The Trafficking in Persons Report, or the TIP Report, is an annual report issued since 2001 by the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking. [1] [2]
The map presents the distribution of human trafficking victims across different forms of exploitation within the European Union in 2022. Germany reported the highest number of victims, totaling 992, whereas Slovenia reported the lowest count, with only 3 victims. The data have been sourced from Eurostat, the official statistics office of the European Union.
The report divides nations into tiers based on their compliance with standards outlined in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). These tiers are:
There are also a few special cases (Special Tier) such as Yemen, where their civil conflict and humanitarian crisis make gaining information difficult; and Sint Maarten, where the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma has made reporting difficult.
Some critics of the Trafficking in Persons Report focus on how its methodology could be improved. For example, one recent academic paper suggests how the rankings could better incorporate risk factors of trafficking in order to focus more on prevention. [16] Another critic argues that the Report should better incorporate "international rules that states (including the USA) have collectively developed and freely accepted," rather than focusing on criteria drawn up solely by U.S. politicians. [17]
Other critics more fundamentally question its methodology and sources, such as anthropologist Laura Agustín, who writes that the Report "relies on CIA, police and embassy guesstimates of situations that are not understood the same way across all cultures and social classes." [18]
As part of the report the Department of State announces the awarding of the Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery Awards to a number of individuals. [19] The first such awards were made in 2004. [20] Awards are made for actions taken to protect victims, bring offenders to justice or to raise awareness of modern slavery. More than 110 individuals from more than 60 countries have been honored so far. [19] [20] Award winners are invited to a large reception in the United States followed by a tour of several American cities. [20]
Saudi Arabia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2007.
Kosovo is a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls trafficked transnationally and internally for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.
Singapore ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2015.
Slovak Republic ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2004.
Sudan ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in December 2014.
Switzerland ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2006.
According to the United States Department of State, "Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking." Thailand's relative prosperity attracts migrants from neighboring countries who flee conditions of poverty and, in the case of Burma, military repression. Significant illegal migration to Thailand presents traffickers with opportunities to coerce or defraud undocumented migrants into involuntary servitude or sexual exploitation. Police who investigated reaching high-profile authorities also received death threats in 2015.
Human trafficking in Israel includes the trafficking of men and women into the country for forced labor and sex slavery. The country has made serious efforts to reduce the problem in recent years and now ranks 90th out of 167 countries who provide data. Identification of victims, criminal justice work and efforts to co-ordinate with business and government agencies has been concerted in reducing this problem in the last decade.
Kuwait ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2006.
Lebanon ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2005.
Freedom Firm is a non-profit human rights organization based in India. It was founded in 2006, by Greg Malstead, who was an attorney and served as the International Justice Mission Director in Mumbai for five years, and his wife Mala. Their mission is to rescue victims of sex trafficking and restore their identity, while also serving to seek justice against the perpetrators.
In 2008, Ireland was one of many destination countries for women, men, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Armenia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2003.
In 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina was primarily a source for Bosnian women and girls who were subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution within the country, though it was also a destination and transit country for foreign women and girls in forced prostitution in Bosnia and Western Europe. There were four identified victims from Serbia in 2009. Most trafficked women entered the country through Serbia or Montenegro. There were reports that some girls, particularly Roma, were trafficked, using forced marriage, for the purpose of involuntary domestic servitude, and that Roma boys and girls were subjected to forced begging by organized groups. There was one case involving Bosnian males recruited for labor and subjected to coercive conditions in Azerbaijan in 2009. NGO's report that traffickers frequently use intermediaries to bring clients to private apartments, motels, and gas stations where victims are held.
Tunisia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2003.
Human trafficking in Europe is a regional phenomenon of the wider practice of trade in humans for the purposes of various forms of coercive exploitation. Human trafficking has existed for centuries all over the world, and follows from the earlier practice of slavery, which differed from human trafficking in that it was legally recognized and accepted. It has become an increasing concern for countries in Europe since the Revolutions of 1989. The transition to a market economy in some countries has led to both opportunity and a loss of security for citizens of these countries. Economic hardship and promises of prosperity have left many people vulnerable to trafficking within their countries and to destinations in other parts of Europe and the world. Unique to the Balkansare some of the situations that support trafficking, such as organized crime, and the recruitment strategies that perpetuate it. While some generalizations can be made, the countries within this region face different challenges and are at varying stages of compliance with the rules that govern trafficking in persons.
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed Eritrea in "Tier 3" in 2017. Tier 3 countries are described as "countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so". In 2010 the U.S. Department of State reported that
Sex trafficking is defined as the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or forced into exploitative and slavery-like conditions and is commonly associated with organized crime.
The Blue Heart Campaign is an international anti-trafficking program started by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Established in 1997, the UNODC supported countries in implementing three UN drug protocols. In 2000, after the UN General Assembly adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, the UNODC became the “guardian” of that protocol and assumed the functions of fighting against human trafficking. The Blue Heart Campaign was launched in March 2009 by the Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, during his address to the World's Women's Conference meeting in Vienna. The campaign's symbol is a blue heart. The Blue Heart Campaign uses its website, as well as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr to communicate goals, objectives, and news with the public.
Migrant sex work is sex work done by migrant workers. It is significant because of its role as a dominant demographic of sex work internationally. It has common features across various contexts, such as migration from rural to urban areas and from developing to industrialized nations, and the economic factors that help to determine migrant status. Migrant sex workers have also been the subject of discussions concerning the legality of sex work, its connection to sex trafficking, and the views of national governments and non-governmental organizations about the regulation of sex work and the provision of services for victims of sex trafficking.