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Ivanka Trump Is Set To Help Release A New 2018 Report On Battling Human Trafficking

by Jasmyne Ray
Win McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images

When President Trump first took office, his administration announced that it would make putting an end to human trafficking a priority. On June 28, 2018 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ivanka Trump will unveil the Trafficking in Persons Report, which is released annually by the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The report ranks governments based on their knowledge of and efforts to stop human trafficking within their country.

The report puts countries on one of three tiers, with tier three being the lowest. Countries included in that ranking may also not be fully in compliance with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and may not be making efforts to change their compliance status.

"The stories of those we honor today demonstrate why combatting this crime here in the United States as well as around the world, is in both our moral and strategic interests," the first daughter said at last year's ceremony where the annual report was unveiled. "Ending human trafficking is a major foreign policy of the Trump administration."

The report gives some insight into how the Trump administration plans to promote human rights abroad as well as in the country. It has also been used as a diplomatic tool as the country meets with different foreign governments to find an end to human trafficking.

In last year's report, notably, China was moved down to Tier 3 and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed the country wasn't taking serious steps to end human trafficking in their country. Other nations on Tier 3 include Syria and Russia. But according to Politico, some human rights advocates criticized the 2017 Trafficking in Persons report for being supposedly subjective in some areas.

"Congress should be asking tough questions about the State Department's questionable decisions to upgrade several countries with poor records on trafficking," Asia Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, John Sifton, said, according to Bloomberg.

Bob Corker, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, was proud of the report, though, calling it "a step forward in efforts to improve the transparency and integrity of the rankings," according to Politico. "I appreciate the Trump administration for it's sincere commitment to tackling this massive problem," he added.

Human trafficking isn't the only cause that the first daughter is using her platform to bring attention to. After accepting a more political role in her father's White House, CBS reported that she's said she wants to use her platform to fight for wage equality, access to childcare, education reform, and open new opportunities for women.

However, her forays into these different causes have not received favorable responses. In September 2017, for example, it was announced that the Trump administration was going to end an Obama-era rule on gender gap wage data collection, which would have helped make sure men and women were paid equally for the same job. Ivanka supported her father's decision. And most recently, she failed to speak out against the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy. Instead, when the president signed an executive order stopping family separation at the border, she thanked him. " ... Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families," she continued in her tweet.

"Ivanka Trump's sporadic forays into discussions about her issue priorities, more often than not, have been largely rhetorical with few details and little concrete analysis of the economic, racial, gender, ethnic, geographic, and other differences that can influence policy needs and outcomes," the Center For American Progress said in an article on its site in October of 2017. Critics will surely be eager to see whether she continues to fight against human trafficking after releasing Thursday's report.