WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The United States has put allies Singapore
and Thailand as well as Vietnam on a human trafficking watch list,
accusing them of failing to prevent women from being forced into
prostitution.
The move Monday opens the way for the United States to cut off
some civilian assistance, although it usually functions as a way to
pressure countries to take action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has made women's and
children's rights a signature issue, called human trafficking a
"terrible crime" as she presented the State Department's annual
report.
"All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an
end," she said.
The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims
of trafficking in 2009-2010, although it said there has been
progress over the past decade.
The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its
watch list -- Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri
Lanka stayed on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom
level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on
human trafficking.
Explaining the downgrade for Singapore, the report said that
some women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked
into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate
employment and coerced into the sex trade.
The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant
new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable
indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or
prosecuting more culprits.
The State Department said that Thailand was a source,
destination and transit point for trafficking, with ethnic
minorities and citizens of neighboring countries at particular risk
of sexual abuse or forced labor.
Senator Jim Webb, who heads the Foreign Relations subcommittee
on East Asia, had made an unusually open appeal not to place
Thailand on the watch list.
Webb visited Bangkok this month and said US embassy staff
disagreed with the intended downgrade as it could curb assistance
for democracy and human rights programs in the wake of the
kingdom's political violence.
The downgrade occurs "at a time when this type of aide is
desperately needed to bolster political reforms in Thailand and to
promote political stability," Webb said last week in a letter to
Clinton.
The State Department recognized improvements in Pakistan, which
was taken off the watch list, and Malaysia, which was on the watch
list but lifted from the lowest category.
Pakistan "has dramatically increased the number of convictions
and prosecutions for human trafficking, undertaking creative
efforts to prevent bonded labor," Luis CdeBaca, the US envoy on
human trafficking, told reporters.
Malaysian authorities "have acknowledged and begun to tackle
their serious human trafficking problem, including intensified
engagement with foreign governments," CdeBaca said.
From other regions, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia remained in the
rock-bottom category and the Dominican Republic was newly
added.
Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican who authored the
law that requires the human trafficking report, said that more
countries should have been assigned the lowest rank.
"If we are willing to hold the Dominican Republic to account, as
we should, it's outrageous that China, Vietnam and India get a free
pass," Smith said.
Taiwan was upgraded and listed as fully compliant in efforts
against human trafficking after starting new services for victims,
CdeBaca said.
Australia, New Zealand and South Korea were also listed as fully
compliant.
For the first time, the United States included itself in the
report. It ranked itself in compliance.
Japan was listed as not fully compliant but making efforts. The
United States put its close ally on the watch list in 2004 and
2005, embarrassing Tokyo into stepping up efforts to protect
trafficked women.
