Egypt says adoptive moms were human smugglers

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Suzanne Hagelof and Iris Botros dreamed of adopting babies. Separately, they visited orphanages in Egypt. Hagelof adopted a child, and Botros was in the process of adopting twins, when they ran foul of authorities. Now they are in jail, accused of being part of a conspiracy to traffic children.

Last week, the two women were led into a Cairo courtroom in handcuffs, along with six other people. They stood in a big black cage in the courtroom, looking apprehensive amid the hubbub.

To their defenders, all they were trying to do was provide orphans with a better chance in life. To the prosecution, they were involved in forging documents to try to adopt children illegally and smuggle them out of the country.

Along with the two American women, the accused include their husbands, two doctors, a nun who ran an orphanage, and an Egyptian banker.

A year ago, Hagelof, a U.S. citizen who lives in Egypt with her husband, adopted a child from an orphanage run by the Coptic Christian Church, a religious minority in Egypt. She says no money changed hands.

Several months later, Luis Andros, a U.S. citizen who is originally from Greece, and his wife, Iris Botros, left their restaurant business in North Carolina for Egypt. Botros, who is originally from Egypt, visited another orphanage run by the church. She paid the orphanage about $4,600 for the twins -- partly for clothes and partly as a donation.

Both women wanted to take the children to the United States -- in Hagelof's case for a visit, but in Botros' case to begin a new life in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And that's where the trouble began.

To get a visa for the children, both women went to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. According to their attorneys, the documents they presented included birth certificates and certificates signed by doctors stating they were the natural mothers.

According to defense attorneys, the two women knew they were using forged documents.
Embassy officials became suspicious of the documents -- partly because the women seemed too old to be the mothers. Both Hagelof and Botros are in their mid- to late forties.

The embassy contacted Egyptian authorities, and both Hagelof and Botros -- along with their husbands -- were arrested soon afterward, as was a nun from a Coptic orphanage and a banker who allegedly helped Botros make contact with the nun. Also arrested were two doctors who had written the certificates for the three infants, all of whom are now at an orphanage not affiliated with the church.

Neither the U.S. Embassy nor the U.S. State Department will comment on the case, citing the ongoing trial.

Botros' husband, Andros, blames the embassy for their plight. Asked through the bars of the courtroom cage what had happened, he replied, "Well, our American Embassy, instead of helping the people, they put them in jail."

His wife interjected, insisting they would not get a fair trial. A few feet away, Suzanne Hagelof called out, "We want to tell our story," while her husband, Medhat, looked on, quiet and dejected. As reporters tried to talk to the defendants, a guard intervened, shouting "Sit down, sit down."

Adoption has long been illegal under Egyptian law as well as being forbidden under sharia, Muslim religious law. Fostering is legal but uncommon.

It has become a high-profile issue since Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the president, embarked on a campaign to stamp out human trafficking. She recently told CNN that human trafficking "exists in all societies."

"I came to realize what an insidious crime this was and how it was just really built on profit. On not only low morals, on no morals at all," she said.

And that's how the prosecution seems to be framing this case, using a law passed last year that provides for tough penalties for human trafficking. Khalil Adil El Hamani, the attorney representing Hagelof, says Egyptian authorities want to prove that all the defendants are from one gang and are trafficking children, so as to make the case seem to be a giant conspiracy.

Both couples insist they had no idea what they were doing was illegal and have no link with human trafficking. The attorney representing Botros and her husband says their only crime was to dream of being parents.

"They are now are in jail because of this dream," he told CNN after the first hearing in the case a week ago. "They never thought that they will be in jail. They thought that they are going to adopt only. They didn't think they are making something against the law in Egypt."

All eight defendants remain in jail -- the men at the Tora prison in Cairo, well known for its overcrowding. The next stage of the trial takes place May 16, and proceedings could last six to eight months. If they are convicted, the accused could each face up to 10 years in prison.

Western and Central Europe

• Most of these countries and territories have legislation to prosecute human trafficking.
• Estonia does not possess specific legislation, but can prosecute through related offenses.
• Polish Criminal Code includes the offense of 'trafficking in person,' citing the UN's definition.
• Legislation in this region dates back to the 1990s, with modifications made throughout the years to incorporate additional forms of human trafficking.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

• Turkmenistan is the only country in this region without specific anti-trafficking legislation.


• These countries' laws criminalize commercial sexual exploitaion and forced labor, with no age restriction.


• Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) established a plan in 2005 to combat the trafficking of persons, human organs and tissues.

South and Sout-West Asia

• Maldives and Afghanistan are the only countries in this region to have yet to adopt anti-trafficking legislation.
• Five of these countries criminalize commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, with no age restriction.
• Bangladesh law only criminalizes commercial sexual exploitation.
• Afghanistan's law on kidnapping is often substituted to prosecute trafficking offenders.

East Asia and the Pacific

• Micronesia, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are the only countries in this region that have not implemented some form of anti-trafficking legislation.
• The Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam laws only criminalized commercial sexual exploitation.
• Most of these countries since 2006 have modified their anti-trafficking laws to incorporate all or most forms of human trafficking.

South America

• Most of these countries have legislation specifically criminalizing human trafficking.
• Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru all have laws concerning mostly all forms of exploitation.
• Brazil law only criminalizes commercial sexual exploitation, but forced labor can be prosecuted through other offenses.
• Chile and Paraguay laws only criminalize international trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.

Central America and the Caribbean

• Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua have at least criminalized commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, with no age restrictions.
• Remaining countries have no anti-trafficking legislation or only criminalized commercial sexual exploitation; but can use substituting laws to prosecute offenders.
• Coast Rica criminalized international trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking minors.

North America

• United States adopted the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act in 2000.
• Canada, after some amenmdents throug the years, now has Criminal Code covering all forms of human trafficking.
• Mexico implemented anti-trafficking reforms, but this largely fell on comeptency of the states; 19 of the 31 states implemented anti-trafficking reforms.

