Release of the 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of State released its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report – the 21st installment of this annual publication. For the first time, the report warns of the dangers of systemic racism and acknowledges that discriminatory policies perpetuate human trafficking.
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of State released its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report – the 21st installment of this annual publication. As required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the TIP Report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking and highlights recommended strategies to tackle this crime and protect victims.
For the first time, the report warns of the dangers of systemic racism and acknowledges that discriminatory policies perpetuate human trafficking.
The 2021 report downgrades Guinea-Bissau and Malaysia to Tier 3, the lowest ranking, after they spent three years on the Tier 2 Watch List yet failed to take steps to improve their anti-human trafficking efforts. As reported by Reuters, Malaysia’s downgrade comes after a string of complaints by rights groups and U.S. authorities over the alleged exploitation of migrant workers in plantations and factories. The North Korean regime, and the governments of Afghanistan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan are listed as complicit with a “policy or pattern” of human trafficking.
Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland have been downgraded from the top Tier 1 category to Tier 2. Israel is cited for backsliding on “serious and sustained” initiatives to combat trafficking, including a decrease in investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators, and severe understaffing at its only authority directly charged with dealing with the matter. The report also cites U.S. treaty ally New Zealand for not initiating any prosecutions for labour trafficking and inadequate prison sentences for child sex traffickers that “significantly weakened deterrence, undercut efforts to hold traffickers accountable, and did not adequately address the nature of the crime”. NATO ally Norway is criticized for not prosecuting any human trafficking cases during the reporting period and charging people suspected of the crime with lesser offenses. And fellow NATO member Portugal is demoted for failing to improve victim identification and lacking legal safeguards to protect trafficking victims. In the first such criticism of a NATO ally, Turkey, which remains in Tier 2, is specifically cited for providing “operational, equipment, and financial support” to an armed militia in Syria that recruits child soldiers.
Fourteen other nations, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, are also criticized for their use of child soldiers, which can result in the loss of U.S. military training assistance, and restrictions on security assistance.
Four countries – Belarus, Burundi, Lesotho and Papua New Guinea – have been removed from Tier 3 and placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. Saudi Arabia is upgraded for the second year in a row, to Tier 2.
During the ceremony, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was joined by Acting Director Kari Johnstone of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, to virtually honor the 2021 TIP Report Heroes, individuals from around the world whose tireless efforts have made a lasting impact on the fight against human trafficking. Congratulations to Imelda Poole, Josiane Lina Bemaka-Soui, Chantal Sagbo Sasse ep. Guedet Mandzela, Shoichi Ibusuki, Shakhnoza Khassanova, Guillermina Cabrera Figueroa, Rocío Mora-Nieto, and Mohammed al-Obaidly for this recognition!
The honorees will embark on a State Department-funded International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), a virtual exchange program that will allow them to gain professional development experience and connect with American communities and organizations committed to ending human trafficking.
The 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is now available online.
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