
governments and [email protected] for submissions related to the 
United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background

    Scope of Interest: The Department requests information relevant to 
assessing the United States' and foreign governments' concrete actions 
to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in 
persons during the reporting period (April 1, 2023-March 31, 2024). The 
minimum standards are listed below. Submissions must include 
information relevant to efforts to meet the minimum standards and 
should include, but need not be limited to, answering the questions in 
the Information Sought section below. Submissions need not include 
answers to all the questions; only those questions for which the 
submitter has direct professional experience should be answered, and 
that experience should be noted. For any critique or deficiency 
described, please provide a recommendation to remedy it. Note the 
country or countries that are the focus of the submission.
    Submissions may include written narratives that answer the 
questions presented in this Notice, research, studies, statistics, 
fieldwork, training materials, evaluations, assessments, and other 
relevant evidence of local, state/provincial, and federal/central 
government efforts. To the extent possible, precise dates and numbers 
of officials or citizens affected should be included. Questions below 
seek to gather information and updates from the details provided and 
assessment on government efforts made in the 2023 TIP Report.
    Furthermore, we request information on the government's treatment 
of ``underserved communities,'' including how the government may have 
systemically denied opportunities to a community to participate in 
aspects of economic, social, and civic life that has led to heighted 
risk to human trafficking or how the government's anti-trafficking 
response may have treated certain groups differently.
    Written narratives providing factual information should provide 
citations of sources, and copies of and links to the source material 
should be provided. Please send electronic copies of the entire 
submission, including source material. If primary sources are used, 
such as research studies, interviews, direct observations, or other 
sources of quantitative or qualitative data, provide details on the 
research or data-gathering methodology and any supporting 
documentation. The Department only includes in the TIP Report 
information related to trafficking in persons as defined by the TVPA 
(Div. A, Pub. L. 106-386); it does not include, and is therefore not 
seeking, information on prostitution, migrant smuggling, visa fraud, or 
child abuse, unless such crimes also involve the elements of sex 
trafficking or forced labor.
    Confidentiality: Please provide the name, phone number, and email 
address of a single point of contact for any submission. It is 
Department practice not to identify in the TIP Report information 
concerning sources to safeguard those sources. Please note, however, 
that any information submitted to the Department may be releasable 
pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act or other 
applicable law. Submissions related to the United States will be shared 
with U.S. Government agencies, as will submissions relevant to efforts 
by other U.S. Government agencies.
    Response: This is a request for information only; there will be no 
response to submissions. Remuneration for responses will not be 
provided. In order to expend appropriated funds, there must be specific 
authority to do so. The Department of State has no authority to expend 
funds for this purpose.
    Definitions: The TVPA defines ``severe forms of trafficking in 
persons'' as:
     The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, 
obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a 
commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in 
which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years 
of age.
    [cir] Persons under age 18 in commercial sex are trafficking in 
persons victims regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion were 
involved.
     The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or 
obtaining

[[Page 77399]]

