An annual US trafficking report has removed Jamaica from the US State Department Trafficking in Persons Tier Two watch list whilst Russia and China are cited as being among the world’s worst offenders in fighting forced labour and sex trafficking.
The annual report upgraded Jamaica which was last year downgraded in its ranking of the measures being undertaken by the government to address human trafficking.
In distinguishing the two “lists” Washington defines countries on the Tier 2 Watch List as those whose governments “do not fully comply” with the minimum standards in its Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is, among other things, “very significant or is significantly increasing”.
Countries on the Tier 2 List, on the other hand, are those whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are simply making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Jamaica National Security Minister Peter Bunting said: “You will recall that last year at around this time I had to make a statement in this House regarding the 2012 trafficking in persons report released by the US State Department which downgraded us from Tier Two and the implications that that could have had on assistance from the United States and our international reputation.”
“I am pleased to announce that as at this afternoon the US State Department released their 2013 trafficking in persons report, we have been removed from the watch list,” he told the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Russia and China downgraded
The report said Russia had failed to provide systematic safeguards for victims of trafficking. China, it said, had done too little to outlaw all forms of trafficking and punish perpetrators. Both countries are placed in the same category as North Korea and Iran.
The State Department ranks countries according to the efforts they make to fight human trafficking. Russia, China and Uzbekistan all fell to the lowest level, Tier 3. Under US law, Tier 3 countries may face sanctions that do not affect trade or humanitarian assistance, such as educational funding or culture programs.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the report used “unacceptable methodology” grouping countries according to their degree of sympathy with Washington.
“In fighting organised crime, including countering trafficking, Russian authorities will never follow instructions worked out in another country, let alone fulfil conditions presented nearly in the form of an ultimatum,” it said.
Russia, it said, would retaliate against any sanctions.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington “should take an objective and impartial view of China’s efforts, and stop making unilateral or arbitrary judgments of China”.
China, she told a briefing, “has achieved remarkable progress in fighting domestic and transnational trafficking”.
The US report acknowledged that China had taken some steps, such as vowing to work with international organisations and increasing public awareness, but said it also continued to perpetuate the problem in hundreds of its own institutions.
“Despite these modest signs of interest in anti-trafficking reforms, the Chinese government did not demonstrate significant efforts to comprehensively prohibit and punish all forms of trafficking and to prosecute traffickers,” US officials wrote.
The report said China’s one-child policy and preference for sons had reduced the number of women in the country, generating demand for women as brides or prostitutes.
Russia’s government “had not established any concrete system for the identification or care of trafficking victims, lacking any formal victim identification and referral mechanism,” although there were some “ad hoc efforts,” the report said.
Strained relations
The findings are likely to further complicate relations between the United States and the two countries, already strained by the handling of the civil war in Syria and cyber security, among other issues.
While it was not immediately clear what the Obama administration might do given the downgrade, human rights advocates and some US lawmakers urged strong steps such as imposing sanctions or withholding foreign aid.
“China has become the sex and labour trafficking capital of the world,” said US Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican. “Without serious and sustained action by Beijing, it is only going to get worse.”
Victims
Despite pledges to combat such crimes, countries have failed to identify tens of millions of victims, according to the report, which ranked 188 countries and territories.
Just 40,000 victims of “modern slavery” were identified last year among the estimated 27 million men, women and children who are held against their will globally, the report said.
Most victims were women and girls, although many men and boys were also affected.
Human trafficking practises can range from prostitution to forced labour among migrants or domestic servitude – and children also can be victims. Perpetrators are difficult to track and largely circulate in the private economy, although cases can involve rebel groups or national authorities.
The report also noted that Jamaica is a “source, transit and destination country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour”, and that the exploitation of local children in the sex trade remains a problem.
Other countries showing improvement included the Republic of Congo, Iraq and Azerbaijan.
However, Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago have been placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. And Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines – have been listed on the Tier 2 List.
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