7. Summary and contacts for reporting human trafficking
Companies can reduce the risk of human trafficking occurring in their business operations by mapping their supply chains, tracing commodities to raw materials, and conducting risk assessments to identify risks at all levels of the supply chain. If a company uses suppliers believed to have a high risk of trafficking, it can insist the suppliers become certified by external auditors and/or agree to unannounced audits. It can also train employees on the basics of human trafficking and how to identify and report such behavior. Once anti-trafficking policies and procedures are in place, a company must rigorously monitor the implementation of these policies. If an anti-trafficking violation occurs or an employee identifies a potential case of trafficking, a company should have in place corrective actions to take. One option is to report suspicious activity to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.1 Another option is to call an anti-trafficking hotline. One such hotline in the United States is the aforementioned National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), a program of the Polaris Project (2014), a non-profit, non-governmental organization.2 The anti-trafficking hotline is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by trained specialists. Calls requiring urgent action receive an immediate response from the NHTRC staff, but non-urgent calls–—such as requests for information or training–—are processed within 2 to 5 business days. Calls involving suspicion of trafficking involving minors are handled immediately; other such suspicious behavior is reviewed by NHTRC supervisors and regional specialists before follow-up. The latter may involve reporting the tip to the appropriate local, state, or federal law enforcement or anti-trafficking task force. NHTRC has an extensive database of law enforcement and service providers for victims; consequently, a caller can be immediately connected to emergency and crisis responders in his or her area.
