I notice the US doesn't rate itself despite the more than 50,000 people trafficked annually. Placement on a tier is "based more on the extent of government action to combat trafficking, rather than the size of the problem, important though that is."

Of especial interest are the "Tier 2 watchlist" nations. These are nations that seem to be making efforts to improve but where-
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; or
c) The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.

Algeria, Armenia, Argentina, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Central African Rep., China (PRC), Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Togo, United Arab Emirates

Plenty of U.S. allies there. However, if any were to slip down to Tier 3 then U.S. law could require the witholding of "non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance from the United States to that country."

So...just listing the "Tier 3" nations could leave folks with some misleading notions - the list is quite possibly influenced by political considerations and a "Tier 3" designation says more about a lack of government enforcement than absolute numbers.

Regards, Cernig

For those interested in the scale of the problem, there's a BBC website which gives an accessible summary. The UN says that the problem is growing, with an estimated 12.7 million victims worldwide.

Trafficking in human beings is a crime in which victims are moved from poor environments to more affluent ones, with the profits flowing in the opposite direction, a pattern often repeated at the domestic, regional and global levels. It is believed to be growing fastest in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In Asia, girls from villages in Nepal and Bangladesh – the majority of whom are under 18 – are sold to brothels in India for $1000. Trafficked women from Thailand and the Philippines are increasingly being joined by women from other countries in Southeast Asia. Europol estimates that the industry is now worth several billion dollars a year.

Trafficking in human beings is not confined to the sex industry. Children are trafficked to work in sweatshops as bonded labour and men work illegally in the "three D-jobs" – dirty, difficult and dangerous. A recent CIA report estimated that between 45,000 to 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States every year under false pretenses and are forced to work as prostitutes, abused labourers or servants. UNICEF estimates that more than 200,000 children are enslaved by cross-border smuggling in West and Central Africa. The children are often "sold" by unsuspecting parents who believe their children are going to be looked after, learn a trade or be educated.

And here's the 2005 UNICEF list of nations where over 100 people are provably known to have been trafficked in the preceeding 12 months:

Albania,Angola, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Rebublic, Democratic Rebuplic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Krygystan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragu, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Phillipines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sengal, Serbia and Montengro, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

There are others that should be on the list, such as Iran and Burma, where hard proof can be more difficult to come by - but no nation sems to be guilt-free. Jim has the gist of it when he says that politics plays a huge part in assigning nations to arbitary "tiers".

Regards, Cernig