of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or 
coercion, for the purposes of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt 
bondage, or slavery.
    [cir] Forced labor may take the form of domestic servitude, forced 
begging, forced criminal activity (e.g., drug smuggling), and prison 
labor that is not the product of a conviction in a court of law.
     Children recruited or used as soldiers or for labor or 
services can be a severe form of human trafficking when the activity 
involves force, fraud, or coercion. Children may be victims regardless 
of gender.
    The TIP Report: The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide 
report assessing governments' efforts to combat trafficking in persons. 
It represents an annually updated global assessment of the nature and 
scope of trafficking in persons and the broad range of government 
actions to confront and eliminate it. The U.S. government uses the TIP 
Report to inform diplomacy, to encourage partnership in creating and 
implementing laws and policies to combat trafficking, and to target 
resources on prevention, protection, and prosecution programs. 
Worldwide, international organizations, foreign governments, and 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) use the TIP Report as a tool to 
examine where resources are most needed. Prosecuting traffickers, 
protecting victims, and preventing trafficking are the ultimate goals 
of the TIP Report and of the U.S Government's anti-trafficking policy.
    The Department prepares the TIP Report with information from across 
the U.S. Government, foreign government officials, nongovernmental and 
international organizations, survivors of trafficking in persons, 
published reports, and research related to every region. The TIP Report 
focuses on concrete actions that governments take to fight trafficking 
in persons, including prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for 
traffickers, as well as victim identification and protection measures 
and prevention efforts. Each TIP Report narrative also includes 
prioritized recommendations for each country. These recommendations are 
used to assist the Department in measuring governments' progress from 
one year to the next and determining whether governments meet the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons or are 
making significant efforts to do so.
    The TVPA creates a four-tier ranking system. Tier placement is 
based principally on the extent of concrete government action to combat 
trafficking. The Department first evaluates whether the government 
fully meets the TVPA's minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking. Governments that do so are placed on Tier 1. For other 
governments, the Department considers the extent of such efforts. 
Governments that are making significant efforts to meet the minimum 
standards are placed on Tier 2. Governments that do not fully meet the 
minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so are 
placed on Tier 3. Finally, the Department considers Watch List criteria 
and, when applicable, places countries on the Tier 2 Watch List. For 
more information, the 2023 TIP Report can be found at www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report.
    Since the inception of the TIP Report in 2001, the number of 
countries included and ranked has more than doubled; the 2023 TIP 
Report included 188 countries and territories. Around the world, the 
TIP Report and the promising practices reflected therein have inspired 
legislation, national action plans, policy implementation, program 
funding, protection mechanisms that complement prosecution efforts, and 
a stronger global understanding of this crime.
    Since 2003, the primary reporting on the United States' anti-
trafficking activities has been through the annual Attorney General's 
Report to Congress and Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to 
Combat Human Trafficking (``AG Report'') mandated by section 105 of the 
TVPA (22 U.S.C. 7103(d)(7)). Since 2010, the TIP Report, through a 
collaborative interagency process, has included an assessment of U.S. 
government anti-trafficking efforts in light of the minimum standards 
to eliminate trafficking in persons set forth by the TVPA.

II. Minimum Standards for the Elimination of Trafficking in Persons

    The TVPA sets forth the minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking in persons as follows:
    (1) The government of the country should prohibit severe forms of 
trafficking in persons and punish acts of such trafficking.
    (2) For the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking 
involving force, fraud, coercion, or in which the victim of sex 
trafficking is a child incapable of giving meaningful consent, or of 
trafficking which includes rape or kidnapping or which causes a death, 
the government of the country should prescribe punishment commensurate 
with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual assault.
    (3) For the knowing commission of any act of a severe form of 
trafficking in persons, the government of the country should prescribe 
punishment that is sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately 
reflects the heinous nature of the offense.
    (4) The government of the country should make serious and sustained 
efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.
    For purposes of (4) above, the following factors should be 
considered as indicia of serious and sustained efforts to eliminate 
severe forms of trafficking in persons:
    (1) Whether the government of the country vigorously investigates 
and prosecutes acts of severe forms of trafficking in persons, and 
convicts and sentences persons responsible for such acts, that take 
place wholly or partly within the territory of the country, including, 
as appropriate, requiring incarceration of individuals convicted of 
such acts. For purposes of the preceding sentence, suspended or 
significantly reduced sentences for convictions of principal actors in 
cases of severe forms of trafficking in persons shall be considered, on 
a case-by-case basis, whether to be considered an indicator of serious 
and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in 
persons. After reasonable requests from the Department of State for 
data regarding investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and 
sentences, a government which does not provide such data, consistent 
with a demonstrably increasing capacity of such government to obtain 
such data, shall be presumed not to have vigorously investigated, 
prosecuted, convicted or sentenced such acts.
    (2) Whether the government of the country protects victims of 
severe forms of trafficking in persons and encourages their assistance 
in the investigation and prosecution of such trafficking, including 
provisions for legal alternatives to their removal to countries in 
which they would face retribution or hardship, and ensures that victims 
are not inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized 
solely for unlawful acts as a direct result of being trafficked, 
including by providing training to law enforcement and immigration 
officials regarding the identification and treatment of trafficking 
victims using approaches that focus on the needs of the victims.
    (3) Whether the government of the country has adopted measures to 
prevent severe forms of trafficking in persons, such as measures to 
inform and educate the public, including potential victims, about the 
causes and consequences of severe forms of trafficking in persons, 
measures to

