U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the release of the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report at the State Department in Washington, June 15, 2023. SARAH SILBIGER / REUTERS
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, expressed alarm at the increase in human trafficking in 188 countries, including the United States.
The United States on Thursday condemned the scourge of human trafficking targeted in a report, particularly forced labor and the trafficking of boys, a little-known phenomenon. “The report highlights several alarming trends, including the expansion of forced labor (…) and the increase in employment-related traffickingwhich has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, lamented the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who presented the State Department’s annual report on human trafficking, which covers 188 countries, including the United States.
From Laos to Turkey via Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma or the Philippines, traffickers, some of whom are linked to China, have taken advantage of the pandemic to recruit adults and children in dozens of countries using fake online job postings, according to the report.
“Traffickers have taken advantage of pandemic-related economic hardship, rising youth unemployment and travel restrictions to exploit thousands of adults and children in a multibillion-dollar industry over the past two years“, the special envoy on this file, Ambassador Cindy Dyer, indicated to reporters. The report also highlights the often misunderstood trafficking of boys, which has seen a staggering increase in recent years.
‘Devastating Consequences’
Referring to a UN report, Mr. Blinken lamented that the number of boys or young men who are victims of human trafficking has been “multiplied by 5» between 2004 and 2020 in a higher proportion than girls, women or men in the same period. “For years there has been this widespread but false perception that human trafficking is exclusively female, which has had, quite frankly, devastating consequences.he said, citing weaker support and fewer financial resources allocated to male victims.
“The reality is that anyone, regardless of gender, gender identity, can be targeted by human traffickers“, he said. Blinken, on the other hand, welcomed initiatives taken locally in the Seychelles, Hong Kong or Denmark to combat this traffic.
Blacklist
The State Department’s report lists countries that are making efforts to combat this scourge and others that, in the eyes of Washington, are not making enough efforts in this direction, or are even themselves involved in human trafficking. China is thus on this blacklist, Ms. Dyer emphasizes that Beijing not only “does not meet the minimum criteria in the fight against human trafficking, but is involved in a human trafficking policy or schemeespecially linked to forced labour.
The resignation comes just days before the US Secretary of State’s trip to Beijing on Sunday. Among the countries on the blacklist, in addition to China, ten others are accused of directly participating in human trafficking: Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran, Russia, South Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan.
