2017 Theses Master's

The United States Response to Sex Trafficking Survivors

Brown, Patrice

The United States must uphold its international human rights obligations by successfully helping survivors of sex trafficking integrate into society post-trafficking. Sex trafficking is a global issue that violates a multitude of human rights. The United States has an international obligation to uphold and fulfill the human rights of victims of sex trafficking. In the year 2000 the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act which effectively sought to define the human trafficking problem in the United States and set guidelines for addressing the matter as a national concern. The TVPA frames human trafficking in all forms as a criminal issue, ignoring the human right obligations that the United States holds towards victims. Although the TVPA lacks a human rights framework the United States does make provision for human trafficking survivors in through legislation. These provisions are deemed the most critical post-trafficking needs as defined by legislators with no input from sex trafficking survivors. The goal of thesis project is to understand whether the United States methods of redress for sex trafficking survivors is sufficient for their successful integration into society. The human rights that are violated by sex trafficking if left unaddressed allow for the continued victimization of survivors. Only through the restoration of those violated human rights can survivors of sex trafficking successfully integrate into society.