Written by Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press-Tanzania On December 30, 2021, President Biden proclaimed January 2022 as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. An estimated 24.9 million people are trapped in some form of human trafficking worldwide, including in the United States, and COVID-19 continues to make millions more vulnerable to exploitation by human traffickers.
Effects
Human trafficking robs millions of people of their dignity and freedom, erodes the rule of law, and simultaneously threatens public safety and national security. Human traffickers prey on adults and children of all ages, genders, sexual orientation, gender identity expression, sex characteristics, backgrounds, and nationalities, exploiting them for profit, by forcing their victims to perform labor or to engage in commercial sex.
Estimate
An estimated 24.9 million individuals are subject to human trafficking; as the global economic and social impacts of COVID-19 continue, we believe this number is rising.
The law
Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, the United States’ commitment to combat human trafficking has only grown. Since 2010, every U.S. President has dedicated the month of January to National Human Trafficking Prevention by Presidential Proclamation to raise awareness about the different forms of human trafficking and how to identify and address this crime. Every year, U.S. embassies and consulates play an important role in raising awareness around the world about human trafficking prevention and how to recognize this crime.
Partnership
In Tanzania, the U.S. government works with the government of Tanzania’s Anti-Trafficking Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs and other stakeholders to increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders while respecting the due process of law and human rights.
Awards
The U.S. Embassy awarded Disability Relief Services – Tanzania $24,998 in 2021 through the State Department’s Julia Taft Refugee Fund grant to combat human trafficking in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp and Kasulu district. Emphasizing vulnerable populations – refugees and persons with disabilities – DRS-Tanzania targets local authorities and community members to raise public awareness and discuss how every person can play a role in combatting human trafficking in Tanzania.
Tanzania-U.S relations
The United States established diplomatic relations with Tanzania (then-Tanganyika) in 1961. The United States and Tanzania have an established partnership characterized by mutual respect, shared values, and aspirations for a more peaceful and prosperous future. At times relations between the two nations have been tense, though in recent years the two countries have established a growing partnership.
Why U.S support has increased during Samia’s administration
During President John Pombe Magufuli’s reign, donors had withheld funding in the allegations of human rights violations, and repressive government
policies. The United States has publicly expressed concern over the ongoing shrinking of democratic and civil society space, limits on media freedom, and a rise in politically-motivated confrontations and violence.
Although President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s leadership is under scrutiny over her handling of demands led by opposition leaders for a new constitutional reform, she expressed her intention to unite the country by bringing everyone on board.
survival
Tanzania’s government had been using its own internal resources to implement key development projects following a decision by foreign donors to withhold funds.
