Cambodia, Indonesia escape U.S. trafficking sanctions

Cambodia, Indonesia escape U.S. trafficking sanctions

Matthew Lee, Agence France-Presse, Washington

Cambodia and Indonesia on Wednesday escaped U.S. censure for
their efforts to combat the trafficking of human beings and
spared the possible imposition of sanctions while Myanmar,
already under heavy U.S. criticism, was rebuked anew by the State
Department.

In its third annual Trafficking in Persons Report released on
Wednesday, the department moved both Cambodia and Indonesia out
of its so-called "Tier 3" group of countries, inclusion in which
can lead to sanctions, into "Tier 2" citing improvements in their
records.

But Myanmar, the only other Southeast Asian nation to have
been included in Tier 3 last year, remained so designated and
will face a cut off in non-humanitarian and non-trade-related
U.S. aid unless it acts to meet Washington's trafficking
concerns, according to the report.

"The government of Burma (Myanmar) does not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is
not making significant efforts to do so," the report said, using
the former name of the country.

The report accused Myanmar's military rulers, now under U.S.
fire for their continued detention of opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and their failure to adequately fight the narcotics
trade, of complicity in trafficking people for forced labor.

"Government involvement in forced labor continues," it said,
adding that Yangon's efforts to stamp out sex trafficking had
been reluctant and achieved only mixed results.

"Burma's failure to make progress on forced labor more than
offsets the government's improving, but still inadequate, record
of combating trafficking for sexual exploitation," the report
said, explaining the failing grade.

The problem of trafficking still exists in Cambodia and
Indonesia, the report said, and much more needs to be done to
successfully combat it but Phnom Penh and Jakarta both recognize
their deficiencies and are working to fix them.

In Indonesia, the report said the government had approved
legislation aimed at protecting children from trafficking and was
moving to improve its criminal code to effectively prevent and
punish traffickers.

"Indonesia is (also) open to multilateral cooperation to
combat trafficking ... but much remains to be done, particularly
within the country," it said.

Southeast Asia has historically suffered from massive
trafficking of people, particularly women and children, for the
thriving international sex trade, but with the exception of
Myanmar, all 10 of the countries in the region passed U.S.
muster, according to the report.

Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
remained in Tier 2 -- which means they do not fully meet U.S.
standards but are making "significant efforts" to comply -- for
the second year in a row.

Singapore, which had been included in Tier 2 in 2002, was not
mentioned in the 2003 report.

The United States on Wednesday cited 15 nations, including
NATO allies Greece and Turkey, for failing to adequately fight
sex trafficking, opening the way for possible sanctions.

In addition to Greece and Turkey, the nations affected are:
Belize, Bosnia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Haiti,
Kazakhstan, Liberia, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Suriname and
Uzbekistan, the State Department said in its third annual
"Trafficking in Persons" report.