Southern Africa

• Mozambique is the only country in the region with separate anti-trafficking legislation, with their Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2008.


• Zambian Criminal Code addresses human trafficking, but without providing any defintion.


• South African Children's Bill only criminalizes the sexual exploitation of children.


• Malawi has criminalized the exploitation of children, and is drafting anti-trafficking legislation.


• While the majority of these countries lack anti-trafficking legislation, they all possess laws that can be substituted to prosecute human trafficking offenders.

East Africa

• Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Tanzania possess human trafficking legislation.
• The remaining countries in this region are working on anti-trafficking legislation, and do possess past legislation that can be substituted to prosecute human trafficking offenders.

West and Central Africa

• 5 Anglophone countries, Senegal, and Mauritania have criminalized at least commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, with no age restrictions concerning the victims.
• Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, and Togo have only criminalized child trafficking.
• Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger have no legislation addressing human trafficking, but all except Guinea are considering anti-trafficking laws.

Middle East & North Africa Legislation

• Bahrain, Israel, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates have included in their criminal laws the offense of trafficking in persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labor, with no specification as to the age of the victim.
• Egypt criminalized child trafficking in June 2008.
• Morocco includes human trafficking in its criminal code, but without any definition.
• Sudan included human trafficking in its 2007 cyber crime legislation, but also without any definition.
• Iraqi criminal codes specifies trafficking of women and children.

Sex trade, forced labor top U.N. human trafficking list

CNN: UNITED NATIONS: Sexual exploitation and forced labor are the most common forms of human trafficking in the world, a new report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.

The "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" is based on data from 155 countries and offers a global assessment of human trafficking and efforts to fight it.

The most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation, at 79 percent, the report said. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls.

In about one-third of the countries that provided information on the gender of the traffickers, women made up the largest proportion of traffickers. In Central Asia and Eastern Europe, women make up more than 60 percent of those convicted of trafficking.

"In these regions, women trafficking women is the norm," said Antonio Maria Costa, the head of U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. "It is shocking that former victims become traffickers. We need to understand the psychological, financial and coercive reasons why women recruit other women into slavery."

The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labor, or slavery, making up 18 percent of the total, although the writers of the report say it may be underreported.

"How many hundreds of thousands of victims are slaving away in sweat shops, fields, mines, factories, or trapped in domestic servitude?" Costa said. "Their numbers will surely swell as the economic crisis deepens the pool of potential victims and increases demand for cheap goods and services."

Regardless of the type of human trafficking, nearly one in five of its victims were children, according to the report.

"Children's nimble fingers are exploited to untangle fishing nets, sew luxury goods or pick cocoa," the report said. "Their innocence is abused for begging, or exploited for sex as prostitutes, pedophilia or child pornography. Others are sold as child brides or camel jockeys."

In a 2008 report on human trafficking, the U.S. State Department listed Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as destination countries with widespread trafficking abuses, particularly forced laborers trafficked from Asia and Africa who are subject to restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats and physical and sexual abuse.

The report found those countries made feeble efforts to rescue victims and prosecute traffickers.

The department's report also says slave labor in developing countries such as Brazil, China and India was fueling part of their huge economic growth. Other countries on the blacklist were Algeria, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Myanmar, Moldova, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Sudan and Syria.

The U.N. Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons has been in place since 2003. The number of member states "seriously implementing" the protocol has doubled, according to the U.N. report. But it singled out Africa for lacking the necessary legal instruments and the will to crack down on human trafficking.

"There are strong international agreements to ensure that people's lives are not for sale," Costa said. "I urge governments to enforce them."

Police: Man sold teen daughter into marriage for cash, beer, meat

CNN: A California man sold his 14-year-old daughter to an 18-year-old man for cash, beer and meat -- then called police when the prospective bridegroom didn't live up to his end of the deal, authorities said Tuesday.

Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, of Greenfield, California, was arrested Monday and booked into the Monterey County Jail, Greenfield police said in a statement. He faces felony charges of receiving money for causing a person to cohabitate, police said.

Martinez had arranged through a third party to have his daughter marry the older teenager, identified by authorities as Margarito de Jesus Galindo, of Gonzales, California. In exchange, Galindo was to pay Martinez $16,000 and provide him with 160 cases of beer, 100 cases of soda, 50 cases of Gatorade, two cases of wine, and six cases of meat, Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told CNN.

All those involved in the case are from the western Mexican state of Oaxaca, the police chief said. In the Oaxacan community, such an agreement is "normal and honorable," he said. "In California, it's against the law." Watch for a list of the groceries dad reportedly wanted »

In Oaxacan culture, the food and beverages are provided by a prospective bridegroom for the wedding, Grebmeier said.

Authorities believe the young girl went with Galindo willingly, and no coercion was involved, he said. However, the girl is four years younger than California's age of consent, although the law does allow 16-year-olds to marry with parental consent.

"The 14-year-old juvenile moved in with Galindo and when payments were not received, the father, Martinez, called Greenfield PD to bring back the daughter," according to a written police statement.

The girl was reported as a runaway juvenile on December 18, Grebmeier said, and police took a missing-persons report and put out a flier.

But "as we investigated, it started to develop into something that may not have been a runaway," he said, and police began to believe Martinez wanted them to bring back his daughter, since he had received no payment.

On January 2, Galindo and the girl returned from a trip to Soledad, a town a few miles north of Greenfield, and were interviewed. Police learned the couple had never married, but had engaged in sexual relations, Grebmeier said.

Galindo and Martinez were neighbors at an apartment complex and were apparently from the same area in Mexico, the police chief said. A third party was brokering the marriage deal, he said, and is cooperating with authorities. But the young couple apparently left for Soledad before the negotiations were complete.

