WASHINGTON: An annual US State Department report cited Russia and China among the world’s worst offenders in fighting forced labour and sex trafficking, which could lead to US sanctions, prompting angry rebuttals from Moscow and Beijing.
The report said Russia had failed to provide systematic safeguards for victims of trafficking. China, it said, had done too little to outlaw all forms of trafficking and punish perpetrators.
The US designation drops Russia and China, already often are at odds with Washington, in the same category as North Korea and Iran. The State Department ranks countries according to the efforts they make to fight human trafficking. Russia, China and Uzbekistan all fell to the lowest level, Tier 3.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the report used “unacceptable methodology” grouping countries according to their degree of sympathy with Washington.
“In fighting organised crime, including countering trafficking, Russian authorities will never follow instructions worked out in another country, let alone fulfill conditions presented nearly in the form of an ultimatum,” it said. Russia, it said, would retaliate against any sanctions.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington “should take an objective and impartial view of China’s efforts, and stop making unilateral or arbitrary judgments of China”. China, she told a briefing, “has achieved remarkable progress in fighting domestic and transnational trafficking”.
The US report acknowledged that China had taken some steps, such as vowing to work with international organisations and increasing public awareness, but said it also continued to perpetuate the problem in hundreds of its own institutions.
“Despite these modest signs of interest in anti-trafficking reforms, the Chinese government did not demonstrate significant efforts to comprehensively prohibit and punish all forms of trafficking and to prosecute traffickers,” US officials wrote.
While it was not immediately clear what the Obama administration might do given the downgrade, human rights advocates and some US lawmakers urged strong steps such as imposing sanctions or withholding foreign aid.
Under US law, Tier 3 countries may face sanctions that do not affect trade or humanitarian assistance, such as educational funding or culture programs.
Despite pledges to combat such crimes, countries have failed to identify tens of millions of victims, according to the report, which ranked 188 countries and territories. Just 40,000 victims of “modern slavery” were identified last year among the estimated 27 million men, women and children who are held against their will globally, the report said.
Most victims were women and girls, although many men and boys were also affected.
Human trafficking practises can range from prostitution to forced labour among migrants or domestic servitude — and children also can be victims. A totalof 7,705 alleged perpetrators were prosecuted in 2012, leading to 4,746 convictions, a slight increase from the prior year, US officials said. In 2011, there were 7,206 prosecutions and 4,239 convictions.
Countries showing improvement included the Republic of Congo, Iraq and Azerbaijan.
Reuters