[[Page 77400]]

establish the identity of local populations, including birth 
registration, citizenship, and nationality, measures to ensure that its 
nationals who are deployed abroad as part of a diplomatic, 
peacekeeping, or other similar mission do not engage in or facilitate 
severe forms of trafficking in persons or exploit victims of such 
trafficking, a transparent system for remediating or punishing such 
public officials as a deterrent, measures to prevent the use of forced 
labor or child labor in violation of international standards, effective 
bilateral, multilateral, or regional information sharing and 
cooperation arrangements with other countries, and effective policies 
or laws regulating foreign labor recruiters and holding them civilly 
and criminally liable for fraudulent recruiting.
    (4) Whether the government of the country cooperates with other 
governments in the investigation and prosecution of severe forms of 
trafficking in persons and has entered into bilateral, multilateral, or 
regional law enforcement cooperation and coordination arrangements with 
other countries.
    (5) Whether the government of the country extradites persons 
charged with acts of severe forms of trafficking in persons on 
substantially the same terms and to substantially the same extent as 
persons charged with other serious crimes (or, to the extent such 
extradition would be inconsistent with the laws of such country or with 
international agreements to which the country is a party, whether the 
government is taking all appropriate measures to modify or replace such 
laws and treaties so as to permit such extradition).
    (6) Whether the government of the country monitors immigration and 
emigration patterns for evidence of severe forms of trafficking in 
persons and whether law enforcement agencies of the country respond to 
any such evidence in a manner that is consistent with the vigorous 
investigation and prosecution of acts of such trafficking, as well as 
with the protection of human rights of victims and the internationally 
recognized human right to leave any country, including one's own, and 
to return to one's own country.
    (7) Whether the government of the country vigorously investigates, 
prosecutes, convicts, and sentences public officials, including 
diplomats and soldiers, who participate in or facilitate severe forms 
of trafficking in persons, including nationals of the country who are 
deployed abroad as part of a diplomatic, peacekeeping, or other similar 
mission who engage in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in 
persons or exploit victims of such trafficking, and takes all 
appropriate measures against officials who condone or enable such 
trafficking. A government's failure to appropriately address public 
allegations against such public officials, especially once such 
officials have returned to their home countries, shall be considered 
inaction under these criteria. After reasonable requests from the 
Department of State for data regarding such investigations, 
prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, a government which does not 
provide such data, consistent with a demonstrably increasing capacity 
of such government to obtain such data, shall be presumed not to have 
vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced such acts.
    (8) Whether the percentage of victims of severe forms of 
trafficking in the country that are non-citizens of such countries is 
insignificant.
    (9) Whether the government has entered into effective, transparent 
partnerships, cooperative arrangements, or agreements that have 
resulted in concrete and measurable outcomes with--
    (A) domestic civil society organizations, private sector entities, 
or international nongovernmental organizations, or into multilateral or 
regional arrangements or agreements, to assist the government's efforts 
to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and punish traffickers; or
    (B) the United States toward agreed goals and objectives in the 
collective fight against trafficking.
    (10) Whether the government of the country, consistent with the 
capacity of such government, systematically monitors its efforts to 
satisfy the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (8) and makes 
available publicly a periodic assessment of such efforts.
    (11) Whether the government of the country achieves appreciable 
progress in eliminating severe forms of trafficking when compared to 
the assessment in the previous year.
    (12) Whether the government of the country has made serious and 
sustained efforts to reduce the demand for --
    (A) commercial sex acts; and
    (B) participation in international sex tourism by nationals of the 
country.

III. Information Sought Relevant to the Minimum Standards

    Submissions should include, but need not be limited to, answers to 
relevant questions below for which the submitter has direct 
professional experience. Citations to source material should also be 
provided. Note the country or countries that are the focus of the 
submission. Please see the Scope of Interest section above for detailed 
information regarding submission requirements.

Overview

    1. What were the government's major accomplishments in addressing 
human trafficking since April 1, 2023? In what significant ways have 
the government's efforts to combat trafficking in persons changed in 
the past year? How have new laws, regulations, policies, or 
implementation strategies (e.g., substantive criminal laws and 
procedures, mechanisms for civil remedies, and victim-witness programs, 
generally and in relation to court proceedings) affected its anti-
trafficking response?
    2. Over the past year, what were the greatest deficiencies in the 
government's anti-trafficking efforts? What were the limitations on the 
government's ability to address human trafficking problems in practice?
    3. Please provide additional information and/or recommendations to 
improve the government's anti-trafficking efforts overall.
    4. Please highlight effective strategies and practices that other 
governments could consider adopting.

