The development of international law combatting human trafficking has been influenced—indeed, propelled—by the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The TIP Report ranks countries of the world into three main tiered categories based on compliance with international human trafficking law. The U.S. imposes sanctions on countries failing to comply with certain defined “minimum standards.” This article argues that the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and corresponding Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report provide valuable tools for measuring and responding to the global human trafficking problem despite criticism for alleged asymmetry with the international definition of human trafficking. This article provides a novel empirical analysis of data collected for the U.S. TIP Report compliance rankings, and investigates its application of anti-trafficking policy for consistency with international policy. Existing literature analyzing U.S. and global anti-trafficking policy for consistency focuses primarily on how international policy and U.S. policy define various trafficking offenses. This article argues that the definitions are consistent, and then adds a new facet to this analysis by examining not just definitional consistency, but consistency in application of anti-trafficking laws in the U.S. TIP Report. Ultimately, it concludes that the U.S. anti-trafficking legislation and sanctions regime is in accordance with international principles, and provides a valuable hard law contribution to a rights regime. Additionally, this article provides normative suggestions for improving the international compliance system administered by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Such enhancements would provide the legitimacy of global consensus, and a framework upon which to build a multilateral sanctioning system to bring noncompliant States into conformity with global anti-trafficking law. © 2018 The Institute for Migrant Rights Press.

International Law Making Legal Compliance International law human rights

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