June 13, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428

WASHINGTON, June 12: US Middle East allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, as well as Malaysia were added on Tuesday to a Washington blacklist of countries trafficking in people, the State Department said.

Algeria and Guinea were the other additions to the blacklist of the State Department's annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” which analysed efforts in about 164 countries to combat trafficking for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other purposes.

India, which has the world's worst human trafficking problem and been on a watchlist for the fourth consecutive year with Russia and Mexico, was especially warned by the State Department that it could be relegated further to the blacklist if it failed to contain the problem.

“The world's largest democracy has the world's largest problem of human trafficking,” Mark Lagon, Rice's senior adviser on the human trafficking problem said, warning the Indian government that “reassessment is a distinct possibility.” China, Armenia and South Africa were on the watchlist for the third consecutive year.The seven countries, all of whom were on a special watch list last year, join Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Venezuela in the dreaded “Tier 3” list as the worst offenders of human trafficking.

Being on the blacklist, they could face sanctions, including the withholding by the United States of non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid.

Countries that receive no such foreign assistance would be subject to withholding of funding for participation by government officials in educational and cultural exchange programs.

Launching the 236-page report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cited “disturbing evidence” that prosecution of human trafficking cases had levelled off across the globe.

In countries with major human trafficking problems, “only a couple” of traffickers were brought to justice, she said. “This cannot and must not be tolerated.” “Human traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of society -- most often innocent women and children, exploiting and abusing them and profiting from their suffering,” she said.

US government research shows 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, about 80 per cent of them women and girls and up to half minors, the State Department said.

The majority of trans-national victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation, it said.

The wealthy Middle East nations added to the blacklist this year were largely accused of mistreating foreign workers, which they heavily rely on.

“It is especially disappointing that so many wealthy countries in the Near East that aren't lacking resources to make significant progress are on Tier 3, for example Saudi Arabia for the third consecutive year,” said Lagon.

He said weak foreign workers' sponsorship laws in these countries made the guests “vulnerable” to abuse in both private homes and worksites. Some of the victims who reported their abuse were instead “held hostage,” sometimes for years, in police centres.

The powers given to sponsors over foreign workers in these Middle East countries “should be limited and counterbalanced” with workers' right to seek legal redress, Lagon said.

He dismissed suggestions that politics played a part in categorising nations facing trafficking problems, citing Zimbabwe, which has a blemished human rights record, as an example.“The facts are that through our prodding, Zimbabwe has taken some tangible steps (to contain human trafficking) and moved up from Tier 3 to Tier 2,” Lagon said.

Singapore, which had been in the Tier 1 list, was relegated to Tier 2 this year.

Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Taiwan, Peru and Jamaica made “significant efforts” to combat the trafficking problem and have been removed from the watchlist, officials said.—AFP