Port of Seattle Human Trafficking Strategy

Executive Summary

January 2018

Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including

the United States. It is estimated that human trafficking generates billions of dollars of profit per year –

second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime. Human trafficking is

modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or

commercial sex act.

The Port of Seattle has a unique role to play in stopping human trafficking here in King County, where

hundreds of victims of human trafficking are identified each year. As both the operator of an airport and

an owner of a wide array of maritime facilities, we can help reduce the probability that our properties

will be used as a transit point for traffickers and their victims. As a major employer, we can train our

employees to understand both what human trafficking is as well as how it undermines our commitment

to equity and social justice. As a public sector leader, we can collaborate with other jurisdictions,

customers, tenants, vendors and partners to raise awareness of this important issue.

The Port has addressed human trafficking in various ways over the years, but we have the opportunity

to take the next step in our engagement on this important topic by developing a comprehensive

strategy that ties together training, resources, policies and procedures. Given the Port’s commitment to

ensuring that we use our resources to ensure the safety and prosperity of all King County residents and

everyone who uses our facilities, now is the perfect time to develop and implement such a plan.

Elements of Port of Seattle’s Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy

Four key areas of focus could help the Port take a leadership role in addressing human trafficking issues:

1) Training – Ensure that all employees have access to the proper training and education to

understand both what human trafficking is as well as how it undermines our commitment to

equity and social justice. As appropriate, provide additional training to customer-facing

employees and public safety personnel to identify and stop human trafficking taking place

through our facilities.

2) Communications and Infrastructure – Utilize port facilities and communications channels to

raise public awareness of human trafficking, and provide information to stop trafficking taking

place at our facilities. In particular, focus on airport passengers through signage and by

providing clear, accessible reporting infrastructure and procedures.

3) Partnerships – Leverage existing resources and relationships both to reduce duplication and to

maximize the impact of our efforts, including collaborating with nonprofits; local, state and

federal government agencies; and key customers and vendors like airlines, airport dining &

retail, taxis & TNCs, ocean carriers, intermodal transportation providers and construction

contractors. Work with the Northwest Seaport Alliance to ensure cohesion in policy, procedures

and efforts at their facilities and through their customer and vendor networks.

4) Policies & Protocols – Ensure that Port policies (such as travel and expenses, as well as use of

Port resources and electronic devices) prohibit engagement in human trafficking, and provide

clear procedures for employees to follow to report suspicion of human trafficking and violations

of these policies.

Port-wide Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy Tactics

While the Port has a clear role to play in addressing human trafficking, our organization has multiple

priorities and limited resources. Therefore, Port leadership must tackle our efforts to combat human

trafficking in an incremental way – prioritizing near-term activities and then expanding our reach to

additional actions as time and capacity allows. Below is the initial timeline for action.

Tier I – Initial Engagement

 Pass a Commission motion demonstrating the Port’s comprehensive commitment to this issue

 Conduct a comprehensive review of relevant Port policies, and send a clear email

communication to Port employees about relevant policies and procedures

 Institute a training for Port public safety personnel and frontline, customer-facing Port

employees

 Join the Washington Advisory Committee on Trafficking to coordinate investigations and

prosecution of trafficking cases, and the Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking’s Employer

Alliance; become a signatory to the USDOT’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

pledge

 Utilize part of an ELT retreat to help Port leadership better understand how they can drive

commitment to combatting human trafficking through their teams

 Hold an optional lunch & learn with trafficking experts for Port staff

 Advocate at the state and federal level for policy changes that further the Port’s and region’s

human trafficking reduction efforts

 Conduct a media and social media announcement of the Port’s commitment

 Take steps to prepare for implementation of Tier II actions, including but not limited to

reviewing the Port Code of Conduct to identify any necessary changes to fully address anti-

human trafficking, planning for broader training opportunities for Port staff and designing Port

anti-human trafficking signage; as appropriate, move Tier II items into Tier I if they are easily and

affordable done sooner

Tier II – Secondary Engagement

 Make appropriate amendments to the Port Code of Conduct to address anti-human trafficking

policies more explicitly

 Increase training opportunities for all Port employees

 Install signage throughout Port facilities 1) with information on what individuals being trafficked

can do to get help, and 2) highlighting human trafficking awareness for visitors and travelers

who use our facilities

 Incorporate human trafficking awareness efforts into Port communications, such as website,

social media and marketing

 Explore benefits, costs and other impacts of the implementation of Tier III actions; as

appropriate, move Tier III items into Tier II if they are easily and affordable done sooner

Tier III – Long-Term Engagement

 Consider installing panic buttons or other emergency assistance technology in key places

throughout Port facilities (such as restrooms), which could be used not only for human

trafficking victims to call for rescue but also other individuals in need of help or crisis

 Partner with vendors, tenants and concessionaires to conduct trainings and implement

awareness campaigns in their parts of Port facilities, such as airport ticket counters, cruise ship

terminals, marinas, and commercial fishing and maritime facilities

 Create an optional training for all non-Port employees who work at Port facilities

 Consider a certain level of anti-human trafficking effort from vendors and contractors through a

Supplier Code of Conduct, specific procurement & RFP language or contract requirements

 Consider how current workforce development partnerships could support victims of human

trafficking in their efforts to build employment skills and job training

 Consider implementation of new HR policies that could support victims of human trafficking

interested in Port employment

 Explore how the Northwest Seaport Alliance can implement training, communications, policies

and partnerships at their facilities and through their customer and vendor networks

For more information, contact Eric Schinfeld, Sr. Manager for Federal & International Government Affairs

for the Port of Seattle, at 206.787.5031 or schinfeld.e@portseattle.org