Prosecution

    5. Please provide observations regarding the implementation of 
existing laws, policies, and procedures. Are there gaps in anti-
trafficking legislation that could be amended to improve the 
government's response? Are there any government policies that have 
undermined or otherwise negatively affected anti-trafficking efforts 
within that country?
    6. Do government officials understand the nature of all forms of 
trafficking? If not, please provide examples of misconceptions or 
misunderstandings. Did the government effectively provide or support 
anti-trafficking trainings for officials? If not, how could they be 
improved?
    7. Please provide observations on overall anti-trafficking law 
enforcement efforts and the efforts of police and prosecutors to pursue 
trafficking cases. Is the government equally vigorous in pursuing 
forced labor and sex trafficking, internal and transnational 
trafficking, and crimes that involve its own nationals or foreign 
citizens? Were anti-trafficking laws equitably enforced, or were 
certain communities disproportionately affected?
    8. Please note any efforts to investigate and prosecute suspects 
for knowingly soliciting or patronizing a

[[Page 77401]]

sex trafficking victim to perform a commercial sex act.
    9. Does law enforcement pursue trafficking cases that would hold 
accountable private employers or corporations for forced labor in 
supply chains?
    10. Do judges appear appropriately knowledgeable and sensitized to 
trafficking cases? Do they implement and encourage trauma-informed 
practices in their courts?
    11. Were there allegations of official complicity in trafficking 
crimes, via contacts, media, or other sources, including of state-
sponsored forced labor? If so, what measures did the government take to 
end such practices? What proactive measures did the government take to 
prevent official complicity in trafficking in persons crimes? How did 
the government respond to reports of complicity that arose during the 
reporting period, including investigations, prosecutions, convictions, 
and sentencing of complicit officials? Were these efforts sufficient?
    12. Is there evidence that nationals of the country deployed abroad 
as part of a diplomatic, peacekeeping, or other similar mission have 
engaged in or facilitated trafficking, including in domestic servitude? 
Has the government vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and 
sentenced nationals engaged in these activities?

