Black to gray … Kuwait raised to Tier 2 in trafficking
This news has been read 5183 times!
KUWAIT CITY, June 30, (Agencies): Kuwait was lifted off the human trafficking blacklist after remaining in Tier 3 of the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report for eight consecutive years. The US State Department evaluates the efforts exerted by the governments of 188 countries in combating modern-day slavery through the annual Trafficking in Persons Report.
According to the 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report released Thursday, Kuwait was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List which includes countries whose governments do not fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to meet those standards And:
(a) The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing.
(b) There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials.
(c) The determination that a country is making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.
Tier 1 includes countries whose governments fully meet the minimum standards while Tier 2 includes countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to meet those standards and Tier 3 includes countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. Meanwhile on the placements of other GCC countries, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are on
Tier 2; whereas Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also on Tier 2 Watch List like Kuwait. The United States removed Thailand from its human trafficking blacklist on Thursday, though forced labor remains widespread in the nation’s lucrative seafood industry.
The State Department made the assessment in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which examines 188 governments’ efforts in combating modern-day slavery.
Key US trading partner Malaysia was taken off the blacklist controversially in 2015, soon after the discovery of mass graves of suspected trafficking victims. Malaysia retained its ranking, though it has initiated fewer trafficking investigations and prosecutions in the period covered by this year’s report.
This news has been read 5183 times!
