7th Annual Human Trafficking in Persons

Today, the State Department released its 7th annual Trafficking in Persons report, a congressionally mandated report that covers 164 countries and territories containing 80% of the Earth’s population. The document ranks 150 countries that have at least 100 documented cases of human trafficking. Something worth reading in its entirety, the high, or low, light is that there are 16 countries on Tier 3, 7 of which have not received this dubious distinction in the past. On a brighter note, 10 governments ranked on the Tier 2 Watch List (those countries teetering between Tier 2 and Tier 3) last year have had their status moved up to Tier 2 this year. The report details the United States’ policies regarding trafficking in persons and documents in detail the horror of this 21st century form of slavery. The full report is available here.