ECPAT-USA Part of Coalition of Organizations Advocating for Funding to Fight Trafficking

Washington, D.C. (December 1, 2016)  - ECPAT-USA, along with four other co-signing organizations, sent a letter to Congress calling for the continuation of important funding that helps the U.S. government investigate claims of forced child labor.

The money allows for the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement to be able to prevent and enforce federal laws associated with labor and sex trafficking of children, forced child labor, use of child soldiers and the sexual exploitation of children. The funding also creates programs that seek to prevent the illegal importing of goods that were created using forced or prison labor.

Without the funding, there runs a risk of being unable to hold those who profit from the exploitation of labor accountable for their actions, including potentially dismantling measures put into place as recently as this year to protect children from this risk.

The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, the AFL-CIO, Oxfam America and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers also signed onto the letter.

Read the full letter to Congress here.

Learn more about ECPAT-USA’s legislative efforts here.