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Combating Human Trafficking in Global Research

The University of North Carolina is committed to combating human trafficking. The Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office provides resources to support an ethical and safe workplace at the UNC.

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research provides researchers with tools to engage in ethical and compliant global research. When federal agencies award projects with large global components, they may require a compliance plan to safeguard against human trafficking during the project. To this end, Research provides the following resources:

Compliance program for global research:

Combating Human Trafficking in Global Research Policy

Compliance Plan for Combating Human Trafficking in Global Research

Further information:


The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(A, B)) and its subsequent reauthorizations recognize and define two primary forms of Human Trafficking:

  • Forced Labor: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
  • Sex Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.


Federal Acquisitions Regulations may require safeguards against Combating Trafficking in Persons, namely:

Other grant or award terms may also oblige the adaptation of a Compliance Plan, such as:

  • Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR) Part 175
  • USAID’s Standard Provision M20 regarding Trafficking in Persons for U.S. Nongovernmental Organizations for USAID funded grants and cooperative agreements.


The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has coordinated standard roles and responsibilities, administrative communication channels, notifications, and reporting requirements in the Compliance Plan for Combating Human Trafficking in Global Research. When a Compliance Plan is required, this document serves as the basis for the document.

The Principal Investigator must apply their knowledge of the research project’s scope and breadth to determine whether the provisions included in the Compliance Plan are sufficient or whether additional safeguards are needed. The Principal Investigator may add additional safeguards to the project by appending duties to the base Compliance Plan document.