Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in Real Life: Understanding and Responding to Labor Trafficking Cases

Although human trafficking has become a familiar topic, significant deficiencies remain in identifying and responding to labor trafficking. Unfamiliarity with these cases, among other factors, limits our ability to connect with labor trafficking victims and direct them to resources and available legal remedies. This also limits the scope of policies, procedures, and laws directed at human trafficking broadly. There is a need for improvement and this presentation seeks to address that.

In doing so, this presentation will deconstruct the elements and nuances of labor trafficking cases. This will involve breaking down force, fraud, and coercion, with special attention to coercion; establishing the line between those elements, traffickers’ actions, and labor; and presenting tools for real-life application of the labor trafficking framework set out by the TVPA. The presentation will highlight barriers intertwined with many cases and will explore some of the legal remedies available to victims of trafficking. At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge to interactive case studies. Attendees should leave with an improved understanding of labor trafficking, how to identify and respond to it in everyday cases, and a greater knowledge of legal remedies available to trafficked individuals.