Singapore lambasted Washington Tuesday for what it said were
numerous "inaccuracies" in a damning human trafficking report,
while tentatively welcoming the city-state's removal from a
watchlist.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
Report, released Monday, elevated Singapore's ranking to Tier 2,
which means that while it does not fully meet standards on human
trafficking, it is making efforts to do so.
This effectively removed Singapore from a group of countries put
on the human trafficking watchlist.
"We note the change to Singapore's tier ranking... but we are
dismayed to find the US TIP report riddled with inaccuracies in the
section on Singapore," the foreign ministry said in a
statement.
"Such a casual approach to the facts is troubling."
The ministry took exception to the US report about forced labour
on fishing vessels originating from Singapore, which it said was
"untrue and unverified."
It urged the United States to "thoroughly investigate the
'reports' before faulting us for not pursuing our 'phantom' ships,"
the ministry said.
Singapore also took the United States to task for saying that
trafficking victims were not afforded the opportunity to avail
themselves of medical and other services at shelters over the past
year.
"We are puzzled by this statement," the ministry said, adding it
had given the US details of the assistance it extended to
trafficking victims.
"While we can acknowledge that much remains to be done in our
fight against trafficking, we are disappointed that the United
States chose to blatantly dismiss the facts and suggest that we are
not doing our share," it said.
Singapore said the US had "again unabashedly" given itself the
top Tier 1 ranking despite inadequacies in its own approach to
human trafficking.
It cited a New York Times report which said that teenage girls
coerced into prostitution in the US are treated not as trafficking
victims but as "miscreants who are arrested and prosecuted, instead
of protected."
"As is well known, the United States also suffers from serious
problems with illegal immigrants, many of whom are trafficked by
well-organised criminal gangs which seem to be able to operate with
impunity," the ministry said.
"On any objective criteria, the United States has a more serious
TIP problem compared with Singapore."
-- Yahoo!