The United States on Tuesday announced that it has included Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei as well as Macau to a human trafficking blacklist that already counts Malaysia, alleging weak efforts to stop forced sex work or assist migrant laborers.
In an annual report made public on Wednesday morning which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York, the United States also added authoritarian-ruled Belarus to the blacklist and, in a rare criticism of a Western ally, put Bulgaria on a watchlist over concerns it is not treating trafficking with seriousness.
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‘If you look at the report, you’re going to see a mixed picture of progress,’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as he presented it.
Blinken said that corruption was a “top tool” of traffickers who count on a blind eye from governments.
‘As we tackle issues like climate and corruption throughout our diplomacy, we also have to address how they intersect with trafficking in persons,’ he said.
The State Department’s annual trafficking report has historically not spared close allies, often causing friction, although US officials say the unflattering headlines have led governments to act.
Nations that are put on the blacklist – ‘Tier 3’ – are subject to US sanctions, although the administration routinely waives punishment for friendly nations that promise improvements.
Kari Johnstone, a senior State Department official in charge of combating human trafficking, said that several Asian governments were downgraded because they had previously been on the watch list and had not shown progress.
“Unfortunately, there were a number of countries this year within that region that did not make the increasing efforts,” she told reporters.
Vietnam, which has a warming relationship with Washington because of shared concerns over a rising China, was downgraded to Tier 3, with the State Department saying that prosecutions dropped off last year.