US: Trafficking May Spike

At least 12.3 million adults and children worldwide are subjected to forced labor, forced prostitution and forced organ harvesting, according to the report. It noted that rising unemployment worldwide could boost the supply side of human trafficking, while businesses moving underground to avoid taxes and unionized labor could boost the demand.  The study, published annually since 2000, is also a scorecard on governments’ efforts to enforce anti-trafficking laws, and ranks countries based on how they address the problem. Countries are ranked in three tiers – Tier 1 countries show the most effort to combat trafficking, Tier 3 countries fail to comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  Wealthier Are Mostly in Top Tier Wealthier developed nations once again made up the most of the top tier. Croatia, Georgia and Macedonia also made appearances there.  Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Romania and Serbia landed in Tier 2--countries that do not fully comply with the minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.  The Tier 2 “watch list,” where there is little evidence of progress that the countries say they are making or the number of trafficking victims is large or increasing, included Azerbaijan, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In Tier 3 were North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran, along with half a dozen sub-Saharan African countries.  “The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States,” said US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. “In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.” Clinton also said that for the first time, next year the report would include the US in its country analyses.  --Beth Kampschror