Martinez was arrested Sunday after undergoing additional questioning by police, Grebmeier said. He remained jailed Tuesday.

Galindo was cited for statutory rape and released, Grebmeier said. The girl was returned to her family, he said, as authorities believe she is in no danger. However, police reported the case to child protection officials.

The Greenfield area has had a large influx of Oaxacans. A presentation on understanding Oaxacan culture is posted on the Greenfield police Web site.

"Arranged marriages are common in several cultures, and this is not an issue among consenting adults over the age of 18," police said in the statement. "But California has several laws regarding minors, the age of consent and human trafficking."

Police are trying to be culturally sensitive, Grebmeier told CNN, but "when I'm in Mexico, I have to respect Mexican laws. When you're in the United States, you have to respect United States laws. That's the bottom line."

He said he wanted to send a message to immigrant communities that such behavior is unacceptable. He said his department has long heard rumors of children as young as 12 being sold or offered for sale. The Greenfield police statement said arranged marriages between young girls and older men "have become a local problem."

Greenfield is about 140 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Government Fights Slave Labor in Brazil

CNN: Slavery may seem like a quaint notion in a 21st century world, but that distinction is lost on up to 40,000 Brazilians who find themselves toiling for no real wages and can't leave the distant work camps where they live.

Brazilian government officials and human rights activists call it slave labor, a condition they are aggressively trying to eradicate. A special government task force established in 1995 says it freed 4,634 workers last year in 133 raids on large farms and businesses that rely on workers driven to take these jobs by hunger and the empty promises of labor recruiters.

"Slavery is the tail end of a lot of abuse of poor people and workers in Brazil," said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy center. "Bad treatment reaches over to abusive treatment to treatment that becomes virtual slavery."

In Brazil, it often works this way: A recruiter known as a "gato," or cat, plumbs the slums and other poor areas of the vast country and gets people to agree to jobs in distant places. Once separated from home and family, workers are vulnerable to all sorts of abuses, such as being told they owe money for transportation, food, housing and other services.

"This is known as debt bondage, which also fits official definitions of slavery," says Anti-slavery International, a lobbying group based in Great Britain. "A person is in debt bondage when their labor is demanded as the means of repayment for a loan or an advance. Once in debt they lose all control over their conditions of work and what, if anything they are paid ... often making it impossible to repay and trapping them in a cycle of debt."

The United Nations International Labour Organization estimated there were between 25,000 and 40,000 Brazilians working under such conditions in 2003, the latest year for which it offered figures.

Leonardo Sakamoto, the director of the human rights group Reporter Brasil, says he's certain there are still more than 25,000 slave laborers in Brazil.

According to Anti-slavery International, the greatest number of slave laborers is employed in ranching (43 percent). That's followed by deforestation (28 percent), agriculture (24 percent), logging (4 percent) and charcoal (1 percent). Though those figures are from 2003, Sakamoto says they still apply, with cattle ranches and sugar cane plantations among the top employers.

Anti-slavery International estimates there are 12.3 million people working under such conditions worldwide.

"Forced labor exists in Sudan, Nepal, India, Mauritania as well as many wealthier countries (including the UK), where vulnerable people are trafficked into forced labor or sexual slavery," the group says. "A similar situation to the use of forced labor on estates in Brazil can be found in the Chaco region of both Paraguay and Bolivia."

But what may set Brazil apart are the government's attempts to wipe out the practice. One of Brazil's chief tools is a "Special Mobile Inspection Group" that consists of labor inspectors, federal police and attorneys from the federal labor prosecution branch. The group often raids workplaces, looking for abuses and laborers held against their will.

In 2007, the task force freed 5,999 workers, a record number. In 2003, the agency freed 5,223 laborers.

Since the group's inception in 1995, it has freed 33,000 people.

Labor Minister Carlos Lupi vowed in a recent interview with the state-run Brazilian news agency that efforts will be stepped up this year.

"The Brazilian government is to be commended for rescuing more than 4,500 people from the nightmare of slavery during the past year," Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said in a statement to CNN.

"Their commitment to step up their efforts in 2009 is even more heartening. The vocal and effective leadership we are seeing from Brazil is rare. Even India, like Brazil a democracy and a G20 member, seems content to remain the country with the most slaves in the world."

Poverty fuels slave labor, experts say

But everyone agrees it's going to take more than police efforts to seriously dent the practice.
"Slave labor is not a disease," Sakamoto said. "It's like a fever. Fever is a symptom that something is wrong."

That something is widespread poverty.

Although the poverty rate dropped recently to its lowest levels in 25 years, nearly one of every four Brazilians still lives in poverty, according to a 2006 survey by the Getulio Vargas Foundation's Center for Social Policy Studies. The Web-based Index Mundi, which says it obtains its figures from the CIA World Factbook, estimates the poverty rate could be as high as one of every three Brazilians.

With a population approaching 200 million people, that means at least 49 million Brazilians live under squalid economic conditions.

"We have poverty. We have greed. And we have impunity," Sakamoto said. "We have to fight these three pieces at the same time. We have been fighting against impunity and we have been fighting against greed, but we are just starting to fight against poverty."

The situation is made worse because of Brazil's vastness -- about the size of the United States.

"Brazil is a big, huge country and there are lots of poor people," said Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue. "The farther you get away from the populated, industrialized areas, you'll find large populations of people who do whatever they can to make a living."

And slave labor seems to be spreading.

"We are discovering new occurrences of slave labor in regions where we hadn't registered slave labor in Brazil," the Rev. Xavier Plassat of the Catholic Pastoral Land Commission told the independent Radioagencia NP.

Opposition to laws

By most accounts, the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office in 2003, has done much to reduce poverty and fight slave labor. But Brazil's agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors are large and well-developed. And they are politically powerful.

"We have a very, very strong agribusiness sector," Sakamoto said. "It is very, very difficult to get other measures to fight against slave labor."

