The United States of America has added eight countries to the list of worst human traffickers. The list is contained in the State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which highlights issues of modern slavery, child soldiers, forced marriage, and domestic servitude. It also unveils efforts by governments from 188 countries and territories around the globe, including the United States, to combat human trafficking.
In this year’s report, eight countries were added to the blacklist of nations considered the worst offenders in human trafficking, the so-called Tier 3 list. The new nations added include the former Soviet states of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan along with the fledgling democracy of Myanmar, Haiti, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Sudan and Suriname. A Tier 3 rating can trigger sanctions limiting access to American and international aid.
The State Department said despite sustained anti-trafficking efforts, millions of individuals are bound by “mental, physical, and financial coercion” and manipulation by traffickers who “exploit their vulnerabilities for profit.”
“Modern day slavery that still today claims more than 20 millions victims on any given time, all 20 millions are people … they have names, they have or had families,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, calling human trafficking an industry that makes billions of dollars each year.
Honorees named
Nine men and women were honoured for their tireless efforts that have made a lasting impact on the fight against the modern slavery.
Among them are anti-trafficking activists Biram Abeid and Brahim Ramdhane from Mauritania, a country where slavery was not formally outlawed until 1981. Abeid and Ramdhane are both the children of slaves, and they have chosen careers focused on confronting injustice in Mauritania.
Oluremi Banwo Kehinde is a Russia-based anti-trafficking activist. Despite personal threats to his life, Kehinde tirelessly works to assist and protect Nigerian and other African victims of sex trafficking.
This year’s report marks the 16th year the Trafficking in Persons Report has been produced, which was mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPA.
In this year’s report, 36 countries and territories are on Tier 1; 78 countries and territories are on Tier 2; the Tier 2 Watch List contains another 44 countries and territories; and Tier 3 is comprised of 27 countries and territories.
Libya, Somalia and Yemen each are listed as a so-called “Special Case” because a stable government does not necessarily exist in those countries to implement policy.
“Somalia has been a special case for a while, Yemen and Libya are new to that category this year,” Coppedge said, because “if there isn’t a government that’s stable in the country, it’s hard to evaluate their efforts, so we move them to the special case category.”
Countries ranked as Tier 1 are considered in full compliance with minimum standards of the TVPA, but the designation does not mean trafficking has been eradicated in those countries.
A Tier 2 ranking means countries do not meet the minimum standards, but they are taking significant efforts to do so. The Tier 2 Watch List means a country is making significant efforts, but the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is significantly increasing, and they are failing to provide evidence of increased efforts.
Kuwait and Thailand were moved off the lowest Tier 3 ranking of the annual listing and promoted to the “Tier 2 Watch List.”