US lists several regional countries in human trafficking report

The United States (US) State Department has named several English and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations in its Trafficking in Persons Report 2012, as not making the minimum effort to fight the human trafficking.

The report ranked several countries at tier two, noting that they were making “significant efforts” to comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVP), although not meeting the standards. Countries receiving a tier two ranking were: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The State Department ranked the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica and Suriname on the tier two watch list. The US noted that a severe form of trafficking was very significant or is significantly increasing in these countries.

It says the governments of these countries were not fully complying with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but were making significant efforts towards compliance.