For example, he said, a proposed law for the government to confiscate land on which slave labor is used has languished in congress for years.

"There's a group of very strong congressmen fighting against it," said Sakamoto, who is also a member Brazil's National Commission for the Eradication of Slave Labor.

There are those who object to use of the word "slavery" or the phrase "slave labor," saying it mischaracterizes the situation.

"The word has very heavy connotations regarding 19th century slavery," said Latin America scholar Robert Pastor, a former National Security adviser to President Jimmy Carter and now a professor of international relations at American University in Washington. "Modern-day practices are quite distinct from what we normally thought of as slavery."

But Pastor agrees that no matter what you call it, what is happening in Brazil and elsewhere is "a phenomenon that is based on a simple intent to exploit individuals."

Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, also believes that calling the practice slavery overstates the case.

"To use the word 'slave labor' sometimes does not describe what it is," Sotero said from Washington. "It's more unfair, abusive labor conditions."

He points out that Brazil's sugar cane industry employs 900,000 people but only 4,000 Brazilians were freed last year for being held as slave laborers. Many businesses, he said, are being smeared by the bad actions of a few.

"One case of slave labor is one too many," Sotero said. "But at the same time, some of their considerations are valid. Claims of abuse tend to be exaggerated and more general than they are."

Statistics

Human trafficking ranks second after drug trafficking in international crime, generating $9.5 billion annually.

• About 600,000 - 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked internationally each year; with about 1-2 million new victims of human trafficking annually.


• At least 30 million victims of human trafficking today; possibly 80% of those being women and possibly 50% of slavery victims being children.


• About 246 million children are victims of child labor annually.


• More than 200,000 children are at high risk of commercial sexual exploitation annually in the U.S.

Special Cases

Trafficking in Persons Report 2008:

The following areas are special cases for human trafficking. These governments all need to take the steps to enact anti-human trafficking legislation, enforce the statutes, and provide better protection for the victims of human trafficking.

The Bahamas may be experiencing a labor trafficking problem as there is a significant number of undocumented migrants present. It may be a transit and destination spot for men, women, and children trafficked for froced labor and commercial sexual exploitation purposes.

Barbados remains a special case for lack of data on human trafficking, though they have shown effort through prosecuting some trafficking suspects and taking preventive action. It may be a transit and destination spot for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual commercial exploitation. A national trafficking concern is that families are facilitating the trafficking of children for what they falsely believe will be better opportunities for their children.

Botswana is also lacking reliable data. Most of this country is uneducated, and does not understand what human trafficking involves. More needs to be done here through the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to raise awareness and educate the people. It may be a transit point to South Africa, as well as a source and destination for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation purposes. Impoverished families will often give their children up to what they believe are better opportunities, but the children rarely receive or are treated they way the parents were promised.

Brunei lacks relevant data, but the volume of legal migrant workers suggests a possible problem with domestic servitude. It is a destination spot for legal migrants, who may occassionally be forced into involuntary servitude, or prostitution for women.

Haiti remains in area of concern as it is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, still a country of political transition from the strife it has seen in this decade. It is a source, transit, and destination spot for men, women, and children being trafficked for forced labor and commerical sexual exploitation purposes. As an impoverished country, family's often sell their children to what they think will be a better life for them, but is actually a severe form of human trafficking.

Iraq has remained in political transition for six consecutive years now, and it is hoped their government's effort to combat human trafficking may be assessed in the next report. Evidence shows Iraq remains a source and destination for men and women trafficked for commerical seuxal exploitation and involuntary servitude. Children are also trafficked national and transnationally for commercial sexual exploitation.

Kiribati is lacking hard data, but information seems to suggest a small scale human trafficking problem exists in the commercial sexual exploitation of underage girls for local and foreign fishing vessels.

Kosovo is listed in this report for its lack of an effective government for most of the reporting period. It remains a source, transit, and destination spot for the trafficking of women and children nationally and transnationally for commercial sexual exploitation.

Lesotho lacks significant data, but it is believed it may be a source, and transit country to South Africa for small numbers of women and children trafficked for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Children may be trafficked nationally for the purposes of cattle herding, domestic servitude, and commercial sexual exploitation.

Namibia lacks reliable data, but it is believed to be a source and destination spot for for trafficked children. Although largely traffciked for prostitution, children are trafficked nationally for domestic servitude, cattle herding, forced agriculture, and possibly vending purposes.

Palau may be a destination for small scale commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude once migrants have relocated here. The magnitude is unknown due to the lack of data.

Solomon Islands may be a destination spot for Southeast Asian women trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children may also be trafficked nationally for commercial sexual exploitation, but the data is unclear and lakcing.

Somalia lacks a central government, making it difficult to obtain reliable data. It is believed to be a source, transit, and destination point for various kinds of trafficking of men, women, and children. Nationally, certain Somalian groups viewed as inferior may be forced into involuntary servitude, women and children may be forced into commercial sexual exploitation, and children may be forced into armed militias. This country is also faced with the problem of families putting their children into the trafficking arena. Somali women are trafficked to the Middle East for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation purposes. Somali men are often trafficked to the Gulf States for forced labor. Somali children have been trafficked to Djibouti, Malawi, and Tanzania for commercial sexual exploitation and exploitative child labor purposes. Somalia remains a transit country for women trafficked to the Middle East for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation, and men trafficked for forced labor on fishing boats off the Somalian coast.

Swaziland lacks reliable data, and remains uneducated about the complexities and severity of human trafficking. It is a source, transit, and possible destination spot for women and children trafficked for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation purposes. Women and girls may be trafficked to South Africa and Mozambique for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation, and boys for forced agriculture and vending. Mozambican women may be victims of commercial sexual exploitation, or being trafficked to South Africa; the boys may be working low-skilled jobs, but were probably victims of trafficking.

