REPORT DETAILS MIXED HUMAN TRAFFICKING PICTURE IN EUROPE, EURASIA
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington File, DC
June 7 2006
Improvements Noted In Switzerland, Greece, Slovak Republic, Ukraine
Washington — The campaign to stop to what Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has called a “modern day form of slavery” is achieving
mixed results in Europe and Eurasia, according to the Trafficking in
Persons Report released by the U.S. State Department June 5.
Several countries improved their efforts and achieved higher rankings
in the congressionally mandated report, which places nations in one of
four categories based on their efforts to control human trafficking,
prosecute those involved and support and assist victims of these
crimes. But just as many countries were downgraded for their lack of
effort, and the State Department continues to estimate that roughly
800,000 people are trafficked each year.
Even though the number of convictions in Europe and Eurasia for
trafficking increased over the previous year, the report criticized a
number of countries for undercutting those convictions with weak or
suspended penalties, and the number of prosecutions for trafficking
fell substantially.
The report recognized Switzerland’s new legislation and greater
commitment to combat trafficking by raising it from Tier 2 to Tier 1.
Seventeen European countries now meet the Tier 1 standards established
in the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
The report cites as praiseworthy the actions of three European and
Eurasian countries in its section on International Best Practices:
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tajikistan and Romania. Bosnia is cited for
major raids made by its Anti-Trafficking Strike Force, which rescued
26 victims and apprehended at least 14 traffickers. Tajikistan is
commended for setting up elite anti-trafficking units in regions
throughout the country, which led to a significant increase in
trafficking investigations in 2005. Romania is cited for cooperating
with private researchers on the most comprehensive report on human
trafficking in Romania to date.
Greece, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine improved from the Tier 2
Watch List classification to Tier 2, which comprises countries that
are demonstrating commitment to address their trafficking problems
but have not yet achieved international standards. The Tier 2 Watch
List includes countries that show signs of falling backwards.
Among the positive developments in Greece cited by the report were
increased capacity to protect and assist victims, improved cooperation
with NGOs, the signing of a child repatriation agreement with Albania
and a national public awareness campaign.
In the Slovak Republic, the government has a national working group on
trafficking and an increased network for victim services, and it has
adopted its first national action plan on trafficking, the report said.
Ukraine improved by increasing its law enforcement capacity and
strengthening its anti-trafficking criminal code, the report said.
Tier 3 comprises countries whose governments are not making significant
efforts to meet international standards. Uzbekistan fell from the
Tier 2 Watch List to the Tier 3 category in the 2006 assessment —
the only country in Europe and Eurasia to be ranked so low. The report
said Uzbekistan failed to fulfill any of its commitments to adopt
comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, to raise trafficking
penalties, to support its first trafficking shelter and to approve
a national action plan.
Cyprus fell from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List because of its failure to
show evidence of increasing effort to solve its serious sex trafficking
problem, according to the report.
Both the Czech Republic and Portugal, which in 2005 were rated Tier
1 countries, have been dropped to Tier 2. In the Czech Republic,
there were “inadequate sentences for traffickers,” the report said,
and it also cited concerns over forced labor. Portugal “failed to
prescribe punishment sufficiently stringent to deter trafficking”
and “virtually all convictions for trafficking resulted in suspended
sentences in 2004,” the report said.
The report keeps Armenia on the Tier 2 Watch List for a second
consecutive year because of its “failure to show evidence of increasing
efforts over the past year, particularly in the areas of enforcement,
trafficking-related corruption, and victim protection.”
Russia is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a third consecutive year
because of its failure to “show evidence of increasing efforts to
combat trafficking, particularly in the area of victim protection
and assistance,” the report said.
Russia remains a significant source of women trafficked to more than
50 countries for commercial sexual exploitation, according to the
report; Russia is also a transit and destination country for men and
women trafficked from Central Asia, Eastern Europe and North Korea.
The report also expressed concern over forced labor in the maritime
industry, the trafficking of women from rural areas to urban centers
within Russia for commercial sexual exploitation and the trafficking
of men internally and from Central Asia for forced labor in the
construction and agricultural industries.
The report said Russia is making “significant efforts” to comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but made
“uneven progress” during the period covered by the report, April 2005
through March 2006. It urged Russia to work with NGOs to establish
more shelters for victims of trafficking and to pass and implement
comprehensive legislation on victim assistance.
WORLD CUP ISSUES
Tier 1 status does not mean a country has solved its trafficking
problems. Germany, for example, while ranked in Tier 1 because it
“fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking,” is a source, transit and destination country for men,
women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labor
exploitation. Many of the victims come from Central and Eastern Europe,
including Russia, the report said.
The report noted concerns among some nongovernmental organizations
and governments over the potential for increased human trafficking in
Germany during the World Cup Soccer championship, which opens June 9.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), for
example, expressed concern April 12 that between 30,000 and 60,000
women might be trafficked for sexual exploitation during the World Cup.
German federal and state governments say they have taken steps
to prevent trafficking during the championship by improving
victim-screening mechanisms and police safeguards, sponsoring seminars,
expanding print and video outreach and strengthening interagency
coordination, according to the report.
“Nevertheless, due to the sheer size of the event, the potential for
increased human trafficking surrounding the games remains a concern,”
said the report. Germany expects more than 3 million fans to attend
the matches in 12 cities across the country between June 9 and July 9.
“Germany should continue to focus attention on domestic
demand-reduction efforts, implement the 2005 penal code amendments, and
consider releasing more detailed statistics that include the full range
of charges — including non-trafficking charges — that traffickers are
prosecuted for and the sentences they receive,” the report recommended.
The transcript of Rice’s remarks is available on the State Department
Web site, as is the full text of the report.