Children Are Not ‘Sex Workers’ - Language and the 2021 TIP Report

This post of one of two in a series prompted by this year’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

Last year, ECPAT-USA, in conversation with our Survivors’ Council members, explored the connections between systemic racism and trafficking in our Survivor Perspectives blog series. The U.S. State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report highlighted similar themes, including the disparate effects of human trafficking on minority communities in the U.S. The report serves as a way to not only rank a country’s efforts to end trafficking relative to others but also spark policy discussions about how best to protect children. ECPAT-USA is honored that a quote from the Survivor Perspectives series is included in the 2021 TIP Report.

However, the juxtaposition of ECPAT-USA’s Survivor Perspective Series with references to children in “sex work” is deeply unsettling. While the 2021 Report takes special care to uplift survivor voices, including the use of nuanced and more psychological imagery throughout, the insertion of that phrase is not only problematic, it is a complete deviation from the TIP Report’s previous 22-year history. To see its appearance multiple times, as well as in the Secretary of State's opening remarks to the report, may have been an oversight, but for an office that takes the language of the Palermo Protocol and the TVPA as its guiding principles, we are deeply concerned that this represents a significant departure from established US policy.  

Moreover, the reference in the Bangladesh country narrative to children who grew up being abused and exploited as “sex workers” is nothing short of alarming. This section describes how children raised in brothels were sexually exploited at a young age. It is clear that any child who engages in commercial sex is not a "sex worker" but a trafficking victim. To say that a child is "forced" into sex work adds another level of confusion - under both federal and international standards, no "force" is required for a child to be identified as a victim of sex trafficking. Equating child exploitation with sex work is an ominous and problematic development. 

While we commend the TIP report for listening to survivors’ voices in its special highlights section, it must incorporate those perspectives throughout the country reports as well. Our Survivors’ Council members would describe their experiences in the commercial sex trade as “rape,” “oppression,” and “exploitation” -- never “work.” Survivors teach us that no child, ever, is a sex worker, and the State Department has an obligation to heed those voices and uphold established law.

To read further comments on the 2021 TIP Report, please click here.