On February 27, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved en bloc, by voice vote, the Trafficking Prevention in Foreign Affairs Contracting Act (H.R. 400).
Sponsored by Chair Ed Royce (R-CA), the measure would prevent human trafficking by foreign workers the United States government employs overseas. Specifically, the legislation would require the secretary of State and the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to define “placement and recruitment fees,” as well as the permissible and prohibited uses of such fees, for the purposes of complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (P.L. 106-386).
The bill would require the secretary and administrator to incorporate those definitions in grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, and contracting practices and include the prevention of human trafficking in monitoring such grants and agreements.
