The U.S. Department of State is required by law to submit a report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the fifth annual TIP Report. This Report is intended to raise global awareness and spur foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons – a form of modern-day slavery. The Report has increasingly focused the efforts of a growing community of nations to share information and to partner in new and important ways to fight human trafficking. A country that fails to take significant actions to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons receives a negative “Tier 3” assessment in this Report. Such an assessment could trigger the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance from the United States to that country. In assessing foreign governments’ efforts, the TIP Report highlights the “three P?s” – prosecution, protection, and prevention. But a victim-centered approach to trafficking requires us equally to address the “three R’s” – rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration. The law that guides these efforts, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), makes clear from its first sentence that the purpose of combating human trafficking is to ensure just and effective punishment of traffickers, to protect their victims, and to prevent trafficking. CONTENTS I. Introduction II. International Best Practices III. Tier Placements IV. Maps (with Regional Law Enforcement Statistics); and the Link Between HIV/AIDS and Trafficking in Persons (TIP) V. Country Narratives (A to Z) VI. Special Cases VII. United States Government Efforts VIII. International Conventions — Matrix IX. Trafficking Victims Protection Act X. Glossary of Acronyms
