U.S. raps several Arab allies for human trafficking

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. raps several Arab allies for human trafficking

Jun 12, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States accused its Arab allies
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar on Tuesday of being among the
world's worst offenders in permitting the sale of people into the
sex trade and indentured servitude.

In an annual report on human trafficking, the United States included
the four in a list of 16 countries subject to possible U.S. sanctions,
including the loss of U.S. aid and U.S. support for loans from the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The others in this category were Algeria, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea,
Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria,
Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3269730

---

Source: Associated Press

7 Nations Added to Trafficking Blacklist

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

(06-12) 08:44 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The Bush administration on Tuesday added seven nations, including
several key U.S. allies in the Middle East, to its human trafficking
blacklist for failing to halt what it called the scourge of "modern-
day slavery."

Countries on the list are subject to possible sanctions for not doing
enough to stop the yearly flow of some 800,000 people, 80 percent of
them female and more than half of them children, across international
borders for the sex trade and other forms of forced and indentured
labor.

-snip-

Sixteen states in all — four more than in 2006 — were given so-called
"Tier 3" status in the 236-page survey of global efforts to combat
trafficking in people, many of whom are seeking to escape poverty in
Eastern Europe, South and Southeast Asia and are sold into the
commercial sex trade, manual labor or mistreated as domestics.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/12/national/w073220D13.DTL

[Turbineguy]

1. Maybe they figured

out where all those missing blonde young women went...

[maddezmom]

2. U.S. State Department blasts Gulf allies for human trafficking, but India gets a pass -- for now

U.S. State Department blasts Gulf allies for human trafficking, but India gets a pass -- for now
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and three other U.S. allies in the Gulf are singled out by the State Department in its fifth annual report on human trafficking for not doing enough to combat the problem.

But India, which is estimated to have a trafficking problem in the "millions," is still on a watch list. However, U.S. officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has agreed to undertake a special evaluation of India in December and move it to the worst offenders list if there is not enough progress.

The United States also added Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to its blacklist as countries that are destinations for trafficking victims who are exposed to sexual exploitation and forced labor.

more:http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/12/tuesday/index.html

[The Stranger]

3. When the U.S. tortures innocent people through its "extraordinary rendition" depositing them in

various parts of the world, does that not constitute "trafficking?"

Just curious.

[TomClash]

4. And our "key U.S. allies" responded . . .

"Hey, it's just our version of rendition!"

[Doctor_J]

5. One of the things that took down the Bug Man was human trafficking

why is * suddenly against it?

[militaryspouse]

6. ..

glad action is finally being taken.

[Up2Late]

7. Ahh yes, and Saudi Arabia gets another "also on the list" mention, even though...

...they are on the list for the 3rd year in a row!

AND, they fail to note that The State Department budget for combating this crap is being CUT again!

Here's a better report from NPR, sorry, it's audio only:

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11007433>