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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Human Trafficking Awareness and Public Safety Initiative

What's New

Human Trafficking Prevention in Tribal Communities Webinar 

As part of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, FTA hosted a webinar that will explore how human trafficking impacts American Indian/Alaskan Native populations, the role transportation and public transit has in human trafficking, how transit agencies can prevent human trafficking, and how drivers and other front-line transit employees can intervene if trafficking is identified. 

Presentation | Recording

Overview

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery, with nearly 25 million victims worldwide, including in the United States. Traffickers use all modes of transportation to conduct their activities and often use public transit because it is low cost, offers greater anonymity in buying fare cards, and provides less direct interaction with government or transit officials.

FTA’s Human Trafficking Awareness and Public Safety Initiative supports the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking initiative through transit-focused industry engagement, education, public awareness and outreach, and research and technical assistance to combat human trafficking in transit. In addition, the program supports FTA’s operator assault and crime prevention efforts. The initiative aims to maximize the transit industry’s collective impact to address human trafficking and other public safety concerns.

U.S. DOT Campaigns

U.S. DOT combats human trafficking by working with public and private sector stakeholders to empower transportation employees and the traveling public to recognize and report possible instances of human trafficking.  

DOT's Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) initiative was formed in 2012 for transportation and travel industry stakeholders to maximize their collective impact on human trafficking. TLAHT’s focus areas are leadership, training and education, policy development, public awareness, and information sharing and analysis. Partners take action to combat human trafficking by issuing leadership statements, signing pledges, developing reporting protocols, training their employees, and conducting public awareness campaigns. 

On January 13, 2023, FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez released a video as part of DOT’s campaign to #PutTheBreaksOnHumanTrafficking. The video highlights FTA’s counter-trafficking efforts and encourages transportation leaders to issue their own messaging and sign the Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking pledge.