As for the countries listed by "tiers" there is little consistancy in it, countries are rated by initiatives put in paper to prevent trafficking, not actual levels of trafficking or things that are actually being done to prevent trafficking. If you take a look at the "tier 3" countries you'll notice that a few are from the "axis of evil" or not exactly friends with the US (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela) - except some arab countries which are notorious for their use of imported child camel jockies.
Compare these 3:
COLOMBIA (Tier 1)
Colombia is one of the Western Hemisphere's major source countries for women and girls trafficked abroad for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Colombian women and girls are trafficked throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. Within the country, some Colombian men are trafficked for forced labor, but trafficking of women and children from rural to urban areas for sexual exploitation remains a larger problem. Internal armed violence in Colombia has displaced many communities, making them vulnerable to trafficking, and insurgent and paramilitary groups have forcibly recruited and exploited thousands of children as soldiers. Organized criminal networks - some connected to terrorist organizations - and local gangs also force displaced men, women, and children into conditions of commercial sexual exploitation and compulsory labor.
The Government of Colombia fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government intensified law enforcement actions against traffickers during the reporting period, and sustained solid prevention and protection efforts. In the coming year, the government should continue to work with civil society to raise public awareness and improve protection services for victims.
Prosecution
The Government of Colombia made strong progress in identifying and prosecuting criminal acts of trafficking during the reporting period. Colombian law prohibits all forms of human trafficking through a comprehensive anti-trafficking statute, Law 985, which was enacted in 2005 and prescribes penalties of up to 23 years' imprisonment - penalties sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those for other grave crimes. In 2006, authorities opened 49 investigations against traffickers. The government also initiated 75 trafficking prosecutions, which represents more than a doubling of cases since 2005. The government also achieved 10 convictions against traffickers in 2006, a five-fold increase since 2005. Eight of these convictions were against a large band of traffickers in Pereira. Six women and two men were sentenced to 48 months' imprisonment for their roles in trafficking persons to Panama, Japan, and Spain. The remaining two convictions came from a case in the city of Armenia, in which the defendants were each sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment. The government worked with international organizations to increase training for judges and prosecutors, and cooperated with foreign governments in Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Italy, and Spain on international trafficking cases. The government is currently investigating one U.S. citizen in connection with child pornography. There were no reports of public officials' complicity in trafficking.
Protection
The government sustained its efforts to address victims' needs during the reporting period. The Colombian government provides limited funding to NGOs to provide shelter and other services to trafficking victims, and it relied on NGOs and international organizations to provide the bulk of victim assistance. The government provides specialized training to consular officials to help them recognize potential trafficking victims, and Colombian missions abroad assist Colombian victims. Police investigators have set up special interview facilities in Bogota's international airport to debrief returning victims and investigate their cases. The government also has approved plans to open an anti-trafficking operations center in the coming year. It will serve as a central repository of anti-trafficking information for victims, and will include a national call center. The government operates a witness-protection program for trafficking victims participating in court proceedings. Colombian authorities encourage victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers. There were no reports of victims being jailed or otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked. Because Colombia is not a significant destination country for trafficking, there is no demand for temporary residency status for foreign victims.
Prevention
The government made modest progress during the reporting year in raising public awareness, but continued to rely heavily on NGOs and international organizations to conduct trafficking-prevention campaigns. The government completed its national action plan on trafficking in persons; implementation of the plan is pending. The government worked closely with IOM to develop a national hotline to report trafficking crimes. The government also worked with NGOs to distribute a comprehensive guide to victim assistance and other awareness-raising materials such as posters, radio, and television spots. The government sponsors assistance programs targeted to populations vulnerable to trafficking, such as micro-lending for women and anti-child labor programs.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (Tier 2 Watch List)
The Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Dominican women and children are trafficked for sexual exploitation to Western Europe, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, Panama, and Suriname. A significant number of women and children also are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some Dominican-born children are trafficked into forced labor and organized begging rings. Some Haitians, including children, are trafficked to the Dominican Republic for forced labor in agriculture and construction sectors; many live in squalid shantytowns known as "bateyes." Venezuelans and Colombians also are reportedly trafficked to the country for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some Chinese nationals have been smuggled to the Dominican Republic, allegedly with the assistance of high-level Dominican consular and immigration officials, and subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude while waiting to make their way to the United States.
The Government of the Dominican Republic does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The Dominican Republic is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of providing increased assistance to victims and undertaking vigorous actions to counter official complicity with trafficking activity. Although the Office of the Public Prosecutor made strong efforts to prosecute trafficking offenders last year, the government should increase anti-trafficking law enforcement personnel and capacity, and step up efforts to root out aggressively any official complicity with human trafficking, especially among senior-level officials. The Dominican Republic should provide greater legal protections for trafficking victims, and increase anti-trafficking prevention efforts and resources for agencies and organizations providing shelters and social services. More attention should be directed to identifying and assisting Haitian trafficking victims.
Prosecution
The Government of the Dominican Republic made efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes during the reporting period. The Dominican Republic prohibits all forms of trafficking through its comprehensive anti-trafficking law, Law 137-03, which prescribes penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other grave offenses. The government initiated 120 trafficking and alien-smuggling prosecutions under the law last year, obtaining three trafficking-specific convictions; defendants received sentences ranging from 15 to 20 years' imprisonment. While the government's efforts to convict traffickers remained level with last year, more than 30 prosecutions during the reporting period arose from arrests of military and other public officials for involvement with trafficking; of this number, three officials have been convicted. While this represents important progress in an extremely difficult area, the Dominican Republic should do much more to tackle the critical issue of official complicity with human trafficking at all levels of government. Press reports allege that high-level consular and immigration officials were directly involved with the smuggling of Chinese nationals, some of them trafficking victims, to the Dominican Republic. Any individuals found to be implicated in alien smuggling or trafficking should be brought to justice. The Director of the Office of the Public Prosecutor's Anti-Trafficking Unit had made some progress in addressing these and other areas; however, he remained suspended from his duties at the end of the reporting period for unspecified reasons.
Protection
The government's efforts to protect victims of trafficking remained inadequate, as it continued to rely heavily on NGOs and international organizations to provide the bulk of protection services. While the government maintains shelters and programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, these services are not generally accessible to trafficking victims. The government has not developed formal procedures for identifying victims among vulnerable populations, such as undocumented migrants or persons detained for prostitution offenses. The government continued, however, to train officials posted abroad on recognizing and assisting trafficking victims overseas. Victims' rights are generally respected, and there were no reports of victims being jailed or penalized for crimes committed as a direct result of their being trafficked. However, there were reports that some officials conspired with employers to repatriate trafficked persons of Haitian descent if they attempted to leave exploitative work environments, forcing them to leave behind their pay and belongings. Dominican authorities generally encourage victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers, though undocumented persons of Haitian descent were often neglected. The government does not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution. The government should assure protection to Haitians and undocumented persons of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic, many of whom fall victim to human trafficking.
Prevention
The government carried out limited prevention efforts by conducting anti-trafficking seminars at schools across the country, reaching more than 5,000 students. The government relies on NGOs and international organizations for all other prevention activities.
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