The Office for Victims of Crime: An Ongoing Commitment to Victims of Human Trafficking (2021)

OVC’s overall mission is to improve the Nation’s capacity to address the needs of crime victims. The current report focuses on how OVC has used its resources on behalf of victims of human trafficking. This effort has been facilitated by the passage of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. Prior to the enactment of TVPA, OVC conducted a focus group to learn more about the needs of trafficking victims. The TVPA authorized funding for OVC in supporting organizations that identify and provide comprehensive services to victims of human trafficking. As defined by the TVPA, human trafficking is a crime that involves the exploitation of a person by compelling her/him to perform sexual services or any type of labor induced by force, fraud, or coercion. The crime of human trafficking encompasses the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for such labor or services. In the United States, any person under the age of 18 who is engaged in commercial sex acts is a victim of human trafficking, regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is involved. Major sections of this report address the history of OVC funding for services that address the needs of victims of human trafficking; expanding access to services for victims of human trafficking; the expansion of the types of services provided to victims of human trafficking; and aligning efforts and improving outcomes for victims of human trafficking.