Parliamentary Task Force on Human Trafficking

The Parliamentary Task Force on Human Trafficking is a subcommittee of the Parliamentary Intelligence Security Forum (PISF) and was formed in the fall of 2021 after conversations surrounding human trafficking at the Forum in Budapest, Hungary. It is the first consortium of this kind to focus on the collaboration of Parliamentarians, lived-experience experts, government leaders and policy experts with the shared mission of combatting the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, human trafficking.

Currently, there are nearly 50 million people trapped in modern slavery throughout the world, and our common goal is to make our world more secure by reducing this number significantly over the next ten years through combatting human trafficking at the policy level through parliamentary awareness, collaboration, and engagement. This includes recommending policy solutions and elevating the voice of this issue at both the governmental and grassroots community level.

Human trafficking is the second largest criminal enterprise in the world. According to the United Nations Palermo Protocol, trafficking in persons is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation,” and it includes, “the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

The Task Force is a platform for convening law makers and leaders from a variety of perspectives to achieve this goal in several ways. First, we meet virtually four times per year to collaborate and discuss actionable policy solutions and legislation focused on the prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership elements of combatting human trafficking that can be implemented in our respective countries or supported collectively. Each quarterly meeting focuses on a different aspect of combatting modern slavery and begins with an expert speaker followed by discussion amongst members. Statements and initiatives are also issued throughout the year, and often these are in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or civil society organizations (CSOs) who provide a vital aspect of informing policy perspectives.

Additionally, the Task Force provides a panel of speakers to increase the awareness to the Parliamentarians and government leaders about human trafficking at the PISF forums during the year throughout the world, thus tying the topic into the larger conversation about global security. Finally, the Task Force seeks to accomplish its goal through providing an opportunity to network with likeminded colleagues and lived-experience experts, and share information about anti-trafficking laws and solutions from around the world.

Increased awareness about human trafficking by government leaders as well as collective organization on policies and statements surrounding this topic is critical to creating widespread systemic change. Our belief is that through collaboration we can accomplish more.