Washington's Middle Eastern allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, as well as key trading partner Malaysia, were added to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people on Tuesday.
Algeria and Guinea were the other additions to the blacklist of the US State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report which analyzed efforts in 164 countries to combat trafficking for forced labor, prostitution, military service and other purposes.
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.
Those on the blacklist could face sanctions and see the US withhold non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid.
Launching the 236-page report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cited "disturbing evidence" that prosecution of human trafficking cases had leveled off across the globe.
In countries where there were major human trafficking problems, "only a couple" of traffickers were brought to justice, she said, "This cannot and must not be tolerated."
US government research shows 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders. About 80 percent of them are women and girls, and up to half are minors, the State Department said.
The majority of transnational 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.
"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 Mark Lagon, Rice's senior advisor on the human trafficking problem.
Malaysia was cited for "failure to show satisfactory progress" in areas such as punishing acts of trafficking, providing adequate shelters and social services to victims and protecting migrant workers from involuntary servitude, the report said.
India, which is considered to have the world's worst human trafficking problem and has been on a watch list for four consecutive years with Russia and Mexico, received a specific warning that it could be relegated further to the black list if it failed to contain the problem.
China, Armenia and South Africa were on the watch list for the third consecutive year. Sri Lanka was also placed on the watch list.
Singapore, which had been on the Tier 1 list, was relegated to Tier 2 this year. It "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking," the report said.
The Singaporean parliament was urged to approve proposed amendments that would criminalize prostitution involving minors, extend extra-territorial jurisdiction over Singaporeans involved in sexual services from minors overseas and make promoting child sex tours a criminal offense.
Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Peru and Jamaica had made "significant efforts" to combat the trafficking problem and were removed from the watch list, officials said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was