Anti-trafficking measures in the USA and Europe
Trafficking in persons report June 2002
Ranking of countries according to anti-trafficking measures
Authors:
; US State Department
Publisher:
[publisher information not available], 2002
This is the second annual Trafficking in Persons Report to Congress, as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, on the status of severe forms of trafficking in persons worldwide. It claims to be the most comprehensive international anti-trafficking review issued by any single government and addresses 89 countries that were found to have a significant number of trafficking victims.
The report estimates that over the past year at least 700,000, and possibly as many as four million men women and children worldwide were bought, sold, transported and held against their will in slave-like conditions. Women, children and men are trafficked into the international sex trade for the purposes of prostitution, sex tourism and other commercial sexual services and into forced labor situations in sweatshops, construction sites and agricultural settings.
The type of support given by the US government to other countries to combat trafficking includes:
- economic alternative programs for vulnerable groups;
- education programs;
- training for government officials and medical personnel;
- development or improvement of anti-trafficking laws;
- provision of equipment for law enforcement;
- establishment or renovation of shelters, crisis centers, or safe houses for victims;
- support for voluntary and humane return and reintegration assistance for victims;
- and support for psychological, legal, medical and counseling services for victims provided by NGOs, international organizations and governments
Trafficking has reached staggering dimensions around the globe. Solving this problem and bringing relief to its many victims will be possible only through cooperative efforts. This cooperation must occur bilaterally and multilaterally among various governments, but also between governments and civil society, including NGOs.
The report assesses a number of countries that are considered to have a substantial trafficking problem and ranks them according to the concrete efforts taken by their governments to combat the problem.