Protection

    13. Did the government make a coordinated, proactive effort to 
identify victims of all forms of trafficking? If there were any new (or 
changes to preexisting) formal/standard procedures for screening for 
trafficking, including of individuals in immigration detention or 
removal proceedings, and for victim referral to protection services, 
were those procedures sufficient and how did the government implement 
them? Did officials effectively coordinate among one another and with 
relevant NGOs to conduct screenings and refer victims to care? Did the 
government deploy mechanisms (e.g., written procedures, policies, 
bureaucratic structures, survivor engagement protocols, etc.) to ensure 
it equitably administered victim identification and protection 
measures?
    14. If commercial sex is legalized or decriminalized in the 
country, how did health officials, labor inspectors, or police identify 
trafficking victims among persons involved in commercial sex? If 
commercial sex is illegal, did the government proactively identify 
trafficking victims during law enforcement operations or other 
encounters with commercial sex establishments?
    15. If the government operates or funds any trafficking-specific 
hotlines (including those run by NGOs), did calls to those hotlines 
lead to victim identification, victim referral to care, and/or criminal 
investigations?
    16. Were there any new (or changes to preexisting) services 
available for victims and survivors (legal, medical, food, shelter, 
interpretation, mental health care, employment, training, etc.)? If 
NGOs provide the services, does the government adequately support their 
work either financially or otherwise? Did all victims and survivors of 
both labor and sex trafficking--regardless of citizenship, gender 
identity, racial/ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religious 
affiliation, and physical ability--receive the same quality and level 
of access to services?
    17. What was the overall quality of victim care? How could victim 
services be improved? Are services victim-centered and trauma-informed? 
Were services linked to whether a victim assisted law enforcement or 
participated in a trial, or whether a trafficker was convicted? Could 
victims choose independently whether to enter a shelter, and could they 
leave at will if residing in a shelter? Could victims seek employment 
and work while receiving assistance?
    18. Where were child victims placed (e.g., in shelters, foster 
care, or juvenile justice detention centers), and what kind of 
specialized care did they receive?
    19. What is the level of cooperation, communication, and trust 
between service providers and law enforcement?
    20. Were there means by which victims could obtain restitution from 
defendants in criminal cases or file civil suits against traffickers 
for damages, and did this happen in practice? Did prosecutors request 
and/or courts order restitution in all cases where it was required, and 
if not, why?
    21. Please provide observations on trafficking victims and 
survivors' ability to access justice, as they define it, and the 
treatment of survivors throughout the criminal legal process. How did 
the government encourage victims to assist in the investigation and 
prosecution of trafficking, and did it do so in a trauma-informed way? 
How did the government protect victims during the trial process and 
ensure victims were not re-traumatized during participation in the 
process? If a victim was a witness in a court case, was the victim 
permitted to obtain employment, move freely about the country, or leave 
the country pending trial proceedings? In what ways could the 
government increase support for victims in prosecutions against the 
traffickers?
    22. Did the government provide, through a formal policy or 
otherwise, temporary or permanent residency status, or other relief 
from deportation, for foreign national victims of human trafficking who 
may face retribution or hardship in the countries to which they would 
be deported? Were foreign national victims given the opportunity to 
seek legal employment while in this temporary or permanent residency? 
Were such benefits linked to whether a victim assisted law enforcement, 
whether a victim participated in a trial, or whether there was a 
successful prosecution? Does the government repatriate victims who wish 
to return home or assist with third country resettlement? Are victims 
awaiting repatriation or third country resettlement offered services? 
Are victims indeed repatriated, or are they deported?
    23. Does the government effectively assist its nationals exploited 
abroad? Does the government work to ensure victims receive adequate 
assistance and support for their repatriation while in destination 
countries? Does the government provide adequate assistance to 
repatriated victims after their return to their countries of origin, 
and if so, what forms of assistance?
    24. Does the government arrest, detain, imprison, or otherwise 
punish trafficking victims (whether or not identified as such by 
authorities) for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being 
trafficked (forgery of documents, illegal immigration, unauthorized 
employment, prostitution, theft, or drug production or transport, 
etc.)? If so, do these victims disproportionately represent a certain 
gender, race, ethnicity, or other group or particular type of 
trafficking?

Prevention

    25. What efforts has the government made to prevent human 
trafficking? Did the government enforce any policies that further 
marginalized communities already overrepresented among trafficking 
victims, increasing their risk to human trafficking? If so, did it take 
efforts to address those policies?
    26. If the government had a national action plan to address 
trafficking, how was it implemented in practice? Were NGOs and other 
relevant civil society stakeholders consulted in the development and 
implementation of the plan?
    27. Please describe any government-funded anti-trafficking 
information or education campaigns or training, whether aimed at the 
public or at

[[Page 77402]]

specific sectors or stakeholders/actors. What strategies did the 
campaigns employ to ensure messaging and images did not legitimize and/
or perpetuate harmful or racialized narratives and/or stereotypes about 
what victims, survivors, and perpetrators look like? Were campaign 
materials readily available, cost-free, and accessible in various 
languages, including braille? Does the government provide financial 
support to NGOs working to promote public awareness?
    28. Did the government seek and include the input of survivors in 
crafting its anti-trafficking laws, regulations, policies, programs, or 
in their implementation? If so, did the government take steps to ensure 
input was received and incorporated from a diverse group of survivors?
    29. How did the government regulate, oversee, and screen for 
trafficking indicators in the labor recruitment process, including for 
both licensed and unlicensed recruitment and placement agencies, 
individual recruiters, sub-brokerages, and microfinance lending 
operations? Did the government prohibit (in any context) charging 
workers recruitment fees and prohibit the recruitment of workers 
through knowingly fraudulent job offers (including misrepresenting 
wages, working conditions, location, or nature of the job), contract 
switching, and confiscating or otherwise denying workers access to 
their identity documents? If there are laws or regulations on 
recruitment, did the government effectively enforce them? Did the 
government allow migrant workers to change employers in a timely manner 
without obtaining special permissions?
    30. Did the government coordinate with other governments (e.g., via 
bilateral agreements with migrant labor sending or receiving countries) 
on safe and responsible labor recruitment that included prevention 
measures to target known trafficking indicators? To what extent were 
these implemented? Are workers (both nationals of the country and 
foreign nationals) in all industries (e.g., domestic work, agriculture, 
etc.) equally and sufficiently protected under existing labor laws?
    31. Did government policies, regulations, or agreements relating to 
migration, labor, trade, and investment facilitate vulnerabilities to, 
or incidence of, forced labor or sex trafficking? If so, what actions 
did the government take to ensure that its policies, regulations, and 
agreements relating to migration, labor, trade, border security 
measures, and investment did not facilitate trafficking?
    32. Did the government take tangible action to prevent forced labor 
in domestic or global supply chains? Did the government make any 
efforts to prohibit and prevent trafficking in the supply chains of its 
own public procurement?
    33. If the government has entered into bilateral, multilateral, or 
regional anti-trafficking information-sharing and cooperation 
arrangements, are they effective and have they resulted in concrete and 
measurable outcomes? If not, why?
    34. Did the government provide assistance to other governments in 
combating trafficking in persons through trainings or other assistance 
programs?
    35. What measures has the government taken to reduce the 
participation by nationals of the country in international and domestic 
child sex tourism?

