Advocacy Priorities
Transform Unjust Policies
Policies and practices that harm survivors of human trafficking or threaten migrants or others who are vulnerable to human trafficking must be exposed and rejected. Legislation addressing the vulnerability of children on the internet is also a priority for AEHT.
Demand Survivor-Informed Policy
Persons who have been trafficked should have the opportunity to provide advice and recommendations to legislators and policy makers in order to improve U.S. policy and programming efforts.
Address Root Causes
Governments, corporations, and nongovernmental organizations must be encouraged to adopt a human rights-based approach to human trafficking that addresses the roots causes of trafficking and the exploitation of women and men and girls and boys. Four root causes that we are focused on are: climate change, forced migration, neo-liberal capitalism, and gender discrimination.
Invest in Girls and Women
The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development must be encouraged to promote programs that build the capacity of countries’ national and local legal and policy frameworks to prevent discrimination against girls and women, guarantee their access to quality engendered education, and secure their property, social security, land tenure, and inheritance rights.
Require Business Transparency
Corporations must be held accountable for any forced or child labor in their labor recruitment and hiring and in their supply and distribution chains. Businesses should conduct human rights due diligence, as detailed in the UNGPs, and publicly disclose their efforts to respect and protect human rights, including the elimination of human trafficking and forced labor.
Support the Equality Model
We support the Equality Model approach to prostitution which offers the best strategy for preventing human trafficking and supporting survivors by 1) decriminalizing those who are prostituted or trafficked, 2) offering support and exit strategies for those who wish to leave, and 3) holding accountable pimps, brothel owners, and buyers for their crimes.