RI placed in Tier 2 in U.S. report on human trafficking
RI placed in Tier 2 in U.S. report on human trafficking
Agencies Washington/Jakarta
Indonesia was placed in Tier 2 along with seven other Asian nations in an annual U.S. report on human trafficking.
"It is an indication that the country is making serious and sustained efforts to meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, but does not yet comply with all such standards," the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said in a press release sent to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The press release was made available to publicize the results of the fourth annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which was released U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Monday.
Besides Indonesia, Tier 2 Asian nations comprised Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Japan is also among seven Asian nations placed on a U.S. "watch list" of countries involved in human trafficking, officials said.
A key destination for women and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation, Japan was relegated to a so-called Tier 2 watch list by the U.S. report for the year 2003.
In the previous report, Japan was on Tier 2 but was relegated to a special watch list with a warning that it could be downgraded further to Tier 3, of countries not making significant efforts to combat human trafficking.
Nations deemed to be complying with international efforts to fight trafficking are placed in "Tier 1," while those making "significant efforts" are placed in "Tier 2."
For the first time in its four-year history, the report created a Tier 2 watch list for countries that are not yet in compliance with U.S. legal standards and may be downgraded, but have promised to make or are in the process of making significant efforts to meet the requirements, officials said.
Aside from Japan, Asian nations on the watch list were India, Laos, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are on Tier 1 while Tier 3 consists of Myanmar, Bangladesh and North Korea.
"Japan does not comply with the minimum standards," John Miller, director of the State Department's office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, told a media briefing.
"We believe that there has been a tremendous gap in Japan that has a huge problem with slavery -- particularly sex slavery -- a tremendous gap between the size of the problem and the resources and efforts devoted to addressing the problem," he said.
Japan's trafficking problem is "large," the report said, adding that organized crime groups that operate internationally, like the Yakuza, are involved.
"The Japanese government must begin to fully employ its resources to address this serious human rights crime within its borders," the report said.
Last year, Japan's National Police Agency arrested 41 people for trafficking-related offenses, eight of whom were traffickers. Human trafficking victims around the globe are women and girls, as young as six years old, forced into commercial sexual exploitation, men trafficked into forced labor and children forced to become soldiers.
The report estimated that there were up to 800,000 cases each year of people being illegally transported across international borders.