Strengthening the Legal Framework to Combat Trafficking in Persons

Heartland Alliance is strengthening anti-trafficking legal frameworks and conducting multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral trainings on victim-centered investigations and prosecutions of trafficking cases in Iraq.

Heartland Alliance is engaging local civil society to advocate for the passage, implementation, and/or enforcement of anti-trafficking laws throughout Iraq.

Heartland Alliance is simultaneously working directly with the Iraqi federal government on improved implementation of the 2012 national anti-trafficking legislation and with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to enact comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation in the region.

On both fronts, Heartland Alliance is training and mentoring government officials, prosecutors, judicial officials, and victim service providers to: (1) enforce anti-trafficking laws; (2) conduct victim-centered investigations and prosecutions; (3) identify and refer victims to protection services; (4) prevent the erroneous prosecution/conviction of trafficking victims; and (5) compile related anti-trafficking statistics.