TIP Time

On Monday, June 27, 2011 the State Department released the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report in Washington. Here is the link to the new TIP report. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/index.htm .The link includes a video of the actual ceremony from yesterday’s event. The TIP report is an invaluable tool that examines trends in the U.S. and around the work, both in terms of topical issues and individual country progress on addressing human trafficking. For instance, the report highlights the fourth “P” of Partnership – an important addition to the other alliterative TIP goals of Prevention, Prosecution and Protection.

Sheila Roseau, one of the TIP “sheroes” is a friend and colleague from years ago. She spoke on behalf of the several people there who received special recognition from the Secretary of State. She has done so much work on violence against women issues and our team worked with her under the auspices of the Florida International Volunteer Corps – FAVA/CA http://www.favaca.org/ to do training on domestic violence and sexual violence in Antigua and Barbuda, where she heads the Directorate of Women’s Affairs – with wonderful brilliance, passion and dedication. I mention this because as Sheila’s work includes human trafficking, it highlights the issue and the needs for us in Florida to do more to understand human trafficking from the Caribbean to Florida and within the Caribbean, our neighbors. Please share if you know of any program that includes specialized expertise on human trafficking in and from the Caribbean. I’ll be linking up with Sheila to find out more about their work in Antigua and Barbuda and keep you posted.

robinhthompson@comcast.net