Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report for 2015. Every year, the report places each country in a tier category, ranging from tier 1 to tier 3, indicating that country’s efforts to combat human trafficking.
Tier 1 – Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. (examples: Canada, U.S., Australia, Armenia, South Korea)
Tier 2 – Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. (examples: Argentina, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Africa)
Tier 2 Watch List – Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards (examples: Cambodia, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt)
Tier 3 – Countries whose governments do not fully comply with theminimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. (examples: Central African Republic, Belize, Syria, North Korea, Russia). These countries face the threat of diplomatic repercussions.
You can read the full report here.
OUR TAKE:
- The big news from the report is that Malaysia and Cuba have both been bumped up from tier 3, achieving tier 2 watch list status. Some think these countries haven’t done enough to warrant this change, and that the upgrade is simply political manoeuvring on the part of the U.S.
- We’re working on a summary of important/interesting points from the report, and will share it with you next week!