Tonga lacks any relevant or reliable data, but some isolated reports show small scale trafficking of women and girls for commercial sexual exploitation, and some instances of forced labor.

Tunisia lacks substantial data, but it is a transit country for North and sub-Saharan Africans migrating to Europe, who may be victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation or domestic servitude. It may be a source of national child trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.

Turkmenistan is not listed in the report due to insufficient data, but it is believed to be a source country for women trafficked for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation, men trafficked transnationally for forced labor purposes, and women trafficked nationally for commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.

Major Federal Anti-Trafficking Law Passed

December 10, 2008: Polaris Project: The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which first became law in 2000, represents the first major comprehensive U.S. legislative effort to address modern-day slavery. Congress recently passed new legislation with important provisions and amendments that strengthen the U.S. government's efforts to combat human trafficking in the United States and abroad. www.state.gov/documents/organization/10492.pdf for TVPA.

The Destination (after China)

BBC: People travel the world looking for work. They get into debt in order to cross borders and continents in the hope of earning better money in a new country.In Florida, around the town of Immokalee, workers from Guatemala, Mexico and Haiti pick tomatoes and oranges, working for contractors who sell the produce on to the big fast food and retail companies.Having paid to cross the border, they then pay again to get a ride to Florida where the work is. Before they get to work they are already in debt.Once they arrive they live in appalling conditions. Laura Germino, who works for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a local grass roots union, told BBC World Service of a local labour camp, with its rows of trailers, people living 12 to 14 in a trailer."They really have nothing in them, no furniture, just a few burners and minimal bath facilities. They are so hot inside they are like a cauldron."It's a harsh life. "You pick all day long, as much as you can for 40 cents a bucket, which is the same price as they paid in 1978," Germino said. Wages are so low in Florida you have to pick two tonnes of tomatoes to earn US$50."And then you get home and have to wait in line for the burners, wait in line to eat, wait in line for a shower, and then you sleep in this hot tin box."For the trailer, the hot tin box, the workers will pay between then a rent as high as US$1,200 a month, the sort of money that would get you a decent apartment in a better area. But they have no choice about where they live - they have to be near the contractors' buses, and that means the trailer camp."These are sweatshops in the fields," Laura Germino said. "You don't have to move your factory to a third world country. The people come here to you." The reality is there is precious little left at the end of the week to send home and little to live on.Professor Peter Kwong lives and works in New York. He has studied his local immigrant Chinese community at first hand."They are getting very low wages so they have to save everything they have to pay off their debts. They live in dormitories, six, seven, eight, nine people in one room, eating the most simple meals, working 12 or 14 hours a day, seven days week throughout the year."The going rate for being smuggled into America from China is US$50,000 or more. "This very large illegal immigrant community provides a space for organised crime to survive. In other words, not only involving human smuggling, but also enforcement - making sure people pay their debts.""The tendency now is to borrow, either in the US or in mainland China at very high interest rates. US$50,000 can take four or five years to pay off, but with the very high interest rates it takes much longer."In families, both parents work very long hours and the children are often sent back to China to be brought up by their grandparents. "We are talking about very traumatic family circumstances in many of these illegal families," Professor Kwong said.Separated families, debts, violence are now the hallmarks of many communities.But though there is much concern about human smuggling and trafficking, Peter Kwong believes there is an ambivalent attitude within Government and business, certainly in the United States."The American economy is very much dependent on labour from illegal workers. Without them there is no agriculture, no garment industry or domestic service. So from the economic side, from the business community there is no incentive for the Government to restrict illegal immigration," he said."Employers like them because [they are] cheap, not just in wages, but in benefit costs and they are unprotected by labour laws. So they are very vulnerable. The employers simply exploit them."

The Route from China

BBC: On 18 June 2000 a lorry was stopped at the port of Dover, UK. When the door was opened, two men staggered out. They were the only survivors of a consignment of people from China. Fifty-four men and four women died.Earlier that day they had been packed into the container lorry, tomatoes had been piled in front to conceal their presence. The lorry driver then closed the only air vent to make sure that no noise would be heard from the lorry."The majority were young people, 19 to 29 years old," said Detective Superintendent Denis McGookin, the police officer in charge of the investigation."But some were much older. These were probably minders employed by the snakeheads to keep the others under control during the journey."The survivors were able to tell their story to the police. Each had paid £20,000 to travel to the UK. The journey was a long and tortuous one, organised by local groups known as snakeheads in China."They started off by having ordinary Chinese passports," said DS McGookin."They flew from Fujian to Beijing. They were met by other snakeheads who flew them on to Belgrade. There they were stripped of their Chinese passports and given forged South Korean ones."The journey continued by plane from Belgrade to Hungary and Paris, and then by train to Belgium, and into Holland. There they were taken to warehouses in Rotterdam, rested for a short time and then loaded into the container.It is a well travelled route. But according to Whah Piow Tan, a London solicitor who is himself a political refugee from Singapore, the idea that this is the work of highly organised criminal gangs is overstated. "Snakehead is a generic term used to describe those who lead economic migrants out of China. It is not necessarily organised crime. The organised part is arranging the false passports."He told how family members and others who have already travelled the route and have the contacts, set up travel agencies or some other shop front and organise the journey.He added that people will travel whatever the price, whatever the risk, and the only way to stamp it out is to take a more liberal attitude to allowing such workers into Europe or America."They will not stop leaving China. They have been leaving for 100 years. This tragedy did not discourage them, but it will make them more cautious in checking out which syndicate they use," he said."By the time this incident took place many thousands were already in Italy, Hungary, and Eastern Europe - waiting to come to the UK or the United States."But what about the families of the 58 who died? The police have a video following their investigation into the deaths. The scenes in the lorry are tragic, bodies tumbled about; half dressed, strewn around with boxes of red tomatoes.There is another clip, taken in China. Families have gathered to identify the dead.Some are giving blood samples for DNA testing. Others are being shown packs of photographs - the last record of their son or daughter, sister or brother - ghostly photos taken where the bodies were laid out in the Dover port customs shed. Their grief is overwhelming.For the police it was a successful investigation. The driver of the lorry, Perry Wacker, was arrested on the spot and sent to prison for 14 years for manslaughter.He claimed he only knew about a consignment of tomatoes. But the same DNA tests which helped the police identify the dead helped convict Wacker. DNA linked him to the warehouse where the Chinese immigrants were held before being loaded on to the container.

