Special Reporting Issues

Special Reporting Issues

Mandatory Reporting of Human Trafficking in the U.S.

Human trafficking is a crime in all 50 states and 16 territories. Under federal law, child sex trafficking victims are considered victims of “child abuse and neglect” and must be reported, following your state’s laws.

  • The federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (CAPTA) 42 U.S.C.A. § 5106a requires states to have child abuse reporting laws as a condition of receiving federal funds for child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment programs. The 2010 reauthorization of CAPTA includes definitions, such as “sexual abuse,” that do not explicitly include the term trafficking but target conduct integral to trafficking, such as: (A) the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct . . . or (B) the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children. 42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g.
  • A 2015 amendment to CAPTA further specifies, effective May 2017, that “a child shall be considered a victim of ‘child abuse and neglect’ and of ‘sexual abuse’ if the child is identified . . . as being a victim of sex trafficking . . . or a victim of severe forms of trafficking in persons” as described in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

FAPIIS and CPARS

Two key tools for Acquisition professionals to assess compliance with human trafficking laws and regulations are the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information system (FAPIIS) and the Contract Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) https://www.cpars.gov/.

According to the DoD Office of the Inspector General, FAPIIS is a database that has been established to track contractor misconduct and performance. The database contains Federal contractor criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings in connection with federal awards; suspensions and debarments; administrative agreements issued in lieu of suspension or debarment; non-responsibility determinations; contracts terminated for fault; defective pricing determinations; and past performance evaluations. FAPIIS is a web-enabled application that collects information on the following:

  • Administrative Agreements
  • Defective Pricing Actions
  • DoD Determinations of Contractor Fault
  • Information on Trafficking in Persons
  • Non-Responsibility Determinations
  • Recipient Not Qualified Determinations
  • Subcontractor Payment Issues
  • Terminations for Default, Cause, and/or Material Failure to Comply

Over the past five years, a special section on Trafficking in Persons has been developed to gather information on contractor non-compliance regarding Trafficking in Persons.

CPARS is the new form of the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS). PPIRS data has been merged into the CPARS and CPARS.gov is now the official source for past performance information. The CPAR assesses a contractor’s performance, both positive and negative, and provides an assessment of each contract. Each assessment is based on objective and measurable data supportable by program and contract management information. The CPARS process is designed with a series of checks-and-balances to facilitate consistent evaluation of contractor performance. Both Government and contractor perspectives are captured on the CPAR form. The opportunity to review/comment on the CPAR by the designated Government and contractor personnel together makes a complete CPAR.

Recently a human rights attorney noted, “CPARS is an important but under-utilized mechanism to stop human trafficking in government contracting.” An accurate CPARS rating and narrative of activities related human trafficking on US government contracts will mitigate the likelihood of the use of slave labor in future contracts. A DoD contracting professional noted that both FAPIIS and CPARS are key tools in detecting non-compliance related to human trafficking in past contracts.

Sextortion

In the last few years MCIOs have increasingly received reports of sexting and sextortion by military personnel and their dependents.

Sexting is the sharing and receiving of sexually explicit messages and nude or partially nude images via cellphone. It can also include the use of a computer or any digital device. Sexting while still a minor is illegal. The reason it’s illegal is that these images may be intercepted by, or distributed to, someone other than who it was originally sent to, compromising the privacy and safety of the original sender.

Sextortion is a new online exploitation crime directed towards children in which non-physical forms of coercion are used, such as blackmail, to acquire sexual content from the child, engage in sex with the child, or obtain money from the child. Sextortion is a global threat. What that means is, if you send nudes or compromising images of yourself via the Internet you can become a victim of sextortion.

A recent case from the FBI is one example. In it, a 32-year-old trafficker posed as a 15-year-old boy on a variety of websites that teens surf and through it made contact with and exploited over 350 teens. He developed long-distance relationships with them and asked them to send explicit pictures of themselves. Once he received the photos, he blackmailed the students by threatening to expose them to parents, friends, classmates and others.

Any case of sextortion should be immediately reported to the FBI.

Unaccompanied Minors

Federal, state, and local officials must refer all cases of potential trafficking among foreign national minors to the Office of Trafficking in Persons for assessment within 24 hours. (Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended).

Report and request assistance through OTIP’s online Shepherd Case Management System. For questions or to staff a case, contact the Child Protection Team by email at ChildTrafficking@acf.hhs.gov or by phone at 202-205-4582.