The United States government has removed the Philippines in its “Tier 2 Watchlist on Monday (Tuesday morning in Manila) for having several convictions of human traffickers in the past year. According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department, although thePhilippines “still does not fully comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, Manila is making significant efforts to do so.” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report onMonday in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Department of State.
In last year’s US trafficking report, the Philippines was one of the 58 countries under the “Tier 2 Watch List,” which included Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Mozambique, Algeria, Lebanon,Yemen, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Kazahkstan, Niger,Tunisia, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, China, and Russia, among others.
Those under the “Tier 2 Watch List” are countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards but are making significant efforts to comply with those standards.
On the other hand, those under the Tier 2 category are “countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for forced labor or commercial sexualexploitation.