UN TIP Protocol

UNITED NATIONS

2000

PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN, SUPPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME

Preamble

The States Parties to this Protocol,

Declaring that effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children, requires a comprehensive international approach in the countries of origin, transit and destination that includes measures to prevent such trafficking, to punish the traffickers and to protect the victims of such trafficking, including by protecting their internationally recognized human rights,

Taking into account the fact that, despite the existence of a variety of international instruments containing rules and practical measures to combat the exploitation of persons, especially women and children, there is no universal instrument that addresses all aspects of trafficking in persons,
Concerned that, in the absence of such an instrument, persons who are vulnerable to trafficking will not be sufficiently protected,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998, in which the Assembly decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental ad hoc committee for the purpose of elaborating a comprehensive international convention against transnational organized crime and of discussing the elaboration of, inter alia, an international instrument addressing trafficking in women and children,

Convinced that supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime with an international instrument for the prevention, suppression and punishment of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, will be useful in preventing and combating that crime,

Have agreed as follows:

I. General provisions

Article 1

Relation with the United Nations Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime

1. This Protocol supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. It shall be interpreted together with the Convention.

2. The provisions of the Convention shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to this Protocol unless otherwise provided herein.

3. The offences established in accordance with article 5 of this Protocol shall be regarded as
offences established in accordance with the Convention.

Article 2

Statement of purpose

The purposes of this Protocol are:

(a) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children;

(b) To protect and assist the victims of such trafficking, with full respect for their human rights; and

(c) To promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet those objectives.

Article 3

Use of terms

For the purposes of this Protocol:

(a) "Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;

(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;

(c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article;

(d) "Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.

Article 4

Scope of application

This Protocol shall apply, except as otherwise stated herein, to the prevention, investigation and prosecution of the offences established in accordance with article 5 of this Protocol, where those offences are transnational in nature and involve an organized criminal group, as well as to the protection of victims of such offences.

Article 5

Criminalization

1. Each State Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences the conduct set forth in article 3 of this Protocol, when committed intentionally.

2. Each State Party shall also adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences:

(a) Subject to the basic concepts of its legal system, attempting to commit an offence established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article;

(b) Participating as an accomplice in an offence established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article; and

(c) Organizing or directing other persons to commit an offence established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article.

II. Protection of victims of trafficking in persons

Article 6

Assistance to and protection of victims oftrafficking in persons

1. In appropriate cases and to the extent possible under its domestic law, each State Party shall protect the privacy and identity of victims of trafficking in persons, including, inter alia, by making legal proceedings relating to such trafficking confidential.

2. Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal or administrative system contains measures that provide to victims of trafficking in persons, in appropriate cases:

(a) Information on relevant court and administrative proceedings;

(b) Assistance to enable their views and concerns to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of criminal proceedings against offenders, in a manner not prejudicial to the rights of the defence.

3. Each State Party shall consider implementing measures to provide for the physical, psychological and social recovery of victims of trafficking in persons, including, in appropriate cases, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society, and, in particular, the provision of:

(a) Appropriate housing;

(b) Counselling and information, in particular as regards their legal rights, in a language that the victims of trafficking in persons can understand;

(c) Medical, psychological and material assistance; and

(d) Employment, educational and training opportunities.

4. Each State Party shall take into account, in applying the provisions of this article, the age, gender and special needs of victims of trafficking in persons, in particular the special needs of children, including appropriate housing, education and care.

5. Each State Party shall endeavour to provide for the physical safety of victims of trafficking in persons while they are within its territory.

6. Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal system contains measures that offer victims of trafficking in persons the possibility of obtaining compensation for damage suffered.

Article 7

Status of victims of trafficking in personsin receiving States

1. In addition to taking measures pursuant to article 6 of this Protocol, each State Party shall consider adopting legislative or other appropriate measures that permit victims of trafficking in persons to remain in its territory, temporarily or permanently, in appropriate cases.

2. In implementing the provision contained in paragraph 1 of this article, each State Party shall give appropriate consideration to humanitarian and compassionate factors.

Article 8

Repatriation of victims of trafficking in persons

1. The State Party of which a victim of trafficking in persons is a national or in which the person had the right of permanent residence at the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party shall facilitate and accept, with due regard for the safety of that person, the return of that person without undue or unreasonable delay.

2. When a State Party returns a victim of trafficking in persons to a State Party of which that person is a national or in which he or she had, at the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party, the right of permanent residence, such return shall be with due regard for the safety of that person and for the status of any legal proceedings related to the fact that the person is a victim of trafficking and shall preferably be voluntary.

3. At the request of a receiving State Party, a requested State Party shall, without undue or unreasonable delay, verify whether a person who is a victim of trafficking in persons is its national or had the right of permanent residence in its territory at the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party.

4. In order to facilitate the return of a victim of trafficking in persons who is without proper documentation, the State Party of which that person is a national or in which he or she had the right of permanent residence at the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party shall agree to issue, at the request of the receiving State Party, such travel documents or other authorization as may be necessary to enable the person to travel to and re-enter its territory.

5. This article shall be without prejudice to any right afforded to victims of trafficking in persons by any domestic law of the receiving State Party.

