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US asks Pakistan to report on human trafficking
By Shaukat Piracha
August 23, 2004
Islamabad - The United States has asked Pakistan to furnish a report on
Islamabad’s effort to combat human trafficking to the State Department by next
month so that the department could evaluate its performance to avoid sanctions
against Pakistan.
The State Department issues a report to Congress under the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 which ensures that the traffickers are punished and
protection for the victims is increased. Each country included in the State
Department’s report is put under one of three tiers.
Top-tier governments are those which fully comply with the minimum standards
under the Act to eliminate human trafficking. Countries determined to have made
“significant efforts” against human trafficking are put into Tier 2, and those
with the worst record — governments which are not making significant effort to
comply with the minimum standards, are placed under Tier 3.
Last year, Pakistan did not submit a detailed report on the effort to combat
human trafficking and was placed in Tier 2 list, though it did enforce a law
against human trafficking.
In the year 2003 report, 15 countries including US allies like Turkey and
Greece were put in Tier 3 and were warned to improve their record within four
months or face sanctions.
Sources told Daily Times that the US government had started consultations with
other countries for the compilation of the new report.
“Sally Neumann, the State Department officer to monitor and combat trafficking
in persons, recently visited Pakistan and discussed the issue with the members
of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Trafficking at a meeting at the
Interior Ministry. Senior officers from the ministries of foreign affairs,
interior, labour, women development and law and the Federal Investigation
Agency attended.
“Ms Neumann asked the Pakistani authorities to report on its effort to combat
human trafficking for the next year’s evaluation in the tier system list,”
sources said.
“Ms Neumann said 235 Tier 2 countries had the will to combat trafficking but
she regretted that they did not provide enough information for evaluation”. She
stressed that information about the efforts against human trafficking should
reach the State Department on time.
Ms Neumann said the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2003 was
based on the reports and statistics receive d from various governments.
She said the government should coordinate with the State Department so that an
adequate report could be prepared for 2004.
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