Territories and Semi-Autonomous Regions

    36. Please provide any information about trafficking trends and 
government anti-trafficking efforts in non-sovereign territories and 
semi-autonomous regions to prosecute traffickers, identify and provide 
services to victims, and prevent trafficking.

Trafficking Profile

    37. Were there any changes to the country's trafficking situation, 
including the forms of trafficking that occur, industries and sectors 
in which traffickers exploit victims, countries/regions in which 
traffickers recruit victims, locations and regions in which trafficking 
occurs, and recruitment methods? Are citizens of the country identified 
as victims of human trafficking abroad? As COVID-19-related 
restrictions have lifted in many parts of the world, were there 
additional changes in trafficking trends?
    38. What groups, including underserved communities, are at 
particular risk of human trafficking? Underserved communities are 
populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic 
communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to 
participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. This term 
may include, but is not limited to, women and girls, persons with 
disabilities, indigenous peoples, people of African descent, racial and 
ethnic minorities, refugees and internally displaced people, religious 
minorities, LGBTQI+ persons, rural residents, migrants, as well as 
those who are otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or 
inequality.
    39. Chinese/Cuban/North Korean workers: Are any of these 
populations subjected to or at high risk of forced labor in the country 
as part of government-to-government agreements and/or in foreign 
government-affiliated projects?
    40. Please provide any information about trafficking trends, 
general numerical data on victims identified, or risk factors stemming 
from climate-related change or disasters, as well as any efforts to 
mitigate these vulnerabilities; the ongoing armed conflict following 
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine; and the use of technology to 
recruit and exploit victims.

Child Soldiering

    41. Using the definition of ``child soldier'' as defined by the 
Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), describe instances, 
cases, and reports, including anecdotal reports, of:
    a. Use of any person under the age of 18 in direct hostilities as a 
member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    b. Conscription or forced recruitment of persons under the age of 
18 into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    c. Voluntary recruitment of any person under 15 years of age into 
governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces;
    d. Recruitment (forced or voluntary) or use in hostilities of 
persons under the age of 18 by armed groups distinct from the armed 
forces of a state.
    e. Abuse of male and female children recruited by governmental 
armed forces, police, or other security forces, and government-
supported armed groups (e.g., sexual abuse or use for forced labor). 
Describe the manner and age of conscription, noting differences in 
treatment or conscription patterns based on gender.
    42. Did the government provide support to an armed group that 
recruits and/or uses child soldiers? What was the extent of the support 
(e.g., in-kind, financial, training, etc.)? Where did the provision of 
support occur (within the country or outside of the country)? In cases 
where the government was included on the CSPA list in 2023 based on its 
support to non-state armed groups that recruit and/or use child 
soldiers, describe whether the government took steps to pressure the 
group to cease its recruitment or use of child soldiers, publicly 
disavow the group's recruitment or use of child soldiers, or cease its 
support to that group.

[[Page 77403]]

    43. Describe any government efforts to prevent or end child soldier 
recruitment or use, including efforts to disarm, demobilize, and 
reintegrate former child soldiers. (i.e., enacting any laws or 
regulations, implementing a United Nations Action Plan or Roadmap, 
specialized training for officials, procedures for age verification, 
etc.)

Cynthia D. Dyer,
Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 
Persons, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2023-24781 Filed 11-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-11-P