2009 Trafficking in Persons Report

Pursuant to section 110(b)(3)(B) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Div. A. of Public Law 106-386), as amended, the Department of State is required to submit to the Congress an interim assessment of the progress made in combating trafficking in persons (TIP) by those countries placed on the Special Watch List in September 2009. The evaluation period covers the six months since the drafting of the June 2009 annual report.

This year, 55 countries are on the Special Watch List. These countries either (1) had moved up a tier in the 2009 TIP Report over the last year’s report; or (2) were ranked on Tier 2 in the 2009 TIP Report, but (a) had a very significant or significantly increasing number of trafficking victims, (b) had failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat TIP from the previous year, or (c) were placed on Tier 2 because of commitments to carry out additional future actions over the coming year, placing them on the “Tier 2 Watch List.” Fifty-two of the 55 countries on the Special Watch List are in the second category – ranked as Tier 2 Watch List, including one country initially ranked as Tier 3 in the June 2009 TIP Report but reassessed as Tier 2 Watch List by the State Department in September 2009 (Swaziland). Attached to this Interim Assessment is an overview of the tier process.

In most cases, the interim assessment is intended to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti‑trafficking progress of countries that may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2010 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking. It is a tightly focused progress report, assessing the concrete actions a government has taken to address the key deficiencies highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. The Interim Assessment covers actions undertaken between the beginning of May – the cutoff for data covered in the June TIP Report – and November. Readers are requested to refer to the annual TIP Report for an analysis of large-scale efforts and a description of the trafficking problem in each particular country or territory.

Tier Process

The Department placed each of the countries or territories included in the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report into one of the three lists, described here as tiers, mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA). This placement reflects an evaluation of a government’s actions to combat trafficking. The Department first evaluates whether the government fully complies with the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Countries whose governments do so are placed in Tier 1. For other countries, the Department considers whether their governments made significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance. Countries whose governments are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed in Tier 2. Those countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so are placed in Tier 3. Finally, the Special Watch List criteria are considered and, if applicable, Tier 2 countries are placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

As required by the TVPA, in making tier determinations between Tiers 2 and 3, the Department considers the overall extent of human trafficking in the country; the extent of government noncompliance with the minimum standards, particularly the extent to which government officials have participated in, facilitated, condoned, or are otherwise complicit in trafficking; and what reasonable measures the government would have to take to come into compliance with the minimum standards within the government’s resources and capabilities.

United Arab Emirates

The Government of the United Arab Emirates has made progress in efforts to address trafficking since the release of the 2009 TIP Report. The government has investigated and prosecuted additional sex trafficking offenses and convicted sex trafficking offenders, though it made no discernable progress in investigating and punishing labor trafficking offenses. Dubai authorities initiated the prosecution of 17 human trafficking cases from January through mid-October 2009. At least twice, Dubai prosecutors filed human trafficking charges in sexual assault cases where sex trafficking was alleged. In August, Dubai criminal courts handed down five-year prison sentences to three individuals convicted of sex trafficking. Two convicted traffickers in another case received life sentences. At least one victim was referred to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children to get social counseling and medical and psychological treatment.

In October, the Dubai Attorney General announced the creation of a permanent task force to handle human trafficking cases. The task force is a centralized anti-trafficking unit that will investigate and prosecute TIP cases.

The UAE government established a mandatory electronic wage deposit system for foreign laborers intended to prevent abuse of the sponsorship system by establishing a record of direct salary payments. It plans to cover an estimated 500,000 workers by the end of 2009.

Since the release of the 2009 TIP Report, the Government of the UAE has not improved protection services for victims of sex trafficking and forced labor nor has it developed and instituted formal procedures for officials to identify proactively victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups. The Government of the UAE now waives immigration violations for identified trafficking victims, but it has not ensured that trafficking victims are not incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized for other unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, with the exception of immigration violations. The government, however, funded the training of UAE law enforcement officials and NGO representatives on identifying trafficked persons and traffickers and techniques for interviewing potential victims.