Admin l Friday, July 02, 2021
WASHINGTON – The United States has upgraded Nigeria to tier 2 in the 2021 Trafficking in Persons, TIP report based on evaluation of 188 countries and territories, including the United States. This was disclosed during a press briefing by a senior department official in Washington DC.
Other governments that received upgrades to Tier 2 for increasing efforts to address trafficking, include Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.
Six countries received downgrades from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Countries in this category include Republic of Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland for failing to meet all four of the minimum standards and were therefore not making “appreciable progress” compared to the previous year and no longer meet the minimum standards to stay on Tier 1.
Twelve countries were also downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watchlist. They are South Africa and Thailand. Two other countries were downgraded from the Watch List to Tier 3. Those two countries are Guinea-Bissau and Malaysia.
“Tier 2 Watch List rankings are time-limited by U.S. law, as governments can only retain this ranking for a maximum of three consecutive years; thus, here too ongoing efforts to improve are critical. For Tier 3 governments – those that are assessed as failing to make significant efforts to meet the minimum standards and do not, in fact, meet the minimum standards – also Tier 3 countries include countries whose governments have a policy or pattern of trafficking. For those countries on Tier 3, restrictions on assistance may apply”, the senior department official said.
The six countries that were downgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2 include Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. There were four countries upgraded from Tier 3 this year. They include Belarus, Burundi, Lesotho, and Papua New Guinea. And the two countries that were downgraded to Tier 3, Guinea-Bissau and Malaysia, were in fact both out of time on the Watch List. They had exceeded their time. They had been on the Watch List for three years, and therefore were no longer able legally to stay on the Watch List and did not make enough progress to support an upgrade to Tier 2, and therefore were automatically downgraded to Tier 3.
The 17 countries downgraded to Tier 3 include Afghanistan, as we already discussed; Algeria, Burma, China, Comoros, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea Bissau, Iran, North Korea, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela
He said 11 countries continued to have a government policy or pattern of trafficking and inadequate enforcement mechanisms; some government officials in these countries were themselves part of the problem, directly compelling citizens or foreign nationals into sex trafficking, forced labor, or use as child soldiers.
“We found that officials used their power to exploit their citizens or foreign nationals ranging from forced labor in local or national public works projects, military operations, economically important sectors, or as part of government-funded projects or missions abroad, to sexual slavery on government compounds”, the official explained.
“This year, 15 countries are included on the 2021 Child Soldier Prevention Act List for having governmental armed groups or supporting nongovernmental armed groups that recruit or use children in armed conflict”, the official noted, stressing that the department is recognizing eight TIP Report heroes who have devoted their lives to the fight against human trafficking.
“The 2021 heroes come from Albania, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Qatar, and Spain. These individuals inspire each of us to do more to advance the global fight against human trafficking and protect the victims and survivors of this crime”, the official said.
