On Tuesday morning, Ivanka Trump helped unveil the State Department’s annual human trafficking report alongside Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The State Department calls its annual Trafficking in Persons report “the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts.”
The 2017 report rates 190 countries on how aggressively their governments fight human trafficking on a three tiers (with Tier 1 being the most effective). Most notably, the report downgraded China from the watchlist to Tier 3, the lowest ranking. Per the AP, this is the “the first major, public rebuke of China’s human rights record by the Trump administration. The US may also place sanctions against countries with Tier 3 rankings.
But it remains to be seen how Trump, a senior advisor to the president, will attempt to prioritize this critical issue considering she “tries to stay out of politics,” and was unsuccessful in convincing her father to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement. She gave a perfectly anodyne speech calling the end of human trafficking a “major priority” for the Trump Administration and honored several individuals who have fought against exploitation. In the meantime, she continues to advise a president who has been working hard to suppress basic human rights like free speech, religious freedom, reproductive rights, and access to healthcare.
