A State department official has testified before Congress explaining
that China, Russia and Uzbekistan have not made adequate progress in
addressing human trafficking in recent years.
“Trafficking in persons affects every country in the world, and no
government is doing enough to fight it," ambassador-at-large for
trafficking in persons, Luis CdeBaca, testified before a House
subcommittee on Africa, global health, and global human rights July 11.
The annual State Department Trafficking in Persons report was released
June 19, and details the state of trafficking in persons for sex, labor,
and other motivations, in countries around the globe in the past year.
In the report, China, Russia and Uzbekistan were downgraded from the
Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 3 because they were “found not to be taking
the affirmative steps needed to fight human trafficking.”
The hearing was held to discuss the downgrade in the three countries’
status, as well as the broader worldwide trafficking trends.
"Through our diplomacy, we urge governments to fully embrace their
responsibility to deal with this crime and we offer to work with any
government that takes this problem seriously," CdeBaca said.
Worldwide, the report showed a decrease in the number of countries that
meet Tier 1 standards for protecting victims of human trafficking, and
an increase in the number of countries on the Tier 2 Watch List and in
Tier 3 for their failure to adequately address the trafficking in
persons situation in their countries.
Previously, China, Russia and Uzbekistan had been on a Tier 2 Watch
List. Under the 2008 re-authorization of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act, a country on the Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive
years must either make "sufficient progress had been made to merit an
upgrade to Tier 2" or face an automatic downgrade, the ambassador
explained.
"The law allowed for the mandatory downgrade provision to be waived for
up to two additional years, meaning that a country could be on the Tier 2
Watch List for a total of four consecutive years if a government
provided a written plan designed to bring that country into compliance
with the minimum standards," CdeBaca added.
This was the first year after the initiation of the 2008 policy that
countries could be automatically downgraded for failing to make enough
progress in fighting human trafficking to remove themselves from the
watch list.
"In China, Russia, and Uzbekistan, we did not see … progress, and as a
result, they had to be placed on Tier 3 of this year’s Report," he
explained, accounting for the countries' downgrade.
He noted that "even though this report takes a hard, thorough look at
this issue around the world, it isn’t meant to be punitive."
"We aren’t pointing the finger, but rather extending a hand in
partnership to anyone who agrees that this is a problem we need to
grapple with," he said, explaining that the report is meant to be
educative, and an aid for better addressing "modern slavery" around the
world.
The ambassador explained that the developments found in the report were
not all negative, saying that "we continue to see modest gains on a
global scale when it comes to anti-trafficking efforts," noting a
increase in victims identified, a move to adopt anti-trafficking laws,
and increased government in fighting human trafficking across the globe.