Human Trafficking legislation

  • 1525

    Transatlantic Slave Trade

    This year marked the first slave voyage from Africa to the Americas. The next 350 years would be deemed as the Transatlantic Slave Trade and some 12.5 million slaves were shipped from Africa around the world. 10.7 million arrived in the Americas, including the Caribbean, South America, and North America.
  • Abolition of the Slave Trade Act

    Abolition of the Slave Trade Act
    This law was passed by the British Parliament and outlawed the buying and selling of enslaved people in the British Empire.
  • The Missouri Compromise of 1820

    The Missouri Compromise of 1820
    This law temporarily addressed the issue of slavery in the new states. It was signed by President James Monroe. Eventually Missouri became a slave state while Maine was a non-slave state and the nation would remain equal. This held for 24 years until the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. And in 1857 the Supreme Court ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

    Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
    This law helped create the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The new land that was opened up for the transcontinental railroad caused an intensified debate over slavery and ultimately led to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas
    Bleeding Kansas was a violent period where Kansas was voted on either being a free state or a slave state. This was actually a major event that caused political conflict and led to the civil war of 1861
  • The Page act of 1875

    While mostly for prohibiting immigration, it was also the first law to prohibit the trafficking of women for prostitution.
  • The Mann Act of 1910

    The Mann Act, passed in June 1910 and named after Illinois Congressman James R. Mann , invoked the Commerce Clause to felonize the use of interstate or foreign commerce to transport women for immoral purposes. The Act was aimed at prostitution , immorality, and human trafficking. Congress appointed a commission in 1907 to investigate into the problem of immigrant prostitutes.
  • International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic of Women and Children

    The International Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children in 1921 was a landmark in the history of international human rights law. It highlighted the urgent need to protect the most vulnerable members of society from exploitation and abuse.
  • Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others

    The first legally binding international agreement on human trafficking. However, as of the present, only 66 nations have ratified it.
  • Trafficking Victims Protection Act

    Made to provide protection to trafficking victims and the prosecution of traffickers within the United States.
  • TVPA reauthorization 2003/2005/2008/2013/2017/2019

    Each reauthorization was meant to update and officialize the permission of something. Allowing new government officials to help change or revise them.