Syria
current situation: Syria is a destination and transit country
for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation
and forced labor; a significant number of women and children in the
large and expanding Iraqi refugee community in Syria are reportedly
forced into commercial sexual exploitation by Iraqi gangs or, in
some cases, their families; women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the
Philippines, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone are recruited for work in
Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of involuntary
servitude, including long hours, non-payment of wages, withholding
of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or
sexual abuse
tier rating: Tier 3 - Syria again failed to report any law
enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses in 2007; in
addition, the government did not offer protection services to
victims of trafficking and may have arrested, prosecuted, or
deported some victims for prostitution or immigration violations;
Syria has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)
Tajikistan
current situation: Tajikistan is a source country for
women trafficked through Kyrgyzstan and Russia to the UAE, Turkey,
and Russia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; men
are trafficked to Russia and Kazakhstan for the purpose of forced
labor, primarily in the construction and agricultural industries;
boys and girls are trafficked internally for various purposes,
including forced labor and forced begging
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Tajikistan is on the Tier 2 Watch
List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to
combat human trafficking, especially efforts to investigate,
prosecute, convict, and sentence traffickers; despite evidence of
low- and mid-level officials' complicity in trafficking, the
government did not punish any public officials for trafficking
complicity during 2007; lack of capacity and poor coordination
between government institutions remained key obstacles to effective
anti-trafficking efforts (2008)
Uzbekistan
current situation: Uzbekistan is a source country for
women and girls trafficked to Kazakhstan, Russia, Middle East, and
Asia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; men are
trafficked to Kazakhstan and Russia for purposes of forced labor in
the construction, cotton, and tobacco industries; men and women are
also trafficked internally for the purposes of domestic servitude,
forced labor in the agricultural and construction industries, and
for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Uzbekistan is on the Tier 2 Watch
List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to
combat severe forms of trafficking in 2007; the government did not
amend its criminal code to increase penalties for convicted
traffickers; in March 2008, Uzbekistan adopted ILO Conventions on
minimum age of employment and on the elimination of the worst forms
of child labor and is working with the ILO on implementation; the
government also demonstrated its increasing commitment to combat
trafficking in March 2008 by adopting a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law; Uzbekistan has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP
Protocol (2008)
Venezuela
current situation: Venezuela is a source, transit, and
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor;
Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked within the country for
sexual exploitation, lured from the nation's interior to urban and
tourist areas; child prostitution in urban areas and child sex
tourism in resort destinations appear to be growing; Venezuelan
women and girls are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to
Western Europe, Mexico, and Caribbean destinations
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Venezuela is placed on the Tier 2
Watch List, up from Tier 3, as it showed greater resolve to address
trafficking through law enforcement measures and prevention efforts
in 2007, although stringent punishment of offenders and victim
assistance remain lacking (2008)
World
current situation: approximately 800,000 people, mostly women
and children, are trafficked annually across national borders, not
including millions trafficked within their own countries; at least
80% of the victims are female and up to 50% are minors; 75% of all
victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; almost
two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally
within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and
Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people)
Tier 2 Watch List: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain,
Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Costa
Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia,
Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Jordan, Libya,
Malaysia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Niger, Panama, Republic of the
Congo, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Tier 3: Algeria, Burma, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Kuwait, Moldova, North
Korea, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria
(2008)
Zambia
current situation: Zambia is a source, transit, and
destination country for women and children trafficked for the
purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; many Zambian child
laborers, particularly those in the agriculture, domestic service,
and fishing sectors, are also victims of human trafficking; Zambian
women, lured by false employment or marriage offers abroad, are
trafficked to South Africa via Zimbabwe and to Europe via Malawi for
sexual exploitation; Zambia is a transit point for regional
trafficking of women and children, particularly from Angola to
Namibia and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to South
Africa for agricultural labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Zambia is on the Tier 2 Watch List
for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat
severe forms of trafficking, particularly in regard to its inability
to bring alleged traffickers to justice through prosecutions and
convictions; unlike 2006, there were no new prosecutions or
convictions of alleged traffickers in 2007; government efforts to
protect victims of trafficking remained extremely limited throughout
the year (2008)
Zimbabwe
current situation: Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; large scale
migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding countries - as they flee a
progressively more desperate situation at home - has increased;
rural Zimbabwean men, women, and children are trafficked internally
to farms for agricultural labor and domestic servitude and to cities
for domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation; young men and
boys are trafficked to South Africa for farm work, often laboring
for months in South Africa without pay before "employers" have them
arrested and deported as illegal immigrants; young women and girls
are lured abroad with false employment offers that result in
involuntary domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation;
men, women, and children from neighboring states are trafficked
through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Zimbabwe is on the Tier 2 Watch
List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to
combat severe forms of human trafficking, and because the absolute
number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is significantly
increasing; the trafficking situation in the country is worsening as
more of the population is made vulnerable by declining
socio-economic conditions (2008)
This page was last updated on 18 December 2008
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