Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have made progress in their efforts to combat illegal human trafficking and both countries were upgraded by the U.S. Department of State from Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2 in the annual 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, according to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake, CA-NEWS reported referring to Silk Road Newsline.
In the TIP Report that currently ranks 184 countries, the U.S. Department of State places each country onto one of three tiers based on the extent of their governments' efforts to comply with the "minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking". Tier 1 is the highest ranking, Tier 2 is the second highest followed by Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3.
This year, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were placed in the same Tier 2 category as Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Hungary, Iceland and Bahrain and other countries that are "making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance" with anti-trafficking standards. Countries like China and Russia remained in the Tier 2 Watch List category among "countries whose governments do not fully comply" with these standards.
"Tajikistan is another country that has made commendable progress against trafficking and Secretary Clinton noted that on her last trip there last weekend," Blake told U.S. lawmakers last week speaking at a congressional hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights.
"In 2011, Tajikistan was upgraded to Tier 2 for addressing the use of forced labor in its annual cotton harvest through efforts such as accrediting and assisting NGOs to monitor the harvest. They also prosecuted and convicted the first trafficking offenders under the new anti-trafficking provision," Blake said.
"Kazakhstan also was elevated to Tier 2 this year. The Kazakh government increased law enforcement efforts against human trafficking," he said. "It passed a law strengthening penalties for convicted child sex trafficking offenders, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has drafted a law that allows trafficking victims to have a legal advocate that expands the scope of trafficking-related crimes and increases legal protections for minors subject to forced labor."
According to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights and the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 that mandated the annual human trafficking report, the TIP Report "has been an incredibly effective diplomatic tool" and "essential to the ongoing successes by the United States Government in combating modern day slavery both at home and abroad."
"However, the battle is far from over. According to the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking - created by the TPVA - more than 12 million people worldwide are trafficking victims," Rep. Smith said. "Other estimates put the number of victims as high as 27 million. Today we know that human trafficking is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), human traffickers make profits in excess of $31 billion a year."
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