Malaysia back on US human trafficking blacklist

6/17/2009 1:16:48
Source ::: AFP

Washington: The United States yesterday added six African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list.

Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in the annual report, which analysed efforts in 173 countries to fight trafficking in humans for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other reasons.

Staying on the blacklist are US allies Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but also Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, and Syria, according to the State Department report for 2009.

Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and Moldova.

“This is modern slavery, a crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with an endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in introducing the report.

The “Trafficking in Persons Report” said “the global economic crisis is also boosting the demand side of human trafficking.”

The 17 countries on the blacklist could face sanctions, including the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade related US aid.

The report said Malaysia fails not only to “fully comply” with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking but “is not making significant efforts to do so.”

Last year, the report elevated Malaysia to a “watch list” from the 2007 blacklist after finding that it was “making significant efforts” to comply with such standards.

The new report said that while the government took early steps to fight sex trafficking, it has yet to fully tackle labour trafficking in Malaysia.