World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2025

July 30 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It is a day proclaimed in 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution A/RES/68/192. The day aims to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.” We usually post something on the HTRL blog today about our work in recognition of this day but this year with all of the discussions on human traffickers in the media and budget cuts to the trafficking work around the world I have felt nothing but dread and apprehension about the future of the movement.

The United States has been the leader in the anti-trafficking movement and has made counter trafficking a policy priority since the bi-partisan adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, devoting resources and chronicling progress and setbacks around the world through the Trafficking in Persons Report. As I wrote about in a previous article the TVPA built the foundation for trafficking efforts in the US including the establishment of human trafficking task forces, creation of awareness campaigns, formation of the T-visa, provisions for sentencing guidelines, and strengthened services for victims/survivors. Since the adoption there has been twenty five years of progress improving legislation and working to hold governments around the world accountable, leading to significant achievements and spurring the criminalization of human trafficking in every country in the world. However, all of this progress could be in jeopardy six months into the current administration. In fact, the US government has cut so many things that it is hard to take stock of it all and predict just how detrimental it will be to combating human trafficking in the future. 

The first cuts happened with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on January 20, the president's first day in office when he began a 90 day freeze of all foreign aid for reevaluation to align with American values. USAID has invested nearly $400 million across 88 countries to prevent trafficking and protect survivors in various making a significant mark on the global anti-trafficking movement by helping to elevate and prioritize this crime. As of July 2025, the USAID programs that had not been cut were absorbed by the US Department of State and the agency no longer provided aid to other countries. 

In April 2025, the DOJ also terminated 373 federal grants that funded efforts to improve policing, prosecution, and child protection, and to prevent human trafficking and sent awardees this cancellation “The Department has changed its priorities with respect to discretionary grant funding to focus on, among other things, more directly supporting certain law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting American children, and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, and better coordinating law enforcement efforts at all levels of government. This award demonstrates that it no longer effectuates Department priorities.” 

There have also been cuts to victim and survivor assistance in the US with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in June and July 2025. The adoption of this legislation will make it more costly for survivors to apply for the T-visa a special visa given to trafficking survivors which allows them to remain in the United States if they were trafficked there. According to Freedom Network USA the legislation cuts off survivors’ access to benefits like SNAP and Medicare, ends critical legal protections for unaccompanied children, and creates immense financial barriers for immigrants seeking safety. In addition to cuts, there have also been a quiet cancellation of other annual grants like the Office for Victims of Crime’s Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking grant. The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) OVC office, the largest federal funder of anti-trafficking programs in the United States, supporting direct services to survivors of both sex and labor trafficking, multidisciplinary approaches, statewide responses to child and youth trafficking never issued a call for new grants in Spring 2025 another significant blow to anti-trafficking efforts in the US.

Another entity cut in budget from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), the largest anti-crime task force in the United States. The department within the Department of Justice were told they had until September 30 to shut down. Thus, many of the cuts have been levied at victim service providers but also policing entities aimed at combating human trafficking

Then in late July, we received word that the State Department's downsizing and restructuring included dismantling the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons cutting the staff in half by transferring them to other areas of the State Department. The TIP Office, created by the TVPA allocates millions of dollars to local organizations and international partners working on prevention, prosecution, and victim support in source countries and produces the yearly Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report, mandated by Congress is usually released in June of every year since 2001 grades almost every country in the world on their anti-trafficking efforts. While this report is based on US standards and the scores awarded to countries are heavily influenced by American foreign policy, this is the only yearly report on the status of global human trafficking efforts.

These cuts to funding and shuffling of key entities combating human trafficking are happening while the current administration is cozying up to people who have been investigated, charged, and/or convicted of human trafficking. Matthew Gaetz was nominated as a candidate for Attorney General and was previously investigated for human trafficking by the office he was nominated to run. The administration also negotiated the release of the Andrew and Tristan Tate from Romania, where they are accused of human trafficking and forming an organized group to sexually exploit women. Finally, the Epstein files' possible release and the DOJ interview with Ghislane Maxwell, who was found guilty of five counts, including sex trafficking of minors and for recruiting and grooming teenagers for Epstein between 1999 and 2007, have created many human trafficking trafficking discussions in the media, while many programs aimed at combatting trafficking are cut silently cut.

That is why I am having a hard time appreciating the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons in 2025. The campaign this year to highlight the vital role of law enforcement and the criminal justice system in dismantling organized trafficking networks while ensuring a victim-centred approach just seems like another nail in the coffin of the anti-trafficking movement and the United States' leadership in this movement. Consequently, I think I will take the day to mourn everything we have lost this year and work to find hope for the future.