6. This article shall be without prejudice to any applicable bilateral or multilateral agreement or arrangement that governs, in whole or in part, the return of victims of trafficking in persons.

III. Prevention, cooperation and other measures

Article 9

Prevention of trafficking in persons

1. States Parties shall establish comprehensive policies, programmes and other measures:

(a) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons; and

(b) To protect victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, from revictimization.

2. States Parties shall endeavour to undertake measures such as research, information and mass media campaigns and social and economic initiatives to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.

3. Policies, programmes and other measures established in accordance with this article shall, as appropriate, include cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society.

4. States Parties shall take or strengthen measures, including through bilateral or multilateral cooperation, to alleviate the factors that make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as poverty, underdevelopment and lack of equal opportunity.

5. States Parties shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures, such as educational, social or cultural measures, including through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking.

Article 10

Information exchange and training

1. Law enforcement, immigration or other relevant authorities of States Parties shall, as appropriate, cooperate with one another by exchanging information, in accordance with their domestic law, to enable them to determine:

(a) Whether individuals crossing or attempting to cross an international border with travel documents belonging to other persons or without travel documents are perpetrators or victims of trafficking in persons;

(b) The types of travel document that individuals have used or attempted to use to cross an international border for the purpose of trafficking in persons; and

(c) The means and methods used by organized criminal groups for the purpose of trafficking in persons, including the recruitment and transportation of victims, routes and links between and among individuals and groups engaged in such trafficking, and possible measures for detecting them.

2. States Parties shall provide or strengthen training for law enforcement, immigration and other relevant officials in the prevention of trafficking in persons. The training should focus on methods used in preventing such trafficking, prosecuting the traffickers and protecting the rights of the victims, including protecting the victims from the traffickers. The training should also take into account the need to consider human rights and child- and gender-sensitive issues and it should encourage cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society.

3. A State Party that receives information shall comply with any request by the State Party that transmitted the information that places restrictions on its use.

Article 11

Border measures

1. Without prejudice to international commitments in relation to the free movement of people, States Parties shall strengthen, to the extent possible, such border controls as may be necessary to prevent and detect trafficking in persons.

2. Each State Party shall adopt legislative or other appropriate measures to prevent, to the extent possible, means of transport operated by commercial carriers from being used in the commission of offences established in accordance with article 5 of this Protocol.

3. Where appropriate, and without prejudice to applicable international conventions, such measures shall include establishing the obligation of commercial carriers, including any transportation company or the owner or operator of any means of transport, to ascertain that all passengers are in possession of the travel documents required for entry into the receiving State.

4. Each State Party shall take the necessary measures, in accordance with its domestic law, to provide for sanctions in cases of violation of the obligation set forth in paragraph 3 of this article.

5. Each State Party shall consider taking measures that permit, in accordance with its domestic law, the denial of entry or revocation of visas of persons implicated in the commission of offences established in accordance with this Protocol.

6. Without prejudice to article 27 of the Convention, States Parties shall consider strengthening cooperation among border control agencies by, inter alia, establishing and maintaining direct channels of communication.

Article 12

Security and control of documents

Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary, within available means:

(a) To ensure that travel or identity documents issued by it are of such quality that they cannot easily be misused and cannot readily be falsified or unlawfully altered, replicated or issued; and

(b) To ensure the integrity and security of travel or identity documents issued by or on behalf of the State Party and to prevent their unlawful creation, issuance and use.

Article 13

Legitimacy and validity of documents

At the request of another State Party, a State Party shall, in accordance with its domestic law, verify within a reasonable time the legitimacy and validity of travel or identity documents issued or purported to have been issued in its name and suspected of being used for trafficking in persons.

IV. Final provisions

Article 14

Saving clause

1. Nothing in this Protocol shall affect the rights, obligations and responsibilities of States and individuals under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law and, in particular, where applicable, the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and the principle of non-refoulement as contained therein.

2. The measures set forth in this Protocol shall be interpreted and applied in a way that is not discriminatory to persons on the ground that they are victims of trafficking in persons. The interpretation and application of those measures shall be consistent with internationally recognized principles of non-discrimination.

Article 15

Settlement of disputes

l. States Parties shall endeavour to settle disputes concerning the interpretation or application of this Protocol through negotiation.

2. Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Protocol that cannot be settled through negotiation within a reasonable time shall, at the request of one of those States Parties, be submitted to arbitration. If, six months after the date of the request for arbitration, those States Parties are unable to agree on the organization of the arbitration, any one of those States Parties may refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice by request in accordance with the Statute of the Court.

3. Each State Party may, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance or approval of or accession to this Protocol, declare that it does not consider itself bound by paragraph 2 of this article. The other States Parties shall not be bound by paragraph 2 of this article with respect to any State Party that has made such a reservation.

4. Any State Party that has made a reservation in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article may at any time withdraw that reservation by notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 16

Signature, ratification, acceptance,approval and accession

1. This Protocol shall be open to all States for signature from 12 to 15 December 2000 in Palermo, Italy, and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York until 12 December 2002.

2. This Protocol shall also be open for signature by regional economic integration organizations provided that at least one member State of such organization has signed this Protocol in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article.

3. This Protocol is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. A regional economic integration organization may deposit its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval if at least one of its member States has done likewise. In that instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, such organization shall declare the extent of its competence with respect to the matters governed by this Protocol. Such organization shall also inform the depositary of any relevant modification in the extent of its competence.

4. This Protocol is open for accession by any State or any regional economic integration organization of which at least one member State is a Party to this Protocol. Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. At the time of its accession, a regional economic integration organization shall declare the extent of its competence with respect to matters governed by this Protocol. Such organization shall also inform the depositary of any relevant modification in the extent of its competence.

Article 17

Entry into force

1. This Protocol shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the fortieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, except that it shall not enter into force before the entry into force of the Convention. For the purpose of this paragraph, any instrument deposited by a regional economic integration organization shall not be counted as additional to those deposited by member States of such organization.

2. For each State or regional economic integration organization ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to this Protocol after the deposit of the fortieth instrument of such action, this Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization of the relevant instrument or on the date this Protocol enters into force pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article, whichever is the later.

Article 18

Amendment

1. After the expiry of five years from the entry into force of this Protocol, a State Party to the Protocol may propose an amendment and file it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall thereupon communicate the proposed amendment to the States Parties and to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention for the purpose of considering and deciding on the proposal. The States Parties to this Protocol meeting at the Conference of the Parties shall make every effort to achieve consensus on each amendment. If all efforts at consensus have been exhausted and no agreement has been reached, the amendment shall, as a last resort, require for its adoption a two-thirds majority vote of the States Parties to this Protocol present and voting at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

2. Regional economic integration organizations, in matters within their competence, shall exercise their right to vote under this article with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States that are Parties to this Protocol. Such organizations shall not exercise their right to vote if their member States exercise theirs and vice versa.

3. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by States Parties.

4. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall enter into force in respect of a State Party ninety days after the date of the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of such amendment.

5. When an amendment enters into force, it shall be binding on those States Parties which have expressed their consent to be bound by it. Other States Parties shall still be bound by the provisions of this Protocol and any earlier amendments that they have ratified, accepted or approved.

Article 19

Denunciation

1. A State Party may denounce this Protocol by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Such denunciation shall become effective one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.

2. A regional economic integration organization shall cease to be a Party to this Protocol when all of its member States have denounced it.

Article 20

Depositary and languages

1. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is designated depositary of this Protocol.

2. The original of this Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Protocol.

Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000

Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, Div. A of Pub. L. No. 106-386, § 108, as amended.

(A) Minimum standards For purposes of this chapter, the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking applicable to the government of a country of origin, transit, or destination for a significant number of victims of severe forms of trafficking are the following:

(1) The government of the country should prohibit severe forms of trafficking in persons and punish acts of such trafficking.

(2) For the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking involving force, fraud, coercion, or in which the victim of sex trafficking is a child incapable of giving meaningful consent, or of trafficking which includes rape or kidnapping or which causes a death, the government of the country should prescribe punishment commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual assault.

(3) For the knowing commission of any act of a severe form of trafficking in persons, the government of the country should prescribe punishment that is sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects the heinous nature of the offense.

(4) The government of the country should make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.

(B) Criteria In determinations under subsection (a)(4) of this section, the following factors should be considered as indicia of serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons:

(1) Whether the government of the country vigorously investigates and prosecutes acts of severe forms of trafficking in persons, and convicts and sentences persons responsible for such acts, that take place wholly or partly within the territory of the country. After reasonable requests from the Department of State for data regarding investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, a government, which does not provide such data, consistent with the capacity of such government to obtain such data, shall be presumed not to have vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted or sentenced such acts. During the periods prior to the annual report submitted on June 1, 2004, and on June 1, 2005, and the periods afterwards until September 30 of each such year, the Secretary of State may disregard the presumption contained in the preceding sentence if the government has provided some data to the Department of State regarding such acts and the Secretary has determined that the government is making a good faith effort to collect such data.

(2) Whether the government of the country protects victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons and encourages their assistance in the investigation and prosecution of such trafficking, including provisions for legal alternatives to their removal to countries in which they would face retribution or hardship, and ensures that victims are not inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized solely for unlawful acts as a direct result of being trafficked.

(3) Whether the government of the country has adopted measures to prevent severe forms of trafficking in persons, such as measures to inform and educate the public, including potential victims, about the causes and consequences of severe forms of trafficking in persons, measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and for participation in international sex tourism by nationals of the country, measures to ensure that its nationals who are deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar mission do not engage in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in persons or exploit victims of such trafficking, and measures to prevent the use of forced labor or child labor in violation of international standards] [added in the reauthorization of the TVPRA of 2005].

(4) Whether the government of the country cooperates with other governments in the investigation and prosecution of severe forms of trafficking in persons.

(5) Whether the government of the country extradites persons charged with acts of severe forms of trafficking in persons on substantially the same terms and to substantially the same extent as persons charged with other serious crimes (or, to the extent such extradition would be inconsistent with the laws of such country or with international agreements to which the country is a party, whether the government is taking all appropriate measures to modify or replace such laws and treaties so as to permit such extradition).

(6) Whether the government of the country monitors immigration and emigration patterns for evidence of severe forms of trafficking in persons and whether law enforcement agencies of the country respond to any such evidence in a manner that is consistent with the vigorous investigation and prosecution of acts of such trafficking, as well as with the protection of human rights of victims and the internationally recognized human right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's own country.

(7) Whether the government of the country vigorously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sentences public officials who participate in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in persons, [, including nationals of the country who are deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar mission who engage in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in persons or exploit victims of such trafficking] [added in the reauthorization of the TVPRA of 2005], and takes all appropriate measures against officials who condone such trafficking. After reasonable requests from the Department of State for data regarding such investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, a government which does not provide such data consistent with its resources shall be presumed not to have vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced such acts. During the periods prior to the annual report submitted on June 1, 2004, and on June 1, 2005, and the periods afterwards until September 30 of each such year, the Secretary of State may disregard the presumption contained in the preceding sentence if the government has provided some data to the Department of State regarding such acts and the Secretary has determined that the government is making a good faith effort to collect such data.

(8) Whether the percentage of victims of severe forms of trafficking in the country that are non-citizens of such countries is insignificant.

(9) Whether the government of the country, consistent with the capacity of such government, systematically monitors its efforts to satisfy the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (8) and makes available publicly a periodic assessment of such efforts.

(10) Whether the government of the country achieves appreciable progress in eliminating severe forms of trafficking when compared to the assessment in the previous year.