WASHINGTON – The State Department is warning embassies and aid organizations working to respond to the South Asian tsunami to take steps to avert what could be a crisis in sex trafficking.

A cable to embassies sent last night instructs ambassadors to make refugees aware of sex-trafficking schemes that prey on women and children, especially those who take up offers for temporary shelter. Embassies were also warned to see that women and children are not isolated in the refugee camps aid organizations are setting up. Finally, Foggy Bottom is asking that nongovernmental organizations practice a “zero tolerance policy for new employees involved in human trafficking.”

The issue of sex trafficking cropped up late last year at the United Nations when stories broke about sex rings being established by international missions in Congo. Videotapes of certain aid workers sodomizing children surfaced.

Since 2002, the Bush White House has released annual reports on human trafficking, grading countries efforts to end the practice. Thailand is considered by experts in human trafficking to be one of the worst places on earth in regard underage prostitution.

The president’s ambassador-at-large for human trafficking, John Miller, sent out a letter to activists on the to issue asking for their vigilance in the wake of the December 26 tsunami. Beginning his January 5 letter with “Dear friends of the movement to end modern day slavery,” Mr. Miller wrote, “Just as the world is coming together in heroic ways to provide relief to people impacted by the tsunamis and to assist in the rebuilding of communities, we urge everyone involved in the region to come together to prevent human trafficking. We should work to ensure criminals who prey on others for financial gain do not compound the damage and suffering caused by the natural disaster.”

Mr. Miller has asked embassies to provide Washington with plans for dealing with the potential trafficking crisis and has begun consultations on a longer-term strategy with the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

One response from many American citizens in the wake of the crisis has been to offer to adopt children orphaned in the tsunami. Earlier this week, however, the Department of Homeland Security issued a policy statement urging families not to try to adopt children for the time being. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that it would take months before the countries affected by the disaster could begin to sort out how to handle their orphans.

“It is only if and when these countries decide to make these orphans available for international adoption that American citizens will be able to begin adoption proceedings for those children who also qualify as orphans as defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the statement said.

In Congress yesterday, Senator Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, and Senator Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, said during the confirmation hearings for the attorney general nominee, Alberto Gonzales, that they would begin work on legislation and a strategy to stem the trafficking problem.