Trafficking in Persons Report 2007
Once again, on 12 June of this year, the US released its assessment of most other countries (it doesn't assess itself) on their efforts to combat human trafficking.
Countries are placed in three tiers. Tier I (consisting of the close friends of the US) means 'excellent,' i.e., doing everything possible to combat human trafficking. Tier II means 'passing,' i.e., they are making an acceptable effort, but they could be doing better. Most countries are Tier II. Tier III is failing, meaning they are not only not combating human trafficking, but are actively aiding and abetting it. Tier III includes all the official enemies of the US, plus a few countries who are on-again/off-again friends of the US.
Five years ago, the UAE made Tier III for underage camel jockeys. The report was not mentioned in the UAE, but all the newspapers carried stories that the UAE had banned underage jockeys. The UAE was moved up to Tier II for a couple of years, until someone from the US state department actually went to see a camel race.
The next year's report, moving the UAE back to Tier III, was condemned by the UAE media in the strongest terms, though these condemnations were a bit hard to follow, since the scathing articles were not allowed to mention the report.
At that point, the UAE really did ban underage jockeys, and was moved up to Tier II. Since then, UAE newspapers always cover the release of the report and mention all the Tier III countries who have been declared serious perpetrators of human trafficking.
Tier III includes Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Iran, since being an enemy of the US means the country is clearly trafficking all its own citizens away from the US.
Tier III also includes the two obvious targets of Burma and Sudan, which are regularly reported of human rights violations by the world press, though there are other war-torn regions with similar problems that didn't make the list.
Finally, Tier III includes Algeria, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan, though it's not altogether clear why.
Countries are placed in three tiers. Tier I (consisting of the close friends of the US) means 'excellent,' i.e., doing everything possible to combat human trafficking. Tier II means 'passing,' i.e., they are making an acceptable effort, but they could be doing better. Most countries are Tier II. Tier III is failing, meaning they are not only not combating human trafficking, but are actively aiding and abetting it. Tier III includes all the official enemies of the US, plus a few countries who are on-again/off-again friends of the US.
Five years ago, the UAE made Tier III for underage camel jockeys. The report was not mentioned in the UAE, but all the newspapers carried stories that the UAE had banned underage jockeys. The UAE was moved up to Tier II for a couple of years, until someone from the US state department actually went to see a camel race.
The next year's report, moving the UAE back to Tier III, was condemned by the UAE media in the strongest terms, though these condemnations were a bit hard to follow, since the scathing articles were not allowed to mention the report.
At that point, the UAE really did ban underage jockeys, and was moved up to Tier II. Since then, UAE newspapers always cover the release of the report and mention all the Tier III countries who have been declared serious perpetrators of human trafficking.
Tier III includes Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Iran, since being an enemy of the US means the country is clearly trafficking all its own citizens away from the US.
Tier III also includes the two obvious targets of Burma and Sudan, which are regularly reported of human rights violations by the world press, though there are other war-torn regions with similar problems that didn't make the list.
Finally, Tier III includes Algeria, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan, though it's not altogether clear why.
posted by Dubai@Random at 7:04 pm
1 Comments:
I was going to include a news article of this report on my weekend news roundup, but for a different reason. Someone from the State Department is either blind or just plain ignoring the obvious prostitution of very young underage girls in Azerbaijan. Yes, using little boys as camel jockeys against their will is one thing, but using young teens for prostitutes isn't much different -horrendous to both, but something they or their families are willing to do for money. Which goes back to the true source of all this corruption-the countries themselves - both those that don't share the wealth (and excuse me for sounding a bit socialistic here) and those that exploit the lack therof.
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