U.S. State Department officials have taken a big step in implementing a law designed to crack down on the foreign diplomats, many in the Washington area, who enslave members of their household staffs.
On Thursday, the State Department’s ambassador for human trafficking, Lou de Baca, met with more than a dozen anti-human trafficking organizations. They were joined by Department of Justice and Homeland Security officials. The organizations and officials outlined details of a pamphlet advising members of diplomats’ household staffs of their rights. They also laid the groundwork for future collaboration on the crackdown.
“Nongovernmental organizations are critically important partners in the fight against modern slavery,” de Baca told The Examiner. “We will work closely with service providers to help victims as they leave bondage, and to figure out how best to prevent exploitation before a worker even leaves home.”
Over the past decade, U.S. officials have turned their attention to the diplomats who bring household workers into the country only to underpay and physically abuse them. The diplomats have often hidden behind immunity when prosecutors went after them.
The pamphlet and other aspects of the crackdown are provisions of a law Congress passed in December.
According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, there have been 42 documented allegations of diplomats engaging in human trafficking since 2000, many in the Washington area. Of those, 19 have resulted in Department of Justice investigations in the past three years. Vania Leveille, who works on human trafficking issues at the American Civil Liberties Union, said government officials demonstrated an “understanding” for implementing the law’s provisions. Having the pamphlet will be a “big step” in breaking the information gap that helps keep household workers in bondage, she said.
The pamphlet will be provided to household workers as they pass through the State Department to obtain visas so their employers can bring them into the U.S.
At the meeting they also laid the groundwork for the role the organizations will play as the State Department works quickly to meet tight deadlines, Leveille said.
In the next few months, the law requires the State Department to release a report outlining plans for creating a system to monitor diplomats’ employees. The department must also assess the steps it has taken to better work with the Justice Department on investigations. In the past, State Department officials have been reluctant to remove immunity so diplomats could be prosecuted, the